Stratford Offers Mixed Season

Press, Volume C, Issue 29520, 23 May 1961, Page 13

Stratford Offers Mixed Season

[By L. R. SWAINSON. in the “Sydney Morning Herald") Ihe newly-ennobled Royal Shakespeare Theatre is back in session at Stratford-upon-Avon with the usual appetising concoction of plays, players and precedents.

Of the latter, the most interesting—certainly to theatrical historians—is an unparalled feat of “doubling" by the young Canadian actor Christopher Plummer.

Plummer, aged 31. six ft tall and good-looking—not unlike a younger Laurence Olivier—comes to Stratford by way of Broadway with a healthy reputation. He already has the distinction of having acted in the two other Stratford theatres, at Stratford, Ontario. and Stratford. Connecticut, where he played Mark Anthony and Ferdinand.

At Stratford-upon-Avon he is playing Benedick in “Much Ado About Nothing" • which opened the season on April 4) and “Richard HI” (opening May 24). As Plummer is also committed to play Henry II in the English version of Anouilh’s much-discussed play “Becket,” which will go into the repertory of Stratford’s London home, the Aldwych Theatre, on July 10 this means that for several months he will be compelled to dovetail all three series of performances. He will thus be the first member of the Royal Shakesphere Theatre Company to shuttle between Stratford’s two theatres. He will also be the first "straight” actor in Britain —possibly the world—to have his name billed outside two theatres at the same time Box Office Remarkable things have also been happening at the Stratford box office By the opening nieht, advance bookings for the first half only of the eight months’ season totalled £71.000 —the highest for this period in the history of the theatre.

More than enough, certainly, to warm the heart of the dashing young director, Peter Hall, even though the profit motive cannot be said to be the driving force at Stratford.

During a season some 380.000 visitors attend the plays from all over the world. Operating costs run about £220.000 a year. It takes £BOOO to produce a play even before rehearsals, when actors’ salaries augment the burden

The productions. which alternate with one another, run for an average of six to eight weeks each, which is quite inadequate for the recovery of costs.

For his second season as director (and the theatre’s 102nd season) Peter Hall is relying not onl yon the drawing power of dist;nd#lshed players but also on the fresh approach

of new directors, some of them coming to Shakespeare for the first time. Star Actors

The “established” stars are Dame Edith Evans, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Sir John Gielgud and Max Adrian: the directors Peter Hall, Michael Langham. Peter Wood. Fanco Zeffirelli and—both new to Shakespeare—William Gaskill and Michael Elliott. The repertoire is completed by "Hamlet” (which opened on April 11, with the young Irish actor lan Bannen as Hamlet. Geraldine McEwan. the Beatrice of “Much Ado.” as Ophelia and Elizabeth Sellars as GerGertrude); “As You Like it” (July 4, with Bannen as Orlando and Dorothy Tutin as Rosalind): "Romeo and Juliet” 'August 15. with Miss Tutin as Juliet and Dame Edith Evans as the Nurse: the Romeo has still to be chosen): and “Othello” • October 10. in which Sir John Gielgud and Dame Peggy Ashcroft both break new ground). Sir John Gielgud will be playing the Moor for the first time in his career, and Dame Peggy Ashcroft playing Emilia also for the very first tune.

It is to be hoped that these two illustrious artists, together with their director, Franco Zeffirelli, who has done some exciting things in opera at Covent Garden, will' ensure that the season ends on a more triumphal note than it has begun. Critics Displeasure

Both “Much Ado” and "Hamlet” aroused critical displeasure.

Of "Much Ado." set for the occasion in the cherootsmoking Regency period, the critics said.

“Daily Herald”:. "Where the crying need is for simplicity there was only fussiness.”

“The Times”: “Enjoyable but in no way distinguished.” The “Daily Express,” however. considered that “the perfect balance of the play has rarely been better maintained: the sudden abrupt changing of temperature when jesting becomes deadly earnest are admirably thought through.” Everyone liked Christopher Plummer's performance even though some thought him miscast and worthy of a meatier role. "Hamlet,” apart from evoking praise for some superb sword fighting, the ghostly music of Alan Rawsthorne and the playing of some of the minor roles took quite a drabbing.

‘‘Daily Mail": “lan Ban-

nen plays Hamlet as a whining, over-bred Scandinavian epileptic. It must also be confessed that the majority of the performances are not likely to impose themselves on the memory for long .. . the production lacks size and stature.”

Daily Express”: “The evening drags. Anyone who has never seen Mr Bannen would have no idea of what a good actor he is: all they would see and hear is dullness and monotony. It really will not do.” “The Times”: “Mr Bannen ... we fancy . . . has not yet learned to trust Shakespearean verse and believes it is possible to get through the part of Hamlet by sheer acting. The result is disastrous. If one were to pick out a single performance for modest praise it would be Miss McEwan’s Ophelia ... an odd reflection on the performance as a whole.” New' Title Harsh strictures, indeed, which the company is doubtless heeding at this moment. Yet they cannot mar the great rejoicing among the men of Stratford that the fine building on the banks of the swan-graced Avon should how be called the Royal Shakespeare. Twelve years ago, Anthony Quale, then director of the theare, wrote: “What a funeral air hangs about that word ’Memorial!’ What dusty plumes with which to deck the head of a poet living more vitally and to better purpose than any who draw breath today.” The new title was not granted because the Royal Family is particularly associated with the Stratford company. In the 16 years since the war the reigning Sovereign has attended the theatre only twice. Nevertheless, the Royal favour has a special significance. It means that unique recognition has at last been given in a permanent form to a unique playhouse—a live, vital and flourishing British national institution which, through the years, has had to work and battle almost alone. (Associated Newspapers Feature Service.)