SHAKESPEARE'S HEROINES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 690, 15 December 1909, Page 5

SHAKESPEARE'S HEROINES.

■' '...•' : ' ' ■ ,- ■~ L ~: —~ *'- . ' ■ :■:' '■'. ■■'..'.:'.' ' '■-' In the Sydnoy : Street' Schoolroom last'evening, before a'very good attendance'..if' the public, Miss- Sybil -Johnston' presented some , admirable tableaux, illustrative of. certain of ShakespearoV heroines. -' : . ■.••.. Though the faculty of studying men and things artistically is; more , or- less inherent, neglect to. cultivate it is inevitably followed by, the atrophy .of the fiiier perceptions. -The pursuit or the almighty dollar becomes' an obsession. That this does not become'a permanent condition: is due to the efforts, of the few who strivo to nourish, and develop'what little art there is to be discovered,' and to' educate the public to :a proper; appreciation of what art-means' to_ a community. ■/•In 1 'one way or another, Miss Sybil Johnston has' materially assisted in tho development of the 'public" taste in a'H' in Wellington. Even'about such an apparently simple thing as; a. tableaux, Miss Johnston has not only shown that there; is a definite object: to be' attained, but that that object involves- estrenie difficulty in' th 6. attainment. In the course of-a : few.introductory.remark's to-her audience last bvening,- Miss Johnston had. some entertaining; observations ; to make concerning the artistic aspect of tableaux. She had oftoii.been asked, she said,.to arrange at short notice, "some- poses'' for local enterlamments, as/if such trifling , additions to tho programme were the simplist thing in the world to .arrange.' ■ They were, less simple than were generally imagined.: There "was one consolation about these tableaux, however, which .was denied to her when she exhibited a picture. Though critics might, condemn.'her picturo for the reason that a certain figure was humanly impossible, they could hardly. say. that of her tableaux.. Ono is , inclined'to agree with Aliss Johnston there, reserving however the right to .carry one's criticism of what is humanly possible to the finer, subtler appreciation of what is pyschologically possible. A tableau may be historically:and , anatomically.,correct,-.', yet ho psychologically wrong, in which 1 case ' if is artistically, imperfect.; -By far the best-of the tableaux were,the illustrations of "Eosalind" and: "Celia" ("As. You > like".It"); and- "Four Pictures \From"'Twelfth Night'." When one remembered that those who took part 'were very young, it had to,be conceded that the work left very little to be desired. Of-the others, "Four Pictures Trom' .'A ; Midsummer Night's .Dream'," "A Spring Idyll"- (music—Greig's "An Printemps"), ■ "Mariana" . (Page's 1 'soiig— Miss Strickland), "The Song of Sylvia" (soloist—Miss ■ Daisy Isaacs), the "possibilities" were not. altogether human, psychologically speaking—the poses did not.-in one or two cases, follow-, from thn emotions~of. the situations. The.programmo ■ concluded .'with a representation of 'Tho Death of Cleopatra." The incidental, music was ' arranged and played by. Miss Ethelwyn Kirk. ■'