NEARING THE END

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 23, 27 July 1927, Page 5

NEARING THE END

SHAKESPEARE SEASON

"HAMLET"

In (lie iiufhnrlcd territory (if the mind of Hamlet tlici-o may have been some boundary line between the Round and the unsound, but no one linn succeeded in tli» demarcation of it to the complete satisfaction of all the critics; so it will be safe x to mark down the boundary as uncertain, and to regard tlie part of the I'riuce" of Denmark na one for which diU'erent actors may reasonably adopt different readings. Contrasting with the half-madueHS of Hamlet is the total madness of Ophelia, caused by tho "antic disposition" which Hamlet alVecla (or which affects Hamict), and by the prince's slaying of her father, Polonius, whose tool tlio unhappy Rirl had become in' his desire to outwit the prince, her lover.. The tangled plot* of simulation and cross-purposes, Hamlet's repulse of Ophelia, his killing of, Polouius in the belief that it ivaa the guilty king ho thrust nt, the insanity and death of Ophelia, and the wrath of her brother Laertes, ending in the poisoned foil fencing match—-jill this familiar story was retold at the Grand Opera House last opening to a crowded audience, with a vigour and freshness that imparted to the play it new life, and it is within . the mark tp say that never before has the Allan Wilkie Shakespeare Company given a more satisfying' presentation' of this Shakespeare tragedy. Mr. Wilkic's interpretation has lost none of its quiet force, and lias gained something from a better all-round Hiipport. Tho fencing scene ends vividly; Hamlet has touched Laertes, and is in turn touched' by the latter's poisoned rapier; the queen, Hamlet's mother, has, to the horror of the king-uncle, drunk of the poisoned. wine--cup, prepared by him for Hamlet; finally, Hamlet captures the rapier of Laertes, throws back his own, and in the last exchange wounds Laortcs with the point murderously envenomed by Laertes and the king, who both in turn perish by the blade of their own treachery. It is a scene of swift vengeance that requires some acting, which last night it' received, enabling tho curtain; to fall effectively on a tragic top note.

Mr. Wilkie's Hamlet was well-backed up by the Ophelia of Miss Hunter-Watts. The mental state of Ophelia in the later scenes is no borderland condition like Hamlet's, but an obvious dethronement of mind, with flashes of memory; in which Miss Hunter-Watts is, simple, appealing, and subtly convincing. Seldom has the murdered king's ghost (Mr. Milton Sands) spoken his lines to better advantage. Mr. Denis Barry played Laertea well, and Mr. Arthur Keane made a fay better Polonius than most comedians present, for he has a correct estimation of tho mental values of Polonius, and did not dwarf them by exaggerating unduly the narrow pomposity of this "tedious old fool." The queenniother, guilty not of murder but of remarrying a crown, was very capably played by Miss Lorna Forbes; and Mr. John Cairns was painstaking as usual in the role of the king-uncle. Mr. Herbert Sheldrick failed to give Horatio his proper eminence as Hamlet's confidante. Mr. Frank D. Clewlow was a successful "First Player," and Mr. William Lockhart scored as the "First Gravedigger." To-night will be presented "Twelfth Night," closing the eminently successful season in Wellington of the Allan Wilkie Shakespeare Company.