ALLAN WILKIE'S COMPANY

Evening Star, Issue 18159, 27 December 1922, Page 5

ALLAN WILKIE'S COMPANY

ANOTHER ROUND OF SHAKESPEARE

'A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.'

FIRST TIME IN DUNEDIN.

A large audience gave Mr Allan Wilkie knd hia company a most cordial reception at Hia Majesty’s Theatre last night. They are doubly welcome-—their visit for any legitimate purpose would in these days of dramatic starvation bo as broad to the hungry, whilst the promise of a season o| Shakespeare makes the event mbmenteos. Whether it came about by chance or by design, there was a certain fitness in opening on a holiday with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ for a holiday audience asks for amusement rather than for deep study and the duty of comparative criticism. If on© of the great acting plays had been chosen for 'Boxing Night, the thinkers present could' hardly have evaded a set trial of 1 the acting according to accepted traditions and recollections. With *A Midsummer Night’s Dream a New Zealand audience has no such responsibility, consequently is left tree to enjoy itself if the performance lo intrinsically enjoyable. For this wonderiul poem, which has 'been written of by an eminent critic os the one composition which specially exhibits the power ot the English language for purposes of poetry is persistently omitted by th« great travelling companies. Until now it has not once been seriously performed! in Dunedin. There was a presentation of some sort in the old Princess Theatre in 1869, but it was by a stock company as the prelude to a pantomime, nndi perhaps it is as well that nobody remembers anything about the acting on that occasion. So at comes about that Mr Wilkie and his colleagues, hy including this piece in their repertoire, undertook to teach us how should be acted. A weighty task! Hazlitt declares that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ when acted is converted from a delightful fiction into a dull pantomime —that all that is finest in the play is lost in the representation—that the spectacle may bo grand, but the spirit evaporates and the genius flees—that which was merely an airy shape, a dream, a passing thought, becomes an unmanageable reality. Other critics have remarked on the poverty of the fable—on the fact that the more exalted 'characters, though of heroic cast, have no opportunity to do anything brave or commanding —and analytical writers have noted that the fairies, popularly supposed to be wonder workers, are content to gambol and trifle, not addressing themselves to the bringing about of any strange or striking event. For these and other reasons at has been argued that ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a play not for the stage, but for private reading, with the imagination set free from visual limitings. One must give heed lo such comments. It would savor of impertinence for a writer in the ends of the earth to endorse them, and downright cheek to differ. But. whilst respecting the authorities, one may find) ample justification for Air Wilkie’s bold experiment in producing this play. Its presentation us a stage performance is the most effective method of familiarising the work and thereby inducing our people to read it oftener. That consideraion alone would stand as a defence if Mr Wilkie were challenged as to his daring. But the exoneration may be safely carried a step further. Whilst it is not to be expected that the sterner of our local critics will applaud all that was seer and heard last night, it must in fairness be acknowledged that the inherent difficulties were cleverly faced and largely conquered, and that in respect to the all-important fairy scene the company got to the very heart of the play. The performance opened most satisfactorily, with a singularly happy handling by Mr Bradshaw Major and his orchestra of Mendelssohn’s music for “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It is classical music, and was expertly played, even the talkers being lured to listening. In succeeding scenes the. orchestra also earned high commendation, the soft playing through the dialogue fitting in very nicely and in no sense intrusive, whilst the music’ for the dances, composed by Mr Major, proved to be well worthy of association.

The telling of the double love tale, entrusted to Mr Augustus Neville as the Duke, Miss Mona Duval as Hippolyta, Mr Jack Lennon as Egeus, Mr Frank Moore as Lysander, Mr Ellis Irving as Demetrius, Miss Hilda Dorrington as Helena, and Miss Lorna Forbes as Hermia, was by the serious-minded watched with a certain amount of apprehension. To be frank, the acting by this party was somewhat uneven, in the opening scene. The Duke was formal and constrained, Egeus inclined to shout, Demetrius was not well heard, Demetrius and Lysander both lacked distinction, Helena was a trifle too shrewish, and Hernia alone seemed free to show the poetry and warmth of the story. The prevailing anxiety wore off, however, as the play proceeded, and the winding up of the lovers’ comedy was very prettily and happily acted all round, more particularly that of the awakening from the effects of the potions, this important scene being brought by fine skill into nice relationship with the general scheme of the drama. Miss Porbes got in her score early; Miss Dorrington “ came to light,” as the saying goes, with good effect later on. and the men moved upward in sympathy. The doings of the hard-handed clowns supplied plenty of fun.- These parts were taken by Mr” Wm. Lockhart (Quince), Mr Fred Macdonald (Snug!. Mr Hamilton Henry (Flute), Mr Felix Bland_(Snout), Mr J. Plumpton Wilson (Starveling), and .Mr Allan Wilkie (Nick Bottom), and each supplied bis share of the broad comedy according to the opportunities afforded by the text. Certain elaborations introduced for the occasion gave particularity to the action. It was, for instance, a happy idea to represent Starveling as deaf (though, by the way, he need not have been so very deaf), and legitimate amusement was made by the roaring in competition by all who wished to be cast as the Lion. Occasionally, perhaps, the embellishing was exaggerated. As a matter of opinion, Bottom over-stepped the mark .when he wiped the floor before lying down to die, and the sticking of the sword in its sheath was another comicality that went past its climax. But. on the whole, the players did really well. Mr Lockhart’s acting as Quince was full of authorised point, and Mr Wilkie rose to inspiration in his impersonation of the Weaver—it was a traditional and clever study, aided by his big voice. As for the-fairy scones, they were in the main delightful. Considering that the piece was one for only the one night, the stage setting was admirable, and the acting was such as to make the illusion by giving the scenes the nuality of airiness and intangibility. Mr Leslie Manners had the troublesome part, for Oberon's duty is mostly talking, and the tongue is a sadly dematcrialising agent, but he did fairly well, and would have scored another point or two if be bad made his speech a trifle more deliberate for the sake of clearness. Miss Pamela Travers looked well as the elegant Titania, and skilfully contrived to keep the queen fairy imponderable. The company rejoices in the possession of a model Puck in Miss Vera St. John. We did nob think beforehand that this part could bo so well played. As she flitted about, Miss St. John did not seem to weigh an ounce, and she invested all her doings with the necessary mischievous merriment. To Miss Phyllis _ Maxwell, the singing fairv of the occasion, thanks are also due. *She seemed to be physically nebulous, and her singing was quite properly thin find unstudied) therefore much more effective than if she had sung as at a competition. The attendant fairies, personated bv Phyllis Scully, Jean Howard, Mariory Hocking, and Beatrice Ward (children who are the. pupils of Miss Aileen Beresford), sported about in a charming manner and danced very prettily. It was in one of the fairy scenes, too, that Mr Wilkie gave us his best acting Bottom, where he has the ass’s bead. The dialogue with the sprites was perfectly delicious, the awakening_ from the dream a fine display of histrionic art, and the whole scene pulsing with poetry. This evening we are to have "The Merchant of'Venice.’’