CLUB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14924, 29 August 1910, Page 6

CLUB

KING I-lENRY VIII. The great plays,_ wherein bluff King Hal, ths much-married monarch, and Wolsey aro the central figures, received able interpretation by members of the Duucdin Shakespeare Club on Thursday night, and was enjoyed by as largo an audience as the Burns Hall could hold. Somo additional lustra was shad on the proceeding's by a skilful address by the Rev. P. W. Fairclough, oil' "Shakespeare's Churchmen." The name part was faithfully rendered by Mr Osborn, who bestowed thought on the character, and gave his lines full value. Cardinal Woteey was conjured up to the lite by Mr lianlon, who, as usual, was excellent. Too much cannot bo said for the talent undoubtedly displayed by Miss C'ran, and in tho dialogue with Anno Bulloni—" and you would not be a Queen?"—it might be hazarded that off the Shakespearian stage has this jealous lady of the court found a more able exponent. . Miss Ford carried conviction in her presentation of Queen. Katharine. The. word "Bullen," first pronounced by Miss Short as chorus, did not find favour with some among the audience. There were smiles, and ono or two, " Anne Buliens?" "Never heard of her before." In this casu tho critics were stronger in history than in Shakuspaare. Tho former, hands down the name of Queen Katharine's maid of honour us Boleyn, the 'latter as Bullen. One of the best points of the evening was made in AVolsey's immortal speech beginning, Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness," whorein Mr Hanlon, Although very tired, surpassed himself. To Mr Reed was allotted two parts, that of the Earl of Surrey and of Brandon, Both wero taken remarkably well. Mr Reed has <1 good presence and a, clear, expressive enunciation. Mr Mazcngarb and Mr Vanes figured with pleasing ingenuity as tho respective Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk. Mr Brickell, as tho Duko of Buckingham, left little to be desired,'• and it was apparent that he thoroughly understood his pari. The parts of Cardinal Campoius and the Surveyor were well read by Mr Dcclia.ii and Mr Etheridge. Miss' Walton's idea of Anne Bullen was pleasing and artistic, and' Miss Short made a very capable chorus. The play was cut down, but with judgment. Tho greatest gaps were from Scene 3, Act I, to Scone 2, Act 11, and the whole of Act V. Songs by Miss .Gard'ncr and Mr Colin Grey were welcome additions to the programme. Mr Fnircloujh's address was as follows :— Shakespeare live:l in times of great theological fury; but. though l\o makes us acquainted with a whole synod of churchmen, high and low. lie tetrays no partiality. We cannot tell which side he is on. Ho notl'ing extenuates, nor sets aught down in malice. None of his clerics is a caricature. Me has no Tribulation Wholesome, and no Mr Stiggins. Sir Nathaniel, in " Love's Labour Lost," is " a foolish mild aian," absurd, but not Sir Oliver Mar-Text, in '"As You Like It," has a suggestive name, but that is nearly all there is of him. In " The Merry Wives" we have Sir Hugh Evam, the Welsh parson, drawn at full length—an amusing hut by no means contemptible figure. Like the French doctor, he ''abuses God's patienco anil the King's English." Ho is as peppery as the Frenchman, too, but a-s valiant us Fluellen. Falstaff alone does not like liini—which is no derogation. Tho poor man receives little help from his company. The friirs, in "Measure for Measure," "Much Ado," and "Romeo and Juliet," aro all leal, pious, shrewd, and kindly men.

Indeed. Shakespeare's friars aro far better {Vian his throe parsons. The friars live men of dignify and solid worth, bill the parsous are comedy' characters, with not as | much dignity in their joiiit, stock as would furnish forth a curate with a shoe string. Still,'they nro far from being objects of scorn. In the historical plays wo meet a wholo conclave cf great- churchmen, and they are by no means out to one pattern. Cardinal Pandnlph, in "King John," is bold and capable, a casuist, -a Machiavellian, and an Italian to his finger-tips. The Bishop of Carlisle, in " Richard II," is a blunt and fearless Englishman. He tries to whip tho invertebrate King to manly action, and when he fails, boldly denounces the usurpation of Bolingbroke to his face. Archbishop Scroop, in " Henry IV," is another type. He is a man who would take up arms with no intention of striking. I-le is proud of his rhetoric. Arms will secure him a hearing, and then all will bo won. Ho ; imagines he can convince a King. His epitaph might be: "A good man of his tongue, but a fool in things practical." In "Ilenry V" two ehurchly churchmen, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop, of Ely, are perturbed about a hill proposing to confiscate Church lands. The same bill would have passed in the late reign. "But that the scambling and unquiet times Did push it out of further question." Why, then, let us have - more scambling and unquiet times. Let us raise tho King I a 'handsome sum, and send him packing to claim duchies and provinces in tho vasty fields of France. Thus did tlwse wily churchmen let. slip tho dogs of war, and by giving a sop to Cerberus and ten thousand souls, to Pluto, keep their heritage intact. Cardinal Beaufort, in " Ilenry VI," is a little Borgia. Honourable 'men accuse him of tho opposite of overy virtue, and, as he appears on the stage, he is tho incarnate spirit of strife and of unscrupulous egotism. Ho stirs the rancours that led to the Wars of the Roses. He pursues the good Duke Humphrey, tho Protector, with implacable ami- iolid-moulhe-d hatred, and finally compassas his murder. Among Shal.-cspnare's churclm'cn ho is Satan enthroned, "by merit raised to that bad eminence." 110 makes a very suitable end, blaspheming and shrinking from Duke Humphrey's ghost. In 11 Henry VIII," the play of this evening, great churchmen fairly jostle one another on the stage. There are the Cardinals Wolsey and Cainpeius, and also Craumer and Gardiner. Cainpeius, as a mero oclio of Wolsey, may bo passed in silencc, but the other three de/naud a little study. Shakespeare's attitude towards the Re-fornia-tion is to be sought in this play. Nowhere else does our poet give us a clue as to which side he was on. Wlion this play was written many persons remembered . Craiuucr and Gardiner as well as President Lincoln is 'remembered now, and tho feeling they aroused were o\on more intense. Tho author of the play expected difficulty in getting it sanctioned, on account of nearness in time and tendomess of topic. There-is a peculiar, entry in the books of the Stationers' Company to the effect t-hu-t Nath. Butter is to have tho price " for his copy," " if ho got good allowance for" it, "and then procure the warden's hand to it for the entrance of it."- It is obvious, then, that any -references to forbidden topics would be veiled and disguised. A document, discovered and published within the present year, shows that for 10 years in his prime, Shakespeare lodged with a French Huguenot family, and was very intimate with them. With this clue wo turn to the play. Crnnmer was revered as a martyr by the great majority. Hence lie is presented with full-blown halo of sainthood on bis jiead. Ho is altogether too good to bo interesting—as meek and guilelois as a dove. Tho King, at sight of his disinterestedness, exclaims, "He is honest! lie is honest!" As a contrast to the truculent Gardiner, Craiuner is highly - effective. Cranmer is brought to trial, in the play, before Gardiner, who behaves like a Judge Jcllrics in browbjatinc and insulting his rival. I have no doubt this is intended as a counterfeit presentment of (Jranmer's trial for mercy under Queen Marv, and the audience would take it. so. As "it was adroit to make the King give Cranmer his character, so was ft adroit to make Wolsey doscribo Gardiner. Wclsey has just appointed him seeretarv to the King, and Campeius asks why Dr Race, his predecessor, had been superseded. To (his Wolsey replies: "He was a fool; for ho would needs be virtuous; tlia-t gocd fellow, if I command him, follows my appointment.; I will have none so near else." That is ■to say, he would not have a conscientious man eo near the King, and that is why ho put Gardiner there."" There is no • tint of Protestant prejudice in these situations, but the poet gets ihis shots home all the same. Cranmer is put up to be cheered and Gardiner to be hooted. Still more effective is the way in which the question of using the vulgar tongue in religion is introduced. The cardinals wait upon . Queen Katharine, the befit Catholic of the,m all, and Wolsey begins to''talk Latin. Kathenno breaks in with: "0 my good lord, no Latin. . . 1 ray speak "English. Here aro some wii\ thank you. . . . The .willingcst sin I ever yet committed ' May bo absolved in English." No doubt tho audience shouted at this sally, and gave it the wide application . that the pcct- intended. • AVolsoy is the chief centre of interest in this disjointed play, and he easily overtoils all other churchmen in Shakespeare, lie is a man' of humble origin, "a butcher's cur," Wiho has lived to clutch the golden 1? 5 V?. 1(1 ?' n ablc and v;i,ful King in the hollow of his hand. ■ His meteoric rise has earned the hatred of the great nobles, but no returns scorn for scorn and hate for hate. He schemes to impoverish them by the soilless .pomp of the "Field of Cloth of Gold. H e practises with their co:ilessors and dismissed servants to trump np capital charges against them. 110 extorts taxes to swell his own vast, private wealth, with which he hopes to purchase power at Rome. He trifles with international relations for his own ends, and finally' instigates the divorce of Katharine as a i of >;°venge against the Emperor, his nephew. 1 his is his lowest descent in meanness, and the contrast of her beautiful c.iaracter and pious spirit make hini hateful i" sP'tp of a 'l his grandeur and genius. »hen lie confronts that injured lady wo reminded of Satan in Paradise Lost coinronting tho good angel Zephon: ' " Abashed the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw \ irtue m her shape how lovclv, saw and pined His loss." Tho insolence of Wolsey is splendid. In the fete at White Hall'- he nlaces himself under canopy apart from his guests like ?. Sod. When ho is inciting Henry against Buckingham, the good Queen urges him to be charitable. Having succeeded in inllammg the King against the duke, he turns to the august lady with an impudent "Now, madam! Two great nobles are in presence "hen rtolsey and Ca-mpeius come in. Wolsey cast a sunorcilions irlance at tlio company and says: ' "I would your graco would give me but an hour . > Of private conference." The King says to the nobles, "We are busy. Go!' "This priest has no pride in him! says Norfolk. "Not to speak of," says Suffolk, and they go out gnashirig their teeth. Wolsey s magnificent liomilies on his own tall, which really show how much ho regretted it, have secured for him a sympathy winch nothing in his conduct dc?ervcd. It is reported of him in the nlay that ho found tho blessedness of being little"which was making a, virtue of necessity— anu that 'he died fearing God " —which was a violent change from how he had lived. Our play is rather overloaded with persons who become saints when there is nothing else for it.