CIVIC RECEPTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15383, 21 February 1912, Page 2

CIVIC RECEPTION.

INTERESTING SPEECH BY MR 11. R. IRVING. Over 100 ladies ami Kontlomcn attended at (Jw Town Hall yesterday morning, when an official welcome was tendered to Mr H. B. Irving and his wife (Miss Dorothea Baird) liy his Worship the. Mayor (Mr Burnett) on brhalf of the ciliions of Dunrdin. His Worship said that when the* Shakos|wirian societies asked him to accord the dictincriiisltrcl ac-lor and his wifo ii civic reception he gladly fell in with the propinal. They welcomed thorn to their little city—not only for their own great merits, Imt also as a compliment to the memory of Mr Irving'* late father, whose distinguished (renins and exemplary Wo adde<l lustre to the profession he adorned. They also welcomed Mr Irvine a3 an author, scientist, mid a barrister of the Supremo Court of Greet Britain, but more es|>ooially as one who had hold up the, mirror to Nature and given us a noble presentment of thai subtle and mysterious character Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, drawn by the greatest dramatist of all time, whom wo in remote. New Zealand prouilly claimed as our countryman. Ho misted that Mr Irvine's stay in their city might prove a pleasant one, and hove tho (fleet of stirring up ilicir young people to a closer study of the groat classics of their country, and might, perhaps, awaken the genius of some mute inglorious Milton audcauso a New Z-ralandcr to produce some work worthy to cause him or her to be enrolled atiiotiL'st tho ranks of the immortals. —(Applause.)

Messrs T. W. Whitson .(president of the SlNikespoaro Club). A. Cohen, and A. 11. Burton also briefly addressed those present. tlie last-mimed gi'iiticman savins 'hat he was one of tho founders of "their Slnikes[>uarc Club, and that he awl Mr Whit'on were tho only two of the original members of tho club after the 3t years of its exi.-l-enoc.

-Mr Woodhouse said ho presumed the reason why he had been called upon to speak that day was because ho, to a certain degree, represented the two professions to which Mr Irving belonged, only tho two «l them hml inverted tlieir careers. Mr Irving first appeared at. tho bar, and finished ine stage; ho (tho speaker) first appeared on the stagH and cnu,d by'taking up the law. 110 (the speaker) had taken tho pari of a young girl on tlie stage (laughter) i's the law at that time d'd not allow women to go on the stage. When ho first came to Dtmedin ho was a member of a dramatic society which incluiM two members of his profession who had since been elected to the Supreme Court Bench, and two who had since been made K.C.'s. Unfortunately, tho society broke up through internal dissensions, but he felt it was o,iiito unnecessary for him to say that these dissensions had not been brought about by any of tho legal members of the society.— (Laughter.) During the last week two things had been looked forward to with most thrilling interest. One was tho arrival of Mr Irving, and tho other was the Speech from tho Throne at the meeting of Parliament.—(Laughter.) So far (is their visitor was concerned ho had arrived, and tl» realisation of his performances wan c<|iiat to, if it did not oxcc.xi, tho anticipations formed.—(Applause.) Cr Mtilling said he wished, as one of the City Council, and also of the learned profession to which Mr Irving belonged, to add a word or two by way of welcome to their distinguished visitor. The reflection that lmidrs being a member of the English Bnr be was also ono of tho leading actors on the English stage took ono back naturally coiougii to tho time now some 300 years ago, when wero written the plays, ono of which Mr Irving seemed to take a special pleasure in presenting, and in this connection it was, to him at least, of added interest that claim* that bad been made ns to tho atithoriship of those plays sought to gh-o tiro honour to a man who wns himself a. member of the English liar. Hn could not help thinking thai, if Sir Francis Bacon worn in the llesh again to-day and chose to put forward ami make good his claim in the connection he had s|>okcn of, ho would prefer to rest his claim to genius on that authorship rather than on his career ns a statesman, a Lord Chancellor of England, and a great philosophical writer. Perhaps lie might remind tho audience of tho fact that for hundreds of years in the history of England it was usually tho Bar that in everyday life stood between State and individual, oppressor and oppressed, might and right. Cont'miiinpr. lh<> speaker said that it was since tho days of Shakespeare- ami Bacon that the ador had step|x>d quite, n Ion? way forward, though probably it was only during the last century that he had conic into' his own. Many causes liad conspired together to help him. Amongst them the spread of education and knowledge, not forgetting llio inlluenre and support of the hist, two occupants of the Throne, ami the consequent |Kitroniifje of a larco section of people, and undoubtedly also tho genius of a Rre.it, number of the profession, including the late Sir Henry, Mr Irvine's father—(Applause). On rising to reply Mr Irving was received with loud applause. Ho siid l )e and his wife wero very gratified at tho honour which had been shown them in tho cities of Now Zealand which thev had visited It had boon stated of tho elder Pilt Hint when he was at the height of his fame he made n journey through England, and that gold boxes were showered upon him with reckless profusion. He did not know that gold boxes had been showered on them, hut they had had civic receptions lavished upon them in the colonies in tho sumo manner that the cldei' Pitt had had the gold boxi* given to hiui. While perfectly appreciating the welcome given them in the cities they bed played in. lm had felt that there Into been two other reasons for it besides tlie wish lo encourage tliem in tiuii art. Firstly, as one of liiu shakers hud said, it was the. result of the tame won hy his father Me fouiul it » most delightful ci renin.' tnuec to know mat thu memory of hj s father lived with such force and such vigour out here not only in tho minds of tnoso who lud seen him ocung, but. ft |so amongst tho-e wno had not. ft made him (the speaKc l'egl'Ot (as he knew hU father had regretted) that .Sir Henry Irving had never been ablo to vi,it these eoimuies. Another reason,' he Jolt, why ihey had .diown iliem such sv;iip..t,iy since tuoy had been out hero was a. uesire to evince respect lor the profession to which they belonged. It Had struck huu very mueii, both i„ Australia and in Now Zealand, t 0 |i„ t | 60 | iu|( . .„.,,.„ dico (.gainst tho theatre-prejudice which the stage had had to liu'itt in their own country in tho past, and in a |e« degree to lignt still. Tlie people out hero regarded then- important profession with a j,ev,, irtsn, and iK-e vision, and saw that I lie t licit ru was a great power for good and that dramatic entertainment did no harm to tJiein.-(" Jlear, hoar.") '['he speaker went on to refer to tho diihculties wnrh stood in the way of securing a national inealro in England, and said if jt ever wero erected it woir.d be by private entonm.se owing to the stage there having to contend with the Nonconlonnist conscience. Ihough, however, they had ilm Nonconformist* out here, ho did not think that Uiey had quite tho taiim sort of «>iiscmiice as existed i» England. i; 0 \ UH \ , )0 doubt, that if a, movement, wore slatted in tho cities in tho colonic,, to secure Stato-i endowed theatre* it would ,„cet with little opposition \ Itl , MpK!l , 0 hJs w ; he Bar. he hud the better of M r Woodhouse in that gentleman's career on the stage. Ho had never made a p U l,|j c ,-,.,. pcarance at the Bar. laughter ) At least he could say he had darted a profcssKiu ho h,.d never tried. He wuld not say why Mr Woodhmi*. had doeiled i),e stage, nor why he had" not been successful in the performance of tlwso roles tvhicj. ]~, bad wwyctl. As, however, t | 10 davs had gone bv when the characters of fadi* w ,„c taken by young gentlemen, he was afraid he could not offer Mr Woodhmi* ai. oppor(unity, which ho would otherwise have liivn pleased to have done, of returning to the l"s wife.would allow him to take the |«irt 01 Ophelia for ono night. If l, ow . ever Mr Woodhouse felt that (hat part was a little too young perhaps, under the circumstances, he would come on and p|,us (Hamlets) molhor.~(Loud Lindner) Reverting to tho subject of the law the speaker .-aid ho would like lo allude (/, the Bacon-Mukes-jware controversy as v, the authorship of Shakespeare's play- referred to by Mr .Stilling. Mr Stilling' bd old then, that. .„ the past tho Bar Wl between the oppr ( ..-,r,r and the oppressed but at tho same time he (the speaker) knev' just enough of that profession to be aware that, wlnla that was so, its monilK-rs always out in a thoroughly lucrative wav-thcy ,|j,| Rq (|o , hi for nothing-(Liughter.) He had learnt that whilst he was studying for the Bur. I hat [act swined one uf the m * t powerful arguments against the Bacon authorship <.f the plays. They knew Bacon was a lawyer and nl-o inipectinions-(!aii(;htor),-,-uid 'elthough he might ha.-e allowed SLaktup-a."i. to put his name on the plays, he would never have allowed him to have made ;.i| the money which lie undouk'-dlv bad done 1 out of the plays. -fUugliler.) There were other arguments against the Bacon theorv. I but. to his mind, this was erne of the mo-t eonchhive.—(Laughter.) I]c> had been told tliat the theatre was not

very popular in Duncdin nml llial ho must not expect too much when licro. lie had been ns pleasantly disappointed as possiblo in regard to that statement. Ho had found as geiwrons support here, and ns great enthusiasm, as in any city ho had visited in Australia or Now Zealand. Ho wns persuaded of this—that if Duncdin had not in thn past supported the thcatro in the way that other cities had. il. wns simply becnuse the theatre had not given Duncdin what. it wanted, He wis very happy t<> find that hen* there was so jjrrM appreciation for what was highest in Iho drama. Continuin;,', the s|>caker said Shakespeare wrote his playo to lit? acted; Shakespeare was an actor himself—was a journeyman dramatist to a great oxtenU Many of his plays wero old plays retouched by the hand of genius. Their efforts today should be directed to put his plays on the stage in such a way that the characters should live .'is actual I've human l>eiiigs. Referring to the idea that Sh'ikespenre was popularly considered as an instrument for school instruction and that he was a means for a-ademic declamation, he said he thought iho (school teaching of the pcet wns a question which should be very seriously considered. SliakespeaTO wns given 10 the young children as a task, mid, speakinjj for himself, he knew the effect was to nuke Shakespeare as literature distastefid to the young, lie thought it was rather a pity that the children were not taught to regard this literature, as a work of art, as a story told by a great dramatist, a story of live human characters, ami as soriicthine they should follow out with more than academic interest. In connect ion with the teaching of Shakespeare hi' hud had people come to him here and a*.fc him t<> listen to them reciting |>arts of the poet's work. Certainly he had been .'truck by the clearne.-s with which they spoke and the intelligence with which the lines ueie delivered. What was wanted most, however, was to make the characters live. In many eases they spoke tho lines correctly—ion correctly—so thai nothing was conveyed b.ii only how correctly they were speaking. Elocution was a very fine, and necessary thing it its way, but he ventured to say that if the. lines were spoken ?o automatically in the theatre by a company of actors, most of the people would leave after the first net. The history of great tfliakespt-arian tutors, surli ns (inrrick in "_ Richard 111," Kean in ''Shylock," and his father in ''Hamlet," showed that these actors owed their success to (lie breaking awav from the heavy mannerisms and traditions of tho pnsi. and because they showed people something more human than they had ovor srou before. Thai had been the history of Shakespeare on the stage in later jtnrMs soon as thry had been given something human and living the public had shown with no unccrtainncss that that was what they wanted. After all, he said, ShakcsjK>are appealed to the hearts and minds of the people, and it was through their heart* and emotions that they wero reached in th« theatre. Winwas it that tho play of " Hamlet" lived perhaps more than any other of Shakespeare's plays? Not becoueo of the problem whether he was insane. If an audience thought that Hamlet was insane they would never come to the theatre at all.' ]f an audience thought they woro to sit through the ravings of a madman for five acts they would not attend tho performance. Why then did Hamlet appeal to the he.iils and minds of every man and woman? localise there was not one of them who was not at one time or another faced with some of the diflinullics which had besot tho Danish Prince. Some might overcome their difficulties; some, like Hamlet, might fail; but whether they succeeded or failed tho effort was one lhat was given to most men and women in their lives.—(Applause.) The speaker concluded a most interesting speech by again referring to the heartv welcome he had recoived whilo in tho colonies, and sat down amidst loud and continued applause