NOVEL PERFORMANCE

Southland Times, Issue 20010, 26 October 1926, Page 8

NOVEL PERFORMANCE

SHAKESPEARE IN GERMAN. “MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.” PRODUCTION AT HEIDELBERG. Oberon’s Speech with the familiar line. “In maiden meditation fancy free,” seems, in the words of Sir Sidney Lee, “Literally to report one of the scenic pageants with which the Earl of Leicester entertained Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Kenilworth in 1575.” The idea of one of those pageants was behind the interesting and novel performance of a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” given a few weeks ago in the famous courtyard of the ruined castle of Heidelberg, Germany. A correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph describes the production as follows:

From Shakespeare and his royal patroness to the Schloss of the Electors Palatine is not so far a cry as might appear at first sight. It was a daughter of the Virgin Queen’s successor and the namesake, who, by marrying Friedrich V. of the Palatinate, continued the British succession to the House of Hanover. Her name and nationality are still commemorated by a large plain building which, in its ruined state, is one of the least picturesque features of the castle, , and also by a delicately sculptured ornamental gate. It was in her day that John Spender’s company of players paid a long visit to the codrt of Heidelberg, though this was not the first time that English actors had appeared there. The performance, the first of nine to be given as the chief feature of a drama festival, proved to be an exceedingly promising experiment. The most critical could not resist the influence of such a genius loci, and it would be difficult to find a spot better qualified to supply an “atmospheric” background for the Dream. As the centre of the stage was taken a gentle grassy incline, falling away from a picturesque clump of trees and bushes which surrounds a well in the south-eastern corner of the courtyard. This patch of lawn was extended both to the sides and the rear by plank slopes, steps and platforms, thickly covered with fresh moss and masked by foliage. The ornate Renaissance facade of Otto Heinrich’s building formed a very effective, permanent back cloth, the delicate tints of its red standstone toning well under the artificial illumination with the foliage of the trees in front.

Though not precisely in the line of the stage, the thickly-wooded summit of the Geisberg, towering above the southern gateway, first to trailing and threatening clouds, but later, happily, to a starry sky, was not the least potent element in the play’s staging. A graded auditorium, with over a thousand seats, had been discreetly built up on the western side of the courtyard, and despite the menace of the weather, it was absolutely crowded out. This is the height of Heidelberg’s holiday season, and a good many British and American tourists were among the audience. Naturally, the dream was’ given without any change of scene, but, as this experience once more proved, an appropriate monotony of setting does not in the least disturb the dramatic illusion. Indeed, one realised anew how futile is elaborate scenic variation in comparison with more or less neutral surroundings which suggest the fitting mood. Nor was anything lost by the comparative simplicity of the costumes, the desired aesthetic effect being obtained by groupings and movements of 150 young girls who appeared, now as court pages, now as fairies and elves. Their first entry with torches down the staired ramp leading from the central door of Otto Heinrich’s building was particularly striking. The action was carried through without any break, and, beginning just after half-past-eight, finished on the stroke of eleven.

On the interpretation it would be superfluous to dwell. Perhaps over none of Shakespeare’s plays do British and German ideas differ so much as with regard to this essentially lyrical and fantastical piece. On English minds jarred an obvious endeavour to give it a substantiality and realism which it was certainly never intended to possess: Therefore, the horseplay of the “rude mechanicals,” where this objection did not tell, seemed the best feature of the acting. Nor would the stager of the play, Gustav Hartung, find much British ap--proval for its discarding Mendelssohn’s exquisitely appropriate—from our standpoint—incidental music in favour of the studied subtleties of some contemporary Czech composer. The cast was an elite one drawn from the State and municipal theatres of Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Frankfurt and other towns. The performance was very appreciately applauded.