Shakespeare Beats Depression

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19578, 26 August 1933, Page 12

Shakespeare B eats Depression

REMARKABLE SEASON IN UNITED STATES

Shakespeare has survived all the depression effects suffered by the theatre in New York, and continuously held his own since last November 18. True, his light, if not literally hidden under a bushel, has not shown refulgently on Broadway. When the season opened at the Jolson Theatre, rechristened the Shakespeare Theatre, on Seventh Avenue near Fifty-ninth Street, the critics turned away more or less cavalierly from “Mid-summer Night’s Dream.” “The chances for the theatre’s success were intimated as of the slimmest,” writes Ben Washer in “The Morning Telegraph" (New York). But the story he has to tell recounts perhaps the longest Shakespearean season ever held in New York: “The Julius Hopp who is in charge of the undertaking bothered little about the whys and wherefores on Broadway. He made contacts with this and that school, with that and this culture club and with the host of Shakespearian devotees who thrill to hear the Bard’s lines spoken in any way whatsoever. His cast co-operated, continued to work for next to nothing. “The owners of what used to be the Jolson Theatre would listen to reason—and it is pleasant to report, on this fine April day, which is the week of Shakespeare’s 369th birthday, that The Shakespeare Theatre is still muchly under way, that it has weathered the New York winter as well as the moratorium, and that next week it will get around to adding ‘King Lear’ to its repertoire. “Fourteen of Shakespeare’s plays have been brought to life on upper Seventh Avenue. ‘Midsummer Night's Dream’ was given twenty-two performances; ‘The Comedy of Errors,’ six; ‘As You Like It,’ thirteen; ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ twenty-three; 'Twelfth Night,’ thirteen; ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ nine; ‘Julius Caesar,’ twenty; ‘The Merry Wives of Widsor,’ fifteen; ‘The Tempest,’ nine; ‘Othello,’ ten; ‘Hamlet,’ fourteen; ‘Macbeth,’ twenty-two; ‘The Taming of the Shrew,’ eleven, and 'Romeo and Juliet,’ thirteen. “The 200th performance

took place last light when ‘Othello’ was performed. “And now they are rehearsing ‘King Lear,’ with Curtis Cooksye in the title role, and James McColl as Edmond. “As far as we are concerned, there is something heartening about it all. As each year progresses, Shakespeare seems to live with increasing vitality. “That’s why we want to know why The Theatre Guild has given up its idea of producing Talbott Jennings’ ‘This Side Idolatry,’ which has to do with the youth of this same Will Shakespeare.” Mr. Brown of the New York “Evening Post” answers a critic of his reviews of three of the performances in repeating that he “personally would prefer never to see Shakespeare acted than to have him acted as they play him. He merits something more than good intentions.”