IMPROVING SHAKESPEARE

New Zealand Tablet, 18 April 1912, Page 62

IMPROVING SHAKESPEARE

A company playing ‘ Hamlet ’ was forced to find an actor to play the second grave digger on account of the illness of the second comedian of - the ..company. The only actor available was a variety performer who had no reverence for Shakespeare, and no respect for the traditions of the classic drama. . The second gravedigger was a comedy part, and he knew that he could ■ get away with it.’ " When _ the first grave-digger threw off the waist coat, revealing another underneath, the audience tittered. The removal of - the second waistcoat brought a loud laugh, and the third produced a roar. The first grave-digger was delighted. : He had never played to such an appreciative audience, and visions of good notices in the papers and a possible increase in salary began to loom up before his eyes. As he threw off the fourth waistcoat, he turned partially around, and the cause of the. unusual hit was disclosed to him. , ~ : The second grave-digger, being accustomed to build laughs on lines and business of ; other , actors,, saw his opportunity and seized, it., ' As, fast as the first gravedigger would throw the waistcoats on the ground, the variety comedian would pick them up and put them on. The new business was much funnier to the audience than the old, with which it was thoroughly familiar. , 1 ■ Not content with having stolen the laughs, from the regular comedian in his the new man went further. When the first grave-digger said to him, ‘ Go, get thee to Vaughan ; fetch me a stoup of liquor ’ (to which there is no reply in the text), the assistant sexton replied* '' ‘Vaughan told me to tell you that you couldn’t have any more liquor from him till you paid for the last you got.’ ' ; ;;;