Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

allow Orlando to outshine the usurper, v.iio might be expected
to take an interest in such matters? In addition to these
querieo, Godv.in offered the opinion thrt tiie forcct oet was
too cumbersome, -olio stage being too much occupied by "building
out", with a resulting reduction in the size oi' the acting
area, "rendering some of the movements extremely ackward".
In a later article Godwin drew attention to the revival
as sym-tonatic of a failing in contonnorary theatre more
serious t/ian the carelessness cliovn in details of production:
fhe fact is, the cu^nly >f actorr, though plentiful
enough, is bed, and the more : chci.-irly and o,rtiatic
your oeenery and surroundings, th>: aorc evident doeo
tliir: unwelcome fact become - thrt there is no
school of acting in ^nrland,
(5 September 1885)
;tcvi'.jv/cra of the first ^crformvnce were as pee&imiotic, and
oh'.'v;, in a letter to ,/illiam Archer, said that he hoped never
to see again "cuch -11 round abject, ri by anal, bottomless incompetence"
7
* The ftilure coulcl not be attributed oimply to
the 6.esi ;'^aor» or to 3, current tendency to aurj^oct lavishnesa
in rtoging, but to serious r.liortcomings in the cormany.
ii« The Performance
The evidence u^on which an ?ccoiint of t.;io l- r'5 c '_ ou
cm be bacorl ic limited to t;io nc\va riaper °ro na r as;inc notices,
and the -roblichcr?. acting edition: no .pron t co-oy lias come to
light, ftj.ivl'ielc/ ir.; )if; bricaiiia of T.ac^ Pall _--yll >la>-ic bte
cor.vesponclent, cl^l.nc'1' that the text v o V be thrt of acroar>r,
"with cuch o lenclctionL 1 and r Iterations /.;: v..crc thoualit most
effective", bat this £oatv.rc tov.T.rcic tradition does not ceem
n-ach to the point, for the treatment of the -Ipy ic no ^oro
or loco ruti'lccs than that of -ffios v.itton's 1880 p.'o- u^tion at
the ln-orir'l ihcrtrc - the moot recent metropolitan production
of any irnortance. The ^onc'rlt ' text :lvcc the nloy in five
acts, vrith come trj-ncoositions and the o icrion of one complete
scene - 11,2, in y/hich the ucurning I-ulre l