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

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pliy for our young folks" (20 December 1& (>). The complaints
of Jha,. end Arcner th t Benson inserted superfluous, dra,;ling
syllables ( "ttot Hermi, but Hele;iar 1 love") and Scott's
censure . er^ criticisms of him in the aspects of his ert ..hich
he most vtlued. His revival which included portions of the
text xvhich had not be~n her.rci since P helps, was praisec lor the
qualities aimed ct by Saker rnd Oscar Barrett.
Adhering to his principle of giving plays in repertoire,
Benson took A. Midsummer Night »s Dream off the bills, anc
substituted The Taming of the ^hre. on 23 J:.naery. The move was
not a vise one :
Lven the leniency justly due to Ix reason f s
youth, earnestness, and bold endetv ur, crnnot
prevent our confessing that this performance
. . .was deficient in breadth, body and comedy
tone.
(The &r_a. 25 January 1890 J
The pity, although treated as farce, va- "laboriously uninteresting".
Archer tempted to compare the revival v,ith that
of Dcly, deciaec that such a comparison Wjulci be "too cruul"
(The Worftd, 29 January 1890). The pi- y failed to ora« audiences,
and spoiled the business of A Midsummer Wight's M'o^m. Hamlet.
produced on 6 March, did little to improve matters, being ov r-
long (from eight until five past midnight) and inccie ;uat ly
cct-'C. \vedmore found Benson "a university m n who h;s t; ken
pains" and wondered whether he could be saidi to possess "the
poetry, imagintotion, gr;c_, ease and sense oi rhythm" cenanded
by the part (The Academy » 15 March 1690). The
Review, desperately charitable, pronounced t.,e nev Hamlet
"thoroughly interesting sometimes in consequence, rcthei tatn
in spite of, the mistakes" (15 Kt-rch 1890) - hardly a n ;tice
to attract playgoers. Othello follov.ec on 24 April: its
st; t.ing W£-s "neat, artistic, and pictures iue, but rot weightily
elaborate", but such en undertaking v here Irving, in I6bl, had
failed v,as "most courcgeous, n^t to say r sii" (The Era, :6 /..jri
1890).
Not only did it seem thct Benson *s succes- . ith A kid s
. i hed been of a kind he did net ..elcono, out tht t
his season was d. indling into prot^er of the s > orcciic attempts