THE THEATRE.
SHAKESPEARE'S "TWELFTH NIGHT" AT THE KINGSWAY.
IN common probably with a good many other people, I wished that Mr. Donald Calthrop had not chosen Twelfth Night as the first play of his Shakespeare season. It is the play that is the most constantly seen in London; almost every line of it has been dragged out and made into a quotation, and every book of theatrical reminiscences is full of side-splitting recol- lections of Sir This and Lady That as Olivia, Malvolio, or Viola or Orsino tripping over mats, drying up, coining spooner- isms or going on in someone else's wig. It seemed a little depressing that a new voice should try over this too well- known air. But this carper, at least, was soon converted. What a delightful play it is, after all! As for the Kingsway performance, it was charming. The production is fresh, merry and spontaneous, and there are a mu:Fiber of extremely good actors in it—more good actors than good acting as a matter of fact. On the other hand, nothing was for a moment jarring or out of tone. The play was acted lightly, cheerfully and efficiently, and what the cast lost of the poetry they made up by a complete absence of sentimentality and over solemnity. Miss Voila Tree as Olivia looked beautiful, especially in the last act, and the scenes with Miss Dorothy Cheston as Viola were delightfully given by both actresses. Miss Cheston makes Viola a gallant, charming girl. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to enjoy the poetry of the part as she might, and her performance is therefore of only one half of the part of Viola. Mr. Frank Cellier was an admirable Sir Toby Belch, a retired ancien militaire, as dignified as drunk, and entirely credible as the uncle of the stately but ardent Olivia. Mr. Baliol Holloway as Malvolio, beyond making himself up to look like Abraham Lincoln, acted the part in an admirable, serious, dry and straightforward way. The Sea Captains were delightful, and Mr. Henry Caine's Feste was charmingly acted. I wished though that he would wear a wig or a cap or else let his hair grow longer. His head was an anachronism. Miss Sydney Fairbrother as Maria was a goblin instead of the usual soubrette, which gave a tang to the part, while Mr. Pittar was delightful as the round, cheerful bear-baiter. Perhaps what was most refreshing about the acting was the sense that for once the actors had not said to themselves what a great part Malvolio, or Feste, or Viola was, and how they were going "to show the world." In the past Twelfth Night has lost so much by the stretching and straining into a collection of big parts of a play essentially light and charming.
The music, like the poetry, did not quite come off, but I for one would far rather do without it than have the too familiar sense given by many productions of "eating caramels to excess in a moonlit church."
With the scenery and dresses I was a little disappointed, having hoped much from Mr. Norman Wilkinson after his amazingly beautiful production of The Faithful Shepherdess. The suggestion of straight, clipped hedges and the marble scat of Olivia's garden were charming. At the end there was a crowd of beautiful lanterns on long staves. There were some delightful black and white dresses worn by Olivia's ladies and two long dressing-gown garments worn by "lords, ladies and attendants" which were admirable.
But the colour schemes and combinations I thought insufficiently considered, the waiting women's gauze dressing- jackets a misfortune, and the stage pictures often a little muddled as to lighting and colour. In fine, we should have been grateful for the decor of this play from almost anybody but Mr. Wilkinson. Perhaps he is keeping his big effort for A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is to be produced at matinees at the Kingsway beginning on Tuesday, November 13th. Team. •
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