Thoughts and Afterthoughts. By Herbert Beerbohm Tree. (Cassell and Co.
6s. net.)—In these collected papers Sir Herbert Tree shows no disposition to limit himself to his own special subject. On the contrary, he writes most amusingly upon many very different things, such as trade unions, the value of a University education, Boy Scouts, and the correct pronunciation of English. Not unnaturally, how- ever, most readers will turn rather to the pages in which he
defends at considerable length his own peculiar methods of stage-production in general, and especially of Shakespearean production. It is pleasant to be able to find more to sym- pathise with in his theories than in his practice. In some respects, no doubt, time (for some of these papers were written many years ago) has shown his mistakes. He could no longer maintain to-day, for instance, that "to perform any single one of Shakespeare's plays without excision at all would be to court failure instead of success." Experiment has proved the fact to be otherwise. But, on the other hand, few people would find anything to object to in this sentiment, "I say that, worthily to represent Shakespeare, the scenic embellishment should be as beautiful and costly as the subject of the drama being performed seems to demand; that it should not be subordinate to, but rather harmonious with, the dramatic interest, just as every other element of art introduced into the representation should be—whether those arts be of acting, painting, sculpture, music, or what not." It is rather in the means which Sir Herbert Tree adopts for accomplishing this end that he seems to be upon the wrong lines. His theory that "Shakespeare intended to leave as little to the imagina- tion as possible" in the way of stage decoration, and, his plea that "accuracy of detail, for the sake of perfect illusion, is necessary for us " will to-day be generally recognized as mistakes. And, indeed, in one of his "Afterthoughts" Sir Herbert Tree himself declares that the art of stage repre- sentation has rightly progressed lately in the direction of a greater simplicity. Perhaps the essay which is likely to arouse most criticism is the detailed study of Hamlet "front an actor's prompt-book." But it is bard to feel uncharitable towards an actor-manager who can polish his epigrams and his style to such good effect as does Sir Herbert Tree.
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