SPRING SUNSHINE [" As You LIKE IT "—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE—THE OLD
VIC.] WHEN Mr. Robert Atkins, accompanied by the good wishes of grateful thousands, left the Waterloo Road to seek new fields to conquer, there were dark mutterings that Mr. Andrew Leigh, his successor, known up till that time only as a comic actor of merit (his Aguecheek was a fine piece of fooling) would be too inexperienced a producer to get the best out of the various elements that make up the Old Vic Company. Mr. Leigh set all doubts on that score quickly at rest, and has proved himself a worthy pupil of a great master—which must not be taken to mean that his productions lack an individuality of their own. In As You Like It, the latest play of the present season, Mr. Leigh has surpassed himself. Here is not one single blind spot ; not a false note : none of the rough edges that marred the performance I saw of Julius. Caesar a short while ago. All is sunshine and frolic ; the ripe philosophy of the ages and a " Hey Nonny Nonny." I would like especi- ally to commend Mr. Leigh : (1) for his beautifully restful curtains ; (2) for the softness of his lighting and the results achieved by it without flinging crazy shadows across the faces of his players ; and (3) for his good taste in retaining Mr. Roger Quilter's entirely suitable incidental music. The costumes designed by Mr. John Garside, who gave one of his tender little studies as Old Adam, were, as always, a delight to the eye. All the world across the bridges, where, believe me, Shakespeare seems more alive than ever, was agog to know what its new favourite would make of Rosalind. I was not, at first, quite happy about Miss Edith Evans. Queerly enough, she often has this effect upon me. Then I find myself bounding out of my seat with admiration for the perfection of her art, particularly when her art leads her to have a game with a man. There were moments of great loveliness in her Rosalind. Mr. Baliol Holloway, who at long last has come into his own, has never done anything better than his Melan- choly Jaques. How Shavian, if Mr. Shaw would only see it, do the epigrams of this glorious creature sound to our modern ears ! I don't think that the members of the present Old Vic Company have ever been better suited by their parts. Mr. Duncan Yarrow was delightful as Touchstone ; Miss Nell Carter very charming as Celia. Mr. Frank Vosper, out- ward bound, to his great honour, from the West End, is a tremendous acquisition ; a romantic actor of his calibre has been wanted foi some time. He has not yet got the pitch of the theatre, and is inclined either to shout or to whisper, but
this is onlya matter of sufficient experiment. The Old Vic has already taken him to its warm heart; his spirited performance as Orlando will seal the bond. In short, then, an enjoyable evening such as one spends all too seldom in the theatre. Mr. Leigh's next production (and the first of this play at the Old Vic) will be The Shoemaker's Holiday, by Thomas Dekker. This Elizabethan farce has not been seen in London for many, many years, though we rollicked through it at Oxford in 1913. It should prove an interesting production, for though the play is not of much importance from the literary point of view, it is a great lark, and I should advise all parents who want to keep their boys out of mischief during the Easter holidays,
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