The O.U.D.S. Jubilee performance (a real golden jubilee) was a
notable affair. I found all Oiford talking of it, and a good deal of ex-Oxford came up to see it. The fact that the New Theatre, which holds close on 2,000, was packed every night, may be interpreted, I suppoSe, as approval of the choice of Hamlet, though I should have thought. the O.U.D.S. had played Hamlet a little too often in late years. The production as a whole was slick, beauti- ful, and for the most part unpretentious. Mr. Coghill, the amateur producer, should have insisted on a higher standard of audibility (Mr. Adamson's humorous and re- strained performance as " Polonius " was much too difficult to hear) ; and it is presumably he that must answer for the maddening monotony of Miss Isobel Scaife's " Gertrude " ; but on the whole he did distinctly well. He nearly succeeded in making a " Hamlet " out of the unlikely material of Mr. Glenville's voice and hearing. Mr. Glenville battled on gamely against odds, and gave a performance of which any amateur Might be proud. Mr. Morny's " Ghost " came nearer to perfection than anything else in the play, and the performance as a whole was not merely up to standard but well above it.
* * *
Previous page
