The Boom in Bardolatry
By CHRISTIAN DEELMAN
TRATFORD-UPON-AVON is a tawdry, grasping
place, redeemed by pockets of worthwhile scholarly and theatrical activity. Though brew- ing and a few other industries thrive there, the life-blood of the town's economy is the endless stream of trippers which pours in year after year. People who would never think of reading Shakespeare, or even of attending a performance of one his plays, gawp at much-restored Eliza- bethan buildings, and buy horrible knick-knacks with which to commemorate their visit. The townsfolk react with an unendearing mixture of pride, resentment and acquisitiveness. The last predominates, and the laudable work of the Birthplace Trustees and of the Royal Shakes- peare Theatre is swamped by the plethora of tasteless demands for patronage in the name of the bard, hurled at the visitor from every shop- window, café and hotel.
Periodically, as anniversaries come around, the perpetual gabble swells to a crescendo, and a jubilee is held. The biggest yet began this week, on the 400th birthday. To house the main celebra- tions, a massive pavilion has been erected on the banks of the Avon. In this, the festivities will come to a climax with a ball. In the church, on Sunday, a musical work in honour of Shakes- peare will be performed. And, for a rather longer spell, a huge £100,000 exhibition of Shakespeare's life and works will be displayed in yet another riverside pavilion. (It is typical that the main attraction will not be Shakespeare's words and characters at work upon a stage, but cardboard models and recorded excerpts.) To their great credit, the Birthplace Trustees are making their contribution in a less ephemeral form: the one new thing about the whole festival is the opening of a permanent Shakespeare Centre, for the study and propagation of the plays. It alone deserves whole-hearted applause.
For the extraordinary thing about the main celebrations is that they follow a much-derided pattern which is as old as the Shakespeare cult itself. Not only the events, but the attitudes of the inhabitants, are repeating the experiences of the past. It was local pride which drove the town into a frenZy when an unpleasant clergy- man cut down Shakespeare's mulberry tree in 1756. It was cynical greed which led Torn Sharp to carve the wood into mementoes, and to begin the great local industry.
Today the main concern of the council seems to be to get as great a return as possible from the visitors for as little outlay as can be managed. They have tried to peg their contribu- tion to the proceedings at £6,000. Most of the ordinary citizens are dividing their energies be- tween private grumbling and public profit- making.
All this goes right back to the very first festival, the great Shakespeare Jubilee which the actor David Garrick organised in 1769. It came about largely by accident. The council had rebuilt the Town Hall, and were anxious to ornament it at no cost to themselves. After months of two- faced negotiations, they made Garrick the first Freeman of the town, in return for the promise of a statue of Shakespeare. They got more than they bargained fdr. Garrick-celebrated the open- ing of the building with a gigantic three-day festival, to which he attracted almost everybody of any fame, and a good many nobodies besides. The ambitious events centred around a tem- porary pavilion on the banks of the Avon. 'They began with an oratorio in the church, and came
to a climax with a masked ball. And the main spectacular attraction was a huge Shakespeare pageant in dumb show: cardboard and mimed excerpts. Not a single word of Shakespeare was spoken.
Much of the festival was a success. James Boswell in particular has left very vivid accounts of the flamboyant happenings. But on the second day the heavens opened, the pageant was washed out, and the masked ball ended up at six in the morning with the revellers swimming for their lives from a pavilion marooned in the midst of Avon floods. According to Stratford tradition, it has rained every year on April 23 since then.
In spite of the derision with which the great Shakespeare Jubilee was greeted, a precedent had been established. This was the start of the or- ganised cult of Shakespeare. The history of Stratford since 1769 is little more than the growth of this religion. And the mandatory ritual for anniversaries is Garrick's. Three major jubilees, and several lesser ones, took place before the next really massive celebration. All stuck closely to Garrick's model. At the first of these, in 1816, it rained; in 1827 it hailed and snowed. Mean- while, Stratford flourished, until in 1847 profiteer- ing got so out of hand that the Shakespeare busi- ness was nationalised. The Birthplace Trust was created. It bought (and promptly restored out of all recognition) Shakespeare's house, and began the excellent curatorship of Shakes- pearian properties which it still maintains.
The tercentenary in 1864 lasted for two weeks, and once again took its basic framework from Garrick's plans. But by now public scorn was having some effect and, in spite of incredible mismanagement by the committee, several Shakespeare plays were actually produced. It was in this year that Stratford once and for all estab-
lished its claim to be the party place: the rival London celebrations were totally eclipsed. The pavilion this time was 'in form a regular dodecagon, being as near an approach to a per- fect amphitheatre as the mechanical arrangement of the materials (all timber) used in its con- struction would permit.' For once, the weather held. Among the many memorable events was a banquet at which each of the dishes bore a Shakespearian caption. It must have been alarm- ing to eat French Raised Pies which bore the inscription: 'They are both baked in that pie: Titus Andronicus: In a burst of penny-pinching highmindedness• the committee had cut out the pageant. It was a mistake. The townspeople, true to tradition, scoffed at oratorios, dances and dinners. But 3 pageant was quite another matter. A Mr. Gimlet. manager of a touring circus, was co-opted by 3 group of rebel townsmen and, with his aid, the official offerings were put to shame by the im- promptu home-made pageant. It is odds on that local opinion will be solidly in favour of Mr. Buckle's 1964 exhibition.
The second great turning-point in Stratford's history was in 1864, for the tercentenary inspired the gallant and almost single-handed campaign by Charles Edward Flower which ultimately re- sulted in the Memorial Theatre. Today the theatre is open for the greater part of each year and that is where Shakespeare's fame is trulY preserved. But nothing can stop the enthusiasts holding their parties, and each year the birthday' celebrations grow bigger. In 1908, for instance. a brand-new tradition was invented, when die flags of the nations were unfurled in Bridge. Street for the first time. No doubt something new will be added this year, too. It all seems some- thing of a waste of time and money: but at least all the eager visitors pay something to see the Shakespeare properties and, if only indirectlY, support the acting and the study of the poet masterpieces.
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