BENSONIA."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1569, 12 October 1912, Page 14

BENSONIA."

HALCYON DAYS WITH SHAKE. SPEARE.

OSCAR ASCHE KEMINISCENT.

"Ho wasn't, nor isn't, a teacher of . Shakespearan or euy other fonn of act- j nig. nut Jie was a terrific enthusiast— \ the greatest I havo ever met. Is'othiug-.' can bo achieved without enthusiasm, and whatever ho may have achieved—for he was never what you would call a great actor—is attributable to that."

The speaker was Mr. Oscar Aeche, and the person referred to was Mr. 1 , . K. Benson, who for twenty years or more was tho head of the finest Shakespearean school which tho world has known. Interest was lent the subject by tho news that Mr. Benson has been recently engaged to arrange tho big historical pageant to bo performed at the opening of the San Francisco Exhibition in 1915.

"In its best days," Eaid Mr. Aschc, from twenty to, say, eight years ago, the company waa the finest that has been seen. In Mr. Geo. Weir he had the best clown the stage has seen—his Dogberry, what a performance! Then there was Alice Denville, excellent in old women parts, and a very fine Mistress Quickly in 'The Merry Wive?/ , Not as ' good, mind you, as ilhs Bessie Major ! with me now. Miss Major (who, by the '• way, is a sister of Mrs. Robert Brough) is the best Mistress Quickly I linvo even seen. Then there was l'rank Rodney (juvenile), Lyall Sweet, Henry Ainley, : Hignett (with me now), and myself, and others—a good, capable lot. ' "Thirty-five Bob a Week," ,"Wo all got small salaries—l started with Benson at thirty-five bob a week, . and thought myself luckly. They were

good days. Mr. Benson 1 could not conscientiously say was a teacher—yet the company was unquestionably ' a great school. Originally, you know, Benson took tho company over after Walter Bentley dropped it. Ho at that time was playing small parts, but he had a .little money, and offered to carry on as' long as it lasted. It went on and on, ■and Benson's hundreds did not come to an end, and after a time it picked up and made a lot of money. Benson's start as a big part man was fnnny. When Walter Bentlcy left, two others, Vandervelt, a good actor, and another leading man, cut up his parts between them. They decided to put up Sheridan's comedy 'The Rivals.' Vandcrvelt thought he ought to play Captain Jack Absolute, and tho other man thought he' had an equal claim on the part. 'Well,' said Vandervelt, let's leave it to Benson—he's paying the piper; Let him decide.' So they went to Benson, and put it to him. His answer was: 'Neither of you will play Absolute—l will.' And he did. After that ho took on Romeos, Maobsths, and Julius Caesars, and tho whole lot of them, but he was never top-hole, though the company was. Value of Esprit de Corp, ( "As I was saying," continued Mr. Asche, "he was not the one to take nnj"one aside and tell them anything. He allowed everyone, a full scope to express himself, and owing to hie habit of changing usrounu, no one was ever allowed to get into a groove. The man who was playing juvenile one night might be doing a character old man the next. I would be playing Biondella one night and Brutus the neit— that was Benson's whole secret. And it w<is not a bad one. It kept a man think- • ing, and willy-nilly he had to act in the real sense of the word. When there wae a vacancy in the company a young chap might come along thinking that with his God-given presenco and voice he would step into Romeo and Orlando parts right away, but as often as not that young man might. bo kept plugging away at email utility parts nnd old men for a year or more. That was the training, and there was a splendid esprit do corps, which made us our own critice. No newspaper nioa was ever eo severe on us as we were on ourselves. One would express himself quite frankly and freely if he thought a certain reading or intonation in a given passage was incorrect.; So wo fouyd out each- other's faults—and Shakespeare's— without creating jealousies, and were very happy in the doing of it. A Weakness for Athletics.

"It used to be said that anyone who could play a good game of Rugger was sure of a job with Benson if there was a vacancy. That was hardly true. If there were two men offering and one could play and the other could not—everything else being equal—then the player would get it. Benson was terribly keen on athletics, aud I would bnck him to run ten miles to-day .against a good many of them. He was extraordinary. If lie was going to tho Opera House from here (tho Grand Hotel) he would not walk—lit would run tho whole way. He was a natural beagle. I've known us play as many as six matches in five days—Soccer, hockey, and water polo. I remember we played a Manchester team water polo once. I'hey had Tyers, Derbyshire— in all fiv'o internationals out of seven—and they only beat us 6 goals to 4. After that game wo went to Curzon, and played a hockey match. For forty weeks we, havo played thrco matches a week. We would get cut and slashed about, but that did not matter much, as there were always understudies on hand. When a man's 40, and the head of a company, he cannot take such risks. Still, we've got somo good men, and we would like to havo some cricket in New Zealand. Hignett is a fine cricketer—was a contempor- . ary of C. B. Fry's at Oxford. Some of those I have with me were in the first company I had on going into management. Anson and Porter have been with me for seven years, Grimwood for six, and Penny and Hignott have both been with mo a long time. Benson got a frightful knock at n fire in Newcastle. We were to go into London, and were naturally all a little excited at the prospect of trying our .wings in the West End. A fine lot of new dresses had come up to be tried on, and then after a performance of "Macbeth," the theatre and everything in it was burnt. Mr. Benson, who was not insured, must have lost from .£IO,OOO to .£13,000. People wore very kind, and Irving and others helped us, but Benson did not ever seem quite the same. Wo i all did very well in the London season, but Benson was hardly a success. And there he is—a Don Quixote tilting away at -windmills, with a Sancho for companion, in Richmond, his dresser, a little man, who has grown grey in his service. Heigh-ho!" . Plans for the Future. Mr. Asche said that they were at present rehearsing "Antony and Cleopatra," which was to lie produced on the company's return to Australia. After return seasons there they return to London to appear once- more in "Kismet," and nfter that probably "Antony and Cleopatra."