DOROTHEA SPINNEY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 228, 21 June 1921, Page 6

DOROTHEA SPINNEY

IN "HAMLET.” Age cannot wither nor custom stale the infinite variety of "Hamlets’’ that have strode the English stage since Shakespeare gave to tho world this wonderful tragedy. Perhaps Miss Dorothea Spinney would not claim a place in the honoured scroll, as the recital she gave in th* Concert Chamber last evening was one of the play as a whole, or, rather, tho play with judicious cuts to fit the time at the disposal of the gifted reciter. Yet during tho past century there have been many fine actresses who have essayed tho great role of ( the melancholy' Dane with more or less success, tho lure being tho multitudinous subtleties and the treasurablo intellectual philosophical apostrophes and meditations that stand out as fixed stars in tho scroll of our dramatic literature. Miss Spinney confined her recital to a clear exposition of the play, without attempting to arouse any of its emotional thunders, or plumbing the abysmal depths of its infinite pathos in the manner of a Macready, an Edmund Kean, or an Irving. And she succeeded in just tho measure she wished to succeed, shedding the light of her intellectuality on many passages that may seem vague to the uninformed. Clad in an "inky cloak.'' which suggested the Prince of Denmark, she was luminous in her brief explanations of scenes not recited, nnd giving just the correct emphasis when needed to clarify a phrase. Miss Spinney made one rather curious departure from or•TTodox readings by The manner in which she chanted at the bottom of her vocal register the lines of tho ghost of Hamlet’s murdered father, and now and again she even broke into the chant in tho delivery of some of Hamlet’s lines. I hat rather stupid controversy as to whether Hamlet was mad she simply touched upon and dismissed. The play itself testifies in not one but several places to f.ne Prince’s sanity, and to the fact that his "antic, disposition” was assumed for the furtherance of his scheme of revenge against Ibc murderer of his father. Spinney's interpretation led no one In believe that such was tho case. The visitor was effective as far as was possible in the play scene, and she put «» good deal of feeling into the closet scene, where Hamlet stings and scorches his guilty mother. Tn lighter vein) she was excellent in the interpretation of Polonium and the grave-digger, and there were some pretty touches in her assumption of the ffistraught Ophelia. The recital attracted a fairly large audience, who a* the end applauded the reciter most heartily. The last opportunity of hearing Miss Spinney will Ire this evening in the Concert Chamber, when she will present W. R. Yeats's "Hour Glass,’’ J. M. Barrie’s "Rosalind.” and selections from "Much Ado About Nothing.’’ This artjef’s work is "of that true and sterling sort that one returns to again and again with undiminished pleasure, yes, and with reference.,” says a great American critic. The box plan is to be seen at tho Bristol.