SHAKESPEARIAN SEASON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 593, 20 February 1929, Page 15

SHAKESPEARIAN SEASON

NEW PLAYS BY ALAN WILKIE Tli© programme announced for the three weeks’ season of the Allan Wilkie Shakespearian Company, -which opens at Jrlis Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday, March 2, contains no less than 10 plays to be produced in the course of as many days. In addition to the great masterpieces, which age cannot wither and in which the company has already been seen in Auckland on previous visits, Mr. Wilkie is staging five Shakespearian productions which he has not previously presented here, and of these two, at least, have never before been seen in this city. These two are tire great spectacular Roman drama, “Coriolanus,” which, with “Julius Caesar” and “Antony and Cleopatra,” makes up the great Roman trilogy and is full of the most powerful dramatic situations,, and “All’s Well That Ends Well,” a delightful comedy with strong moments, whose merits warrant a far more frequent production in the Old Country where, for some decades past, it has rarely been seen.

The remaining three which Mr. Wilkie lias not previously staged in Auckland and which have not been seen here tor many years, are “King Rear” (in many respects the greatest tragedy that Shakespeare ever wrote), “Henry V.,” that fine historical drama which embodies and gives expression to all the poet’s patriotism and intense love of England, and “Much Ado About K©tiling,” a play in which the elements of comedy and drama are mingled with a skill equalled only perhaps in the “Merchant of Venice.”