THE SHAKESPEARE CULT.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1922, Page 4

THE SHAKESPEARE CULT.

The appearance of some of Shakespeare’s plays on a New Plymouth stage is an event of considerable importance, especially as they are to be presented by such a leading Shakespearean actor and enthusiast as Mr. Allan Wilkie. There was a time when London tlttatre managers asserted that to produce the plays of Shakespeare spelt ruin, but the late Henry Irving exploded that contention, and Miss Lilian Baylis, at the Old Victoria Theatre in London, not only popularised the marvellous plays of the Bard of Avon, but made the theatre pay, even at prices of admission ranging from fourpence to a few shillings. Those who are ignorant of Shakespeare’s masterpieces have missed a source of perennial delight. Shakespeare stood between the new world of bold speculation that was opening -upon him, and the world of submission to authority that was passing away. Thus, whilst he lingered amongst the simplicity and even the traditionary superstitions of the multitude with evident de-light-called up their elves, their witches, and their ghosts, but in no vulgar shape —lie asserted his claim to take rank with the most elevated of the world’s thinkers in the investigation of the hardest problems of man's nature. He was a unique patriot, and all around him, and reflected by him in a thousand hues of many colored life, were those mixed elements of society, out of whose very differences the unity of a prosperous nation'resulted. Shakespeare stands as the pioneer who helped materially to open the way to the spread of music and literature from the Court to the people, and he stands out as the highest glory of the age in which he lived, though he was not for an age. hut for all time. His plays do not appeal merely to a particular class of people, but to every class, describing as they do the whole range of human emotion and passion, and that is why New Plymouth should welcome Mr. Allan Wilkie’s short Shakespearean season. He stands in the front rank of actor managers. To him the spreading of the wisdom and inspiration of the immortal bard is a consuming ideal; one, indeed, to which he has dedicated the best years of his life. Had he pursued and explored the more popular field, which his remarkable histrionic I talent would have made easy, no doubt Ilia material possessions would be more i than they are to-day. But he realises I that “man does not live by bread ! alone,' and that he has a definite mis- | sion and purpose in life, and all true 1 lovers of the altruistic will wish him i well. There is no occasion to stress the ! influence of these plays as a means to advance literary culture, for they abound in gems of thought and expression. The residents of New Plymouth will do well to make the most of the opportunity that now presents itself for realising why 'Shakespeare’s plays are for all peoples and for all time.