"Shakespeare? Yest, There's Been a Book About 'im."

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 2, 29 July 1927, Page 11

"Shakespeare? Yest, There's Been a Book About 'im."

ENTERTAINING RADIO TALK BY ALLAN WILKIE.

An interesting address on Shakespeare from an entertainment point of view was given by Mr. Allan Wilkie, C.B.E., the Shakespearean actor-mana-ger, from 2YA, Wellington, last Sunday evening. With a well-modulated voice, which carried distinctly by radio, Mr. Wilkie said :- "In addressing you to-night upon ' the subject of Shakespeare I am acting in direct opposition to my personal convictions, for it is my profound belief that if only we devoted one-tenth of the time and energy to the presentation of his plays upon the public stage that at preseut we devote to the lectures and the writings of essays and books about him and his works we should have a far trner appreciation and understanding of his immortal plays. ‘When I was recently playing in a certain Australian town I observed two men looking at and discussing one of my playbills outside the theatre. "One of them, an oldish man with a white beard, after slowly spelling out the contents of the playbill, said, ‘Ah! Yest, Shakespeare. I’ve heard of ’im, there’s been a book written ‘ about ’im.’ I could not help reflecting what a pity it was from some points of view the old man was not correct in his estimate, and that there had been only one book written about Shakespeare, instead of the hundreds of thousands of books and pamphlets which at their present rate of increase will soon grow into millions. Not that I would for one moment decry the intelligent study of Shakespeare, within certain limits, but unfortunately under present conditions the plain man in the street is inclined to think that Shakespeare is only for the student, that his plays are very heavy and difficult to understand, _ "Commentators and academic proall contribute to this opinion by writing profound criticisms, explanatory notes and essays dealing with every phase and condition of his life and writings, so that the heanty and

simplicity of his poetry and dramatic incident is smothered under a miass of pedantic scholarship. Whereas the truth is that Shakespeare was one of the simplest and most lucid writers that ever lived. But it must always be remembered that Shakespeare wrote for the stage-not for the study. He wrote for an audience of whom at last 75 per cent. couid neither read wor write-a pretty clear proof that his plays are not difficult to understand by anyone of ordinary intelligence. It. is true that some of the words and phrases he makes use of are now obsolete, but the actor, in his ‘nterpreta‘tion of such lines upon the stage, can be usually depended upon to bring out their meaning by illustrative business and by-play. When a man says that Shakespéare is beyond his understanding he makes the terrible confession that with all the advantages of modern education and the advance of civilisation in the past 3} centuries that he possesses a lower ntelligence than his Elizabethan ancestors. "From the fact that Shakespeare is made a subject of study in our schools and colleges arises the belief in the minds of many that Shakespeare in the theatre is neither interesting nor amusing, and they have come to regard it as merely an education entertainment. Of course, to witness a Shakespearean performance must be educational, for all great art is educational, whether it takes the form of poetry, plays, novels, pictures, sculpture or music. Art is educational because it teaches us to appreciate the beautiful, the noble, and the finer qualities of life. Art gives expression to the ideals and aspirations of mankind. It enriches the imagination and enlarges the mind, Our love of, and our appreciation, of the sublime and beautiful, is the one quality that raises us above the beasts of the field. To this extent it is true that Shakespeare is educational, but being the greatest genins the world has produced, he has left to us the richest legacy of all the dead, and his plays have a wealth of absorbing dramatic interest and an inexhaustible mine of } wit and humour, all clothed in the most

exquisite language and abounding with the most profound philosophy Yet his philosophy is not merely the philosophy of he learned and the academic, it is the philosophy which can be understoo:: and applied by all. ‘Time only serves to deepen and to extend his influence Shakespeare walks and talks with men in the market place; he is present with is in our everyday conversation, Whenever we say, "As poor as Job"? or "As sound as a bell," or "A trick worth two of that,’ or "Wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve,’? or speak of "The piping times of peace,’? we are quoting Shakespeare." When we have a desire to be very modern and sav "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is’? we find we have been: forestalled by Mistress Page in ‘Ihe Merry Wives of Windsor."" : "Also in the delineation of character Shakespeare has no rivals, That the same mind should have created such opposing characters as Hamlet and lalstaff, Lady Macbeth and Rosalind, is one of the wonders of the ages. No ether writer has ever exhibited such an extraordinary range and versatility — Kings end princes, courtiers and fair ladies, rustics and clowns, witches and fairies pass through his pages, the creation of his teeming fancy, and thev are not merely types or puppcts,. but they are all individuals-they appear to have had an actnal existence. "George Bernard Shaw, the most popular and the most prolific dramatist of the modern world, has not created @ single individual of flesh and bloodall his characters ate nothing but puppets expressing his personal views. Shakespeare has created a thousand characters whose names are household words. As n indication of the extraordinary manner in which a play of Shakespeare’s seizes upon the imagination, a performance of, cay, ‘‘Hamlet" or "Othello" will linger in the memorv 20 or 80 vears later, or even longer. Onlv the other day I met a man who describel to me a_ performance of ‘Henry V’ by the famous Shakespearcan actor Samuel Phelps, which must have taken place at least 50 vears ago. The details of the performance of the

‘average modern play are forgotten in a few weeks "Another claim that Shakespeare has to our consideration is the tact that he was not only the greatest poet the world has produced, but also he was the greatest patriot-his* love and adwiration for England and his fellow coumrymen was not merely a belief-it was a passion "I: is impossible for anyone with British blood in his veins to listen to’ the lines spoken by the dying John of Gaunt in ‘Richard II,’ in eulogy of England, without a thrill of pride The typically English sentiment and feeline which he expresses throughout his plavs have had an enormons influence upon the character of the British people. His valne as a national heritage is beyond expression. "Did not Carlyle say, ‘Far bet’ + can we afford to lose the Indian WL upire than we can afford to lose our William Shakespeare.’ "But only a poet can do justice to a poet, and Shakespeare stands on such a pinnacle of greatness that only he himself can do himself justice; therefore, if you want to understand and appreciate him, it must be through the medium of the stage for which he wrote, and such is his infinite variety and charm that the appetite will grow bv what it feeds upon, and the more you see of him the more you will learn to love him.