E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Linda Cantoni,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(/)
LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED
1907
The eleven papers which are collected here were written between 1899and 1905. With the exception of one, entitled "Aspects ofShakespeare's Philosophy," which is now printed for the first time,they were published in periodicals in the course of those six years.The articles treat of varied aspects of Shakespearean drama, itsinfluences and traditions, but I think that all may be credited withsufficient unity of intention to warrant their combination in a singlevolume. Their main endeavour is to survey Shakespearean drama inrelation to modern life, and to illustrate its living force in currentaffairs. Even in the papers which embody researches in sixteenth- orseventeenth-century dramatic history, I have sought to keep in viewthe bearings of the past on the present. A large portion of the bookdiscusses, as its title indicates, methods of representing Shakespeareon the modern stage. The attempt is there made to define, in the lightof experience, the conditions which are best calculated to conserve orincrease Shakespeare's genuine vitality in the theatre of our own day.
In revising the work for the press, I have deemed it advisable tosubmit the papers to a somewhat rigorous verbal revision. Errors havebeen corrected,[Pg viii] chronological ambiguities due to lapse of time havebeen removed, passages have been excised in order to avoid repetition,and reference to ephemeral events which deserve no permanent chroniclehave been omitted. But, substantially, the articles retain the shapein which they were originally penned. The point of view has undergoneno modification. In the essays dealing with the theatres of our owntime, I have purposely refrained from expanding or altering argumentor illustration by citing Shakespearean performances or othertheatrical enterprises which have come to birth since the papers werefirst written. In the last year or two there have been severalShakespearean revivals of notable interest, and some new histrionictriumphs have been won. Within the same period, too, at least half adozen new plays of serious literary aim have gained the approval ofcontemporary critics. These features of current dramatic history arewelcome to playgoers of literary tastes; but I have attempted nosurvey of them, because signs are lacking that any essential changehas been wrought by them in the general theatrical situation. My aimis to deal with dominant principles which underlie the past andpresent situation, rather than with particular episodes orpersonalities, the real value of which the future has yet todetermine.
My best thanks are due to my friend Sir James Knowles, the proprietorand editor of The Nineteenth Century and After, for permission toreproduce the four articles, entitled respectively, "Shakespeare andthe Modern Stage," "Shakespeare in Oral Tradition," "Shakespeare inFrance," and "The Commemoration of Shakespeare in London." To MessrsSmith, Elder,[Pg ix] & Co., I am indebted for permission to print here thearticles on "Mr Benson and Shakespearean Drama," and "Shakespeare andPatriotism," both of which originally appeared in The CornhillMagazine. The paper on "Pepy