Le lingot : un journal du Saguenay, 1 août 1953, Supplément

Le Lingot, Arvida, jeudi 27 aouit 1953 The Stratford Shakespearean Festival By C.B.Shipton ; Le Lingot Un Journal du Saguenay La culture est une curiosité désintéressée que l'Individu a de sol-même, de son milieu.de ses relations avec l'univers; c'est une recherche de ce qui a été pensé, senti, exprimé avant nous et ailleurs que chez-nous.— André SIEGFRIED Le Lingot, Arvida, jeudi 27 aouit 1953 « H !.t il ' mv * .1 J THE BALLROOM SCENE in "All's Well that Ends Well" At the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, two stars of the play, Miss Irene Worth and Mr.Alec Guinness are seen at the centre of the stage.The Something new in the Canadian theater, in fact something quite unusual anywhere in the world, is being accomplished in the small and very charming city of Stratford, this summer.There, has been assembled a professional theatrical company of 50 or 60 players, the bulk of them Canadian, under the direction of a leading Shakespearean director and with two top ranking stars of the English and American stage tb present, on alternate days, for a six week season, the Shakespeare plays, “Richard III” and “All’s Well that Ends Well”.The man who first dreamed of this project is a modest person named Tom Patterson, a chap who has grown up and lived most of his life in Stratford and who many of old Strat-fordians still thinks of as the “Patterson boy”.Mr.Patterson is a magazine editor but for many years he has dreamed of the pleasure it would bring, of the Shakespearean Festival in the Canadian city named in honour of William Shakespeare’s birth place.Late in 1951, sufficient local interest in this idea was developed to put him in toucn with professional theater people in Canada and the United States for their advice on the ambitious project.It was a transatlantic telephone call however that really laid the cornerstone of the festival, and that was the occasion when Tom Patterson of Stratford spoke to Dr.Tyrone Guthrie of the “Old Vic”, and pratically every other famous playhouse of the world, inviting him to Stratford.Dr.Guthrie came, met the people who were sponsoring this project, explained to them from his wealth of experience the tremendous difficulties that they would encounter,but because of his sincerity, interest, and the tremendously high artistic standards which guide his efforts increased their enthusiasm to the point where the festival became a reality.The first question was: Who should be the leading actors in the production planned?The Stratford Shakespeare Festival was supremely fortunate in persuading Mr.Alec Guinness and Miss Irene Worth to play the leading parts.Alec Guinness is best known for a half-dozen outstanding British film comedies including “Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Man in the White Suit”, and his leading role on the stage in TS.Eliot's “Cocktail Party”.Less well known on this Continent are his Shakespearean perform a n' c e s as “Richard II” and “Hamlet”.Miss Worth is a young American who has established a tremendous reputation for her beautiful voice and timing.She is perhaps best known for her performance as “Celia” in the “Cocktail Party.” Stage and costume design were placed in the hands of Miss Tania Moiseiwitsch, a celebrated international stage designer who is, incidentally, the daughter of the famous pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch.With these people at the helm, The Stratford Shakespearean Festival moved rapidly toward brilliant success.Highup on the banks of a little stream, which they call the Avon, a concrete theater shell under a hug blue tent was constructed which seats 1,500 people all within less than 50 feet of the stage, which juts out into the audience so that for the people in the front rows the actors are within touching distance.Miss Moi-siewitsch has designed a setting of charming simplicity.You will see no gilt in the Stratford Theater, no trimming or ornamentation but the proportions of the simple colums, balconies and stairways are so fine that gold leaf is not necessary.There are 9 entrances to the stage, including two ramps which lead up through to the audience, a trap door and doorways at each of three levels, but even these are not enough for some of the scenes which Dr.Guthrie has arranged and there are times when processions enter by the aisles through the audience.Incidentally, in addition to the production of plays, Louis Applebaum, of Toronto, musical director of the festival, has arranged a series of afternoon concerts by young Canadian artists such as Lois Marshall, Albert Pratz, Jan Rubes, the Spivak Quartet, Gerhard Hander and many others, which provide a very pleasant way of spending an hour during the afternoon.The production of “Ricnard III” which Tyrone Guthrie has prepared, gives the full panorama of Mediaeval life and emotion inherent in the play.There are scenes of brutality and cruelty, scenes of pageantry, diabolical plotting and cunning, and moments of broad humour and tender emotion.Because of the flexibility of the stage at his disposal, all these elements are combined in fast moving and brilliant fashion.As the Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III, Alec Guinness in responsible for defining the mood of the whole play.This he does superbly.Ruthless, cold-blooded, and fierce he is always; in the last scenes he is also frenzied.Miss Worth who appears only briefly in this production plays the part of mad Queen Margaret and makes this character the superb withered crone.Among many outstanding performances in smaller parts, that of Robert Christie as Buckingham is specially note-worthy for grace of movement and beauty of diction.Robert Goodier acts the Duke of Richmond, who is crowned as Henry VII at the end of the play, with fine authority.The second production “All’s Well that Ends Well” in modern dress provides sharp contrast to the violent emotion of “Richard”.Here Miss Worth is outstanding and the production can be best described as full of poetry cf motion and the spoken word.Helen Stuart and Michael Bates performed beautifully as the Countess of Roussillion and Lafeu, an old French courtier, and Douglas Campbell who played the very difficult part of Parolles, a braggart and coward, gave a very witty and polished performance.The town people of Stratford are extremely proud of their festival and well they may be because almost every one you meet has something to do with the production, though there are only two Stratford people who appear on the stage.But the town-folk are opening their homes to visitors, handling publicity, selling tickets and the ladies; auxiliaries of the churches of the town, are operating dining rooms to look after the influx of visitors.One very charming woman has been conducting courses on Shakespeare plays during the last 6 months to prepare her friends for the festival.In visi- sing Stratford it is interesting to see that the town has not gone flagrantly commercial; the merchants, hotel keepers and boarding house operators are not behaving towards the festival as if they were feverishly anxious to make a killing.Stratford in 1953 is a delightful place to visit.If the present spirit carries on to the future, the 1954 festival, which is already being planned, will provide enjoyment for thousands.MR ALEC GUINNESS in the title role of Richard III.The cast in one eye effect is obtained by means of clever make-up.DEATH SCENE in the ploy Richard III a few moments before the end.W'm.Pm** / \ ¦ y • s .?m Élï wm mm S m -m LES BIBLIOTHEQUES WESTMINSTER - Une acquisition importait est la collection de musique en feuilles FeTiK, White qu’on est en train i cataloguer.Le district Westminster possède des bibliothèques de muùft qui sont très populaires; quelque 20,000 volumes de musique sont mis * circulation chaque année.t ., (Photo Picfprial , Press London) Le Lingot, Arvida, jeudi 27 aouit 1953 # t * 'V^'XXn L'ASSISTANT LIBRAIRE, M.RUPERT EV/ER, un musicien amateur est en charge des récitals de musique à Leytonstone, Mademoiselle Savage, une bibliothécaire de nationalité américaine, choisit les disques pour le concert.(Photo Pictorial Press London) jues de Grande-Bretagne * ***