Shakespeare and the Modern Stage

Shakespeare and the Modern
Stage, by Sir

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Sir Sidney Lee
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Title: Shakespeare and the Modern Stage with Other Essays
Author: Sir Sidney Lee

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Language: English
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SHAKESPEARE AND THE MODERN STAGE
With Other Essays
by
SIDNEY LEE
Author of "A Life of William Shakespeare"

London Archibald Constable and Company Limited 1907

PREFACE
The eleven papers which are collected here were written between 1899
and 1905. With the exception of one, entitled "Aspects of
Shakespeare'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, its influences
and traditions, but I think that all may be credited with sufficient unity
of intention to warrant their combination in a single volume. Their
main endeavour is to survey Shakespearean drama in relation to
modern life, and to illustrate its living force in current affairs. Even in
the papers which embody researches in sixteenth- or
seventeenth-century dramatic history, I have sought to keep in view the
bearings of the past on the present. A large portion of the book
discusses, as its title indicates, methods of representing Shakespeare on
the modern stage. The attempt is there made to define, in the light of
experience, the conditions which are best calculated to conserve or
increase Shakespeare's genuine vitality in the theatre of our own day.
In revising the work for the press, I have deemed it advisable to submit
the papers to a somewhat rigorous verbal revision. Errors have been
corrected, chronological ambiguities due to lapse of time have been
removed, passages have been excised in order to avoid repetition, and

reference to ephemeral events which deserve no permanent chronicle
have been omitted. But, substantially, the articles retain the shape in
which they were originally penned. The point of view has undergone
no modification. In the essays dealing with the theatres of our own time,
I have purposely refrained from expanding or altering argument or
illustration by citing Shakespearean performances or other theatrical
enterprises which have come to birth since the papers were first written.
In the last year or two there have been several Shakespearean revivals
of notable interest, and some new histrionic triumphs have been won.
Within the same period, too, at least half a dozen new plays of serious
literary aim have gained the approval of contemporary critics. These
features of current dramatic history are welcome to playgoers of
literary tastes; but I have attempted no survey of them, because signs
are lacking that any essential change has been wrought by them in the
general theatrical situation. My aim is to deal with dominant principles
which underlie the past and present situation, rather than with particular
episodes or personalities, the real value of which the future has yet to
determine.
My best thanks are due to my friend Sir James Knowles, the proprietor
and editor of The Nineteenth Century and After, for permission to
reproduce the four articles, entitled respectively, "Shakespeare and the
Modern Stage," "Shakespeare in Oral Tradition," "Shakespeare in
France," and "The Commemoration of Shakespeare in London." To
Messrs Smith, Elder, & Co., I am indebted for permission to print here
the articles on "Mr Benson and Shakespearean Drama," and
"Shakespeare and Patriotism," both of which originally appeared in The
Cornhill Magazine. The paper on "Pepys and Shakespeare" was first
printed in the Fortnightly Review; that on "Shakespeare and the
Elizabethan Playgoer" in "An English Miscellany, presented to Dr
Furnivall in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday" (1901); that on "The
Municipal Theatre" in the New Liberal Review; and that on "A Peril of
Shakespearean Research" in The Author. The proprietors of these
publications have courteously given me permission to include the
articles in this volume. The essay on "Aspects of Shakespeare's
Philosophy" was prepared for the purposes of a popular lecture, and has
not been in type before.

In a note at the foot of the opening page of each essay, I mention the
date when it was originally published. An analytical list of contents and
an index will, I hope, increase any utility which may attach to the
volume.
SIDNEY LEE.
1st October 1906.

CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
I
SHAKESPEARE AND THE MODERN STAGE
I.