Life, 1895-03-07 · page 12 of 20
Life — March 7, 1895 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Satire Page This page contains two separate pieces: **Main Article ("After Fifty Years"):** A review of theatrical producer Augustin Daly's production of Shakespeare's *The Two Gentlemen of Verona*. Life praises Daly's elaborate staging, costuming, and direction while delivering a harsh verdict on the play itself—calling it unworthy of such effort. The critic argues Shakespeare occasionally produced inferior work and sarcastically suggests the play was either botched or finished by a "non-union man." The piece predicts this minor Shakespeare play will rarely be revived, as future productions will focus only on his greater works. **Comic Illustration ("No Cause for Alarm"):** Two sketches showing a landlady discovering what appears to be a dead or injured boarder on the stairs. A new boarder reassures her in an Irish accent ("Allush come down stairsh thash way"), suggesting casual indifference to the apparent disaster—likely playing on period stereotypes about Irish characters.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LI AFTER FIFTY YEARS. akes Mr. Daly's word for it that half a century has ince the production here of “ The Two Gen- tlemen of Verona.” LiFe would not hesitate to accept Mr. Daly’s assurance that another fifty years will elapse before it shall again be revived. This is no reflection on Mr. Daly's production, He has lent to it every accessory at his com- mand. This means a great deal in the way of acting, setting, music, careful rehearsal and the thousand and one cares and anxieties which accompany such an enterprise. The only defect is that the play is not worth the trouble. This may seem rank sacrilege to Shakespeare worshippers—of which IFE FE* Lire is one of the most devoted, if not a blind one—but the fact remains that the piece is not worth the more than adequate staging given to it in the present instance. If even Homer nodded, Shakespeare may readily be for- given for taking an occasional nap or going on a periodical spree. It would scem that it must have been in one of these illaudible intervals that he wrote this play. Its lines are little scholarly or interesting, it makes tremendous draughts on the imagination of the spectator, and it ends its story, which is all there is to the play, ina lame and ineffective fashion, showing that the dramatist botched his job or went on strike and left his work to be finished by a non- union man. As Mr. Daly produces the play it furnishes an interesting evening. He surrounds it, with elaboration of detail, magnificence of costuming and accessories of stage effect ich doubtless the play never knew before. That is, we have “ The Two Gentlemen of Verona” at pretty nearly the . most that can be made of it, and probably more than will be made of it again. Every day Shakespearian revivals become more hazardous and future reproductions are almost certain to be confined to the greater plays. The minor ones will be NO CAUSE Landlady: OM, DEAR! OH, DEAR! He's KILLED, SURE. FOR ALARM. New Boarder: STAIRSH THASH WAY, (Aic.) NEVER MIN’ ME. ALLUSH COME DOWN