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BARD‘S GENIUS GIVES

‘EXPRESSION TO ALL SHAPES OF HUMANITY’

William

SOMETIME around April 23, 1564 (the exact date is not record- ed) William Shakespeare was born. ‘Millions of people through-, out the world, and particularly in the socialist sector, will greet this anniversary of ‘the Bard of Avon, greatest poet and dramatist, not only of the Jacobean and Eliza- bethan eras, but of all ages and peoples down to today. Three hundred and thirty-five years have passed since William Shakespeare died, but the lustre of his genius grows brighter with each succeed- ing year.

As ever the case with genius, there is nothing in Shakespeare’s parentage to indicate its blooming. His father, John Shakespeare, Was a small dealer in agricultural produce in Stratford-on-Avon, at times holding civic office of coun- cillor and mayor. By the time Shakespeare was 13 years of age his father’s little business got in- to financial difficulties and the boy had to leave school. Some Shakespearean historians have summed up his schooling as “a smattering of some Latin and poor Greek,” two necessary ac- complishments in the not-so-long- ago Britain to indicate the hall- mark of the truly “educated” in- tellectual.

The tremendous volume of lit- erature that has been written about Shakespeare, the many and varied interpretations of his ‘works, are all very complex and contradictory unless approached by the Marxist method of taking into full consideration the mater- ial or socio-economic conditions of the times, and the impact of the society of his day upon his thinking. Contemporary bour- geois Shakespearian “experts” have out-experted each other in defining the genius and works of

Shakespeare-—in remodelling him |

to suit their own special bourgeois tastes. * * * e

THERE ARE long blanks in Shakespeare’s life which the ro- manticist hasn’t refrained from trying to fill in, but: which the historian advisedly leaves un- touched. The first is when he left school at 13 years until his marriage at 18 years, an event which sent his father into an- other moral and_ business “de- pression.”

Only one outstanding incident is recorded from the year of his marriage until his departure for London four years later to seek fame and fortune. His little fam- ily had grown by three daughters, and poverty stalked the Shake- speare household. God had been good to the people and the lands surrounding , Stratford - on - Avon ‘and the forests abounded in deer and rabbits. Shakespeare, suffer- ing the pinch- of want, engaged in that ancient calling of poverty- stricken Britons known as “poach- ing,” and kept his larder well supplied with venison and rab- bits from the adjacent estate of Sir Thomas Lucy. As often the fate of poachers after a time, Shakespeare got caught with a goodly venison in tow, and was ordered publicly whipped and im- prisoned by Sir Thomas.

Incensed by such inhuman treat- ment for taking what he believed was aS much his as that of a landed peer, Shakespeare shook the dust of Stratford-on-Avon from his shoes. He penned some bitter verses on the affair which apparently haven’t survived, but

his “Justice Fallow” with a “dozen —

Shakespeare: he belongs to the world

white louses on his old coat” in the second part of Henry IV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor stands as an immortal lampoon of the landed gentry who, in the midst of their own plenty, impose hunger upon their more lowly

fellow worms — and retributive punishment if the “worm turns.” * * *

SHAKESPEARE lived in the renaissance period, midway be- tween the remnants of dying cleri- cal feudalism, corrupt riches- greedy monarchy, and a rising

merchant class. A period in which the studied bufoonery of the up-

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE His lustre grows brighter

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per-crust passed for ‘intellect,’ with the “lower orders” scorned and racked with taxes to keep the profligate court of “good Queen Bess” the envy of Europe. A period in which the “chivalry,” satirized by ‘Cervantes in his Don Quixote and buceaneering (pir- acy) were the main attributes for entree into the “best circles,” up to and including the royal en- tourage.

Thus the great Shakespearian comedies, written in early life, border always on farce, express- ing greater or lesser measure, a satire on the life around him as he saw and experienced it. The works of his middle and later life invariably approach the domain of-tragedy, as though he saw only tragedy as the fulfillment of the society of which he was part. ‘His great tragedies like Macbeth, Julius Ceasar, Hamlet and others, “bristle with conspiracy, rapine murder, despite the exquisite beauty and range of language in their presentation. :

His years in London were the years of the maturity of his ‘gen- ius. His career in The Theatre, the first of its kind in England, and later in the Globe Theatre, both in Shoreditch, London, be- gan at the bottom of the ladder. His first job was tending the horses of patrons of the show, a sort of glorified ostler, then as

. theatre “call boy,’ then in parts

where his great artistic talent propelled him to the top with meteor-like rapidity.

How accurate the contention may be is hard to say, but it is widely held that Shakespeare showed little originality in the themes of his greatest tragedies and comedies, but instead borrow- ed these from the ancient and contemporary literature of Eng- lish, French, Italian and Greek

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writers. Borrowed or not, Shake- speare enriched his themes with a depth and beauty of metre and language that is unlikely ever to be surpassed, or even equalled.

Having read, who hasn’t thrill- ed at the masterly technique of the agitator Mark Anthony in Julius Caeser or the fine distinc- tion given by Brutus for knifing Caesar in the back. “Not that I lover Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Or the scene in his Hamlet where the Prince of Denmark ruminates with poor Yorick back from the grave, pro- jecting into the human mind a question that only socialism can answer, Othello? Well, buy a Paul Robeson record and give the soul a rare treat. And Macbeth sullen, sour and remorseful in the medieval halls of Cawdor Castle, while his Lady tries in vain to wash the blood of murdered children from her hands. Per- haps General MacArthur will ex- perience the same difficulty in washing the blood of murdered Koreans from what conscience he may have left. There is an anal- ogy, although nearly three and a half centuries apart!

The works of Shakespears, out- side of the field of drama, are not very numerous and some are quite mediocre, , but his thirty- eight great dramas, renowned the world over today, remain a con- stellation of such brilliance and

, beauty — as far removed from

what our-way-of-life-Hollywood

calls art as an Oak Street trolley

car compared with the Taj Mahal! * * *

NO TWO OF Shakespeare's characteristics coincide if one plows through his many histori- ans. Thus one may find a Shake- Speare struggling between his Sense and his conscience in the Bohemia of his London taverns; or a Shakespeare, bourgeois to the core, who wrote for position, respectability, and that “compe- tence” without which no English bourgeois can affect the true “gentleman”; or a Shakespeare who saw humanity behind many masks, and like a master manipu- lating his puppets, now put for- ward this one, now that. A Shakespeare trying to stand above classes, but unable not to reflect the class antagonisms of his day, either in comedy or trag- edy!

His supremacy springs from the versatile working of his insight and intellect, and his pen traced every gradation of thought and emotion which animated the liv- ing stage of his world. His genius enabled him to give expression to all shapes of humanity which he met on the highway of life. So great a faculty sweeps na- tional frontiers aside and is ac- claimed by the whole civilized world. “A great rich fountain of culture at which humanity will yet learn to drink deep and often,

Already it can be said that in the Soviet Union and the coun- tries of rising socialism, William Shakespeare is winning new ac- claim as a master who opened many doors léading to the happi- nes and enlightment of humanity.

But in Canada, the Canada. of the working people, William Shakespeare is as yet scarcely known. It is interesting to note however, that when the film mon- opolists do manage to take time out from their current production of war propaganda and sex pag- eants and star a master like Lawrence Oliver in one of Shake- Speare’s great dramas, @ working class audience from the factories sits spellbound. A good augury for the future, and a living rebuff for those would-be thought con- trollers who say “the people don’t understand Shakespeare.”

—TOM McEWEN

4

MAY PRODUCTON

week,

Group readies new play

STOOLPIGEON, a new three-act play by Hal Griffin, ‘Vancouver writer, will be given its first per- formance in New Westminster, followed ‘by a perfor- mance in Vancouver, at Clinton Hall, on May 20, it Was announced by Vancouver Theatre of Action this Date and place of the New Westminster pre- sentation will be announced shortly.

Set against a background of union-raiding, Stool- pigeon is a psychological study of the degeneration of a trade union leader into a tool of big business, a labor renegade repudiated by the workers whose strike. he has attempted to betray.

»

GARTNER RECITAL

Jewish Folk Choir trio

moves city

A VARIED program was heard by a small but appreciative audi- ence here last Saturday when Emil Garner, conductor of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir, Shir- ley Newman, gifted young sopra- no, and Fagel Gartner, accompan- ist, were heard in recital.

Miss Newman interpreted with warmth and feeling a group of four Hebrew folk songs, and Gart- ner selected a medley of Jewish holiday songs. Miss Newman’s descriptive ~ narrative depicting Characters at a Jewish wedding was excellently done and a short number, “Don’t Go With Another Girl Or Else,” was delightful.

After Gartner had led two audi- ence participation songs, he and Miss Newman joined in two ef-

audience

fective Negro spirituals, “Climb Little Children, Don’t You Get Weary” and “There’s A Great Camp Meeting In The Promised Land.” » :

The climax came with the sing- ing of the New Hagada, the story of the uprising of the Jewish peo- ple in the Warsaw Ghetto, an al- rangement pulsing with the sor- sows and sufferings of a coura- Zeous people. Only people’s art- ists could have given .this the depth of feeling conveyed bY Gartner and Miss Newman.

It is unfortunate that so few heard this recital, but it is hoped that Gartner will return to this city in the summer and be assured an audience worthy of his fine talents.—K.R.

IN THE SOCIALIST WORLD

I75th anniversary of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre

THE 175th anniversary of the foundation of Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, the pride of Russian mu- sical culture, is being celebrated in the Soviet Union with festivi- ties which will last for two months. Delegations of outstand- ing Soviet workers will be visiting Moscow to attend some of the newly-rehearsed classics in the Bolshoi repertoire.

In return the members of the Bolshoi Theatre will be visiting the “Constructions of Commun- ism”—vast new canal, hydro-elec- tric and other projects — where they will perform for the work- ers. The festivities wil) termin- ate on May 28 with an evening celebration in’ Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, where the government leaders and representatives of public life in the Soviet Union will participate, (

* * ne

VLADIMAR SEMRAD, Czech playwright, is at work on a new play about the life and work of Czech national hero Julius Fucik, author of the world-famous “Notes From the Gallows, who was tor-

tured and murdered by the Nazis in 1943, .

This will be the second play about Julius Fucik. The first, called Prague Will Remain Mine, was written by a young Ukrainian

dramatist Juriy Buryakoyskiy, and was warmly Welcomed py audiences

in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

JAROSLAV HASEK’S famous —

novel, The Good Soldier Schweik: will be published this year by thé Czechoslovak trade union publish- ing house, Prague, in 150,000 copies: This is the largest edition of thi* novel ever published. At the samé time the publishing house 9% Czech writers is planning to pu lish the complete works of Hase# including Schweik.

Translated into scores of 1a0&" uages, The Good Soldier Schweié describes the adventures of * Czech soldier forced to serve }? the Austro-Hungarian army dU? ing the first world war, unmask ing in full the stupidity of a ¢& cadent regime.

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CANADA’S FINEST MORTUARY PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 20, 1951 — Pase ey