Stratford, Connecticut; the Future of American Shakespearean Productions

The most important major theatrical undertaking now going on in this country is the American Shakespeare Festival and Academy at Stratford, Connecticut. At last, Shakespeare is leaving the printed page; the man who bequeathed us the largest canon of great plays is beginning to get the respect he deserves from both the theatrical profession and the American public at large.

Shakespeare's own native England was in no hurry to serve him properly; and for generations the plays were offered in the "improved" versions of Nahum Tate, Colley Cibber, Thomas Shadwell, David Garrick and the like.

When we think of Shakespearean productions, our minds usually turn to the Stratford-on-Avon Festival and the Old Vic. These are now established institutions; the former began on the playwright's tercentenary in 1864 and after rough sledding has continued as we know it from 1879, while the Old Vic has been a home for Shakespeare since 1914.

But Shakespeare is not a national possession; he belongs to the whole world. Six years ago Canada founded its own Shakespeare Festival at Stratford, Ontario. And four years ago the United States saw the start of its own annual Stratford Festival. We often do things with amazing speed in this country, and these four short years have enabled Stratford-on-Housatonic to raise its head high among the other Stratfords.

Until recently, Shakespeare in this country (as in England) suffered from an inflated conception of the leading role and the personality of its portrayer, and from settings and props so ponderous and realistic that the long between-the-scenes waits necessitated wholesale abridgements of the text. No wonder the audience's patience was exhausted.

But the fast-moving and imaginative productions of Margaret Webster proved a stimulus and an eye-opener. And now our Stratford has a handsome, air-conditioned theatre which contains Rouben Ter-Arutunian's magnificent basic stage and a surrounding physical plant that can accommodate the demands of all Shakespeare's plays.

The entire Festival and Academy are under the artistic direction of John Houseman. It is inspiring to see a man 6