International studio (32.1907)

Modern Stage Mounting in Germany

all his surroundings are painted from the outset in
the most sombre colours, totally unrelieved by any
natural touches. The lighter vein of the piece
scarcely; acts as a foil to the tragic scenes, as it
would do if it were limited to the loves of Florizel
and Perdita, but distracts us by the farcicalness of
Autolycus, the old shepherd, and the clown. Scarcely
have we adjusted our mood to sympathise with the
sufferings of Hermione, when we are jolted by the
buffoonery of the rustics. The contrast naturally
disturbs us more when we see the play lhan when
we read it. Any new issue, such as a special feature
of mise-en-sdne, is consequently welcome enough,
for it relieves us by adding a new source of interest,
and thus diverting us from the disturbing anomalies
of the text.

Prof. Orlik has had the entire mounting of the
play, costumes and scenery entrusted to his care,
and thus has been placed in a more enviable
position than Fanto. The text of the original has
been somewhat simplified, of course, in order to
avoid much shifting of scenery, and the scenery
itself pursues the same plan, so that there are only
four settings in all.

When the curtain rises for the first time we see
what may be characterised as the room rather than
a room. The wings on the right and left consist of
masses of pillars of a neutral colour. There is no
attempt at realism: there are no doors. The actors
make their entries and exits between the wings with-
out passing through any
such. The further half of
the stage is raised, and
half a dozen steps lead up
to it right across from wing
to wing. Instead of a
drop, a pair of large curtains
cut off the view with a
simple linear ornament—
light upon a dull, dark
ground. Where the cur-
tains meet at the centre
they are occasionally drawn
back a bit by invisible
hands, and the opening
serves as one of the princi-
pal entries for the actors. No
actual architectural structure
is presented to our view;
the main principles of archi-
tecture rather are suggested
to our imagination.

This set is made to
serve for all scenes, which

take place in a room, throughout the /whole play.
There is only one variation, when the stage is
reduced to half-length by a “ traverse ” consisting
of another pair of curtains of the same pattern, but
this time with the linear design dark upon a light
ground. The wings remain unchanged; but in
consequence of being lighted differently, they
apparently have altered their hue, and the smaller
room seems altogether less sombre. It is used, of
course, for the slightly less serious scenes of the play.

The wings, moreover, remain unchanged also for
the great trial scene, in which the curtains (which
act as a drop) are quite withdrawn. Here we find
the populace filling the background and hedged in
by a rampart, which stands out dark against a light
sky. In spite of the extraordinary simplicity of
the means employed, this scene is very effective,
depending principally upon the powerful contrast
between the darkness on the stage, in which the
actors appearing during this tragic scene make the
impression of silhouettes against a sky seemingly
glaring with the rays of the sun already set.

It is difficult to say how far we may be
justified in generalising from a single instance.
For this one play, however, the Orlik mise-en-sdne
has proved indubitably that an unrealistic mount-
ing like this can do far more towards emphasising
the main vein of the author and towards putting us
into the proper mood for appreciating the drift of
his fancy than any carefully realistic setting could

“a winter’s tale”: autolycus, the clown, and the old shepherd

BY EMIL ORLIK

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