The periodical The New Age, self-described as "A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature and Art" was published in London from 1907 to 1922. As a prominent figure of the time Frank Harris appeared more than once as a subject in its columns. Thanks to the Modern Journalism department of Brown University, which provides an archive of issues of The New Age, I have been able to locate a few of these appearances in print and copy them for this page.
As well as the few brief extracts from the New Age on this page, on other pages there are Arnold Bennett on The Bomb and The Man Shakespeare, and Harris's response to the latter.
From the issue for January 12th, 1911
From "A Symposium on the Representation of Shakespeare"
In this article Huntly Carter asked the following questions of a number of Shakespeare authorities, including Frank Harris:
- Would you say that Shakespeare had any intention with regard to appropriate decoration for his plays? Did he write for an imaginative audience, and not for scenic aids?
- Do you think, therefore, that Shakespeare ought to be played without scenery, and unabridged?
- Do you believe that the beauty of Shakespeare resides in the spoken word, and the utmost attention should be given to the delivery of Shakespearean verse?
- Or do you agree that Shakespeare wrote for scenic aids? He was restricted by the capabilities of the Elizabethan Theatre, and if he had had the unimaginative audience of the present day to deal with and the modern scenic aids at his command he would have employed the latter in the production of his plays, so as to obtain a proper balance of visualized scene and spoken word? But, even admitting this, is the present tendency to overload Shakespeare with scenery and to make "extensive cuts" in your opinion a departure from the spirit of Shakespeare's work, and, therefore, a diminution of its beauty?
- Have you any criticisms or further suggestion?
Here is Harris's characteristic response. You might want to compare it with Max Beerbohm's parody of Harris's writings on Shakespeare.
I do not pretend to any special knowledge of the staging of Shakespeare
