International Notes

Summary

A selection has been made from the reports received from our correspondents, those which present material of a particularly interesting kind being printed in their entirety, or largely so. It should be emphasized that the choice of countries to be thus represented has depended on the nature of the information presented in the reports, not upon either the importance of the countries concerned or upon the character of the reports themselves.

Austria

The Shakespeare Quatercentenary was celebrated in Austria both by a number of commemorative festivities and frequent performances of Shakespeare's plays in Vienna and numerous smaller towns.

The series of Shakespeare celebrations was opened at the Burgtheater, Vienna, where Shakespeare has been performed 4505 times since the foundation of the theatre in 1776. The festival address was given by Christopher Fry, and passages from Shakespeare's plays were read by Diana Wynyard and a number of Austrian actors. Other commemorative meetings in Vienna were held at the Akademietheater, at the Theater der Courage, and in the University. The Landestheater of Tyrol commemorated Shakespeare by a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream preceded by an address given by Eugen Thurnher; and the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Carinthia, also held a Shakespeare week including the performance of two plays and a lecture on Shakespeare's art. Particularly worthy of note is the fact that various smaller provincial towns revealed an increasing interest in Shakespeare and that they introduced their audiences to a number of plays which are not part of the usual repertory of Austrian theatres.