When Seattle Society Turned Shakespeare Into a Skirt-Dance Spectacle

The social features of the week were the third annual performance of the Seattle Athletic Club at Cordray's Theater, the three nights bringing out all of the gay and theater-going people of Seattle. The performance was a travesty on Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' rechristened 'A Midwinter Night's Dream,' and the artistic and financial success that attended every one of the performances has greatly enhanced the popularity of the club in the community.

The happy blending of social, mental and physical culture has made the club a useful and necessary institution, and its influence for good on the rising generation is already felt in every direction. The creation of this recently produced travesty on Shakespeare's masterpiece is evidence of the high aim of the club and its possibilities in the way of dramatic and lyric talent. 'A Midwinter Night's Dream' was the result of a combination of various talents, of which the club has an abundance. To Mr. F. Otto Atto's poetic genius is due the creation of the piece, while to the musical gift of Mr. Charles F. Bray is due the score of catchy music and pleasing refrains in the orchestration. These two gifts, however, would be nil without the persons possessing the necessary dramatic and vocal talent to give life and action to the various creations of the poet. Leading men the club produced from its own members and, under the patient training and coaching of author and leader Mr. A. Cookingham, results were produced that added another gem to the diadem of brilliant successes.

The cast included Mr. F. W. Clayton as the Duke of Athens; Mr. George Noble as Puck; Mr. H. V. V. Bean as Bottom; Mr. Gilbert B. Smith as Theseus; Mr. Harry Frederick as Hermia; and Mr. T. D. Cashel as Titania. Mr. Cashel's make-up as the Fairy Queen was a gem in itself, and though his name was inadvertently omitted from the Post-Intelligencer report the following morning, the splendid results he produced were fully appreciated by his friends and the audience in general. Of the many dances, perhaps none excelled the efforts of Mr. Noble H. Getchell, whose skirt dance made a hit and secured for the graceful dancer a number of well-merited encores.

The scenery cut no small figure in the success of the play, the grotto of the fairies being very effective. Last, but not least, the chorus deserved all the applause it received every one of the three nights; aside from the correctness of time and tune, it reflects great credit on the skill of those in charge of drilling it to perfection. The costumes, imported from San Francisco, were bright and strikingly effective and showed that the club intended that not one detail should be omitted to secure a perfect representation. Even the orchestra, under the able baton of Prof. Bray, gave evidence of having had the best musicians in the city selected to give the best possible effect to the instrumental part of the travesty.

The rapid sale of seats when first placed on sale precluded many of the society people from attending the first night; hence the second and third nights were equally pronounced fashionable affairs, and many brilliant box and private parties were in attendance. As the list of prominent people in attendance is so long, it would be an injustice to publish any if not all. It is safe to say that 'everybody' was there, and that 'everybody' will look forward eagerly to the next annual of the Seattle Athletic Club.