The Acharnians.

At the time of the production of the "Oedipus Tyrannus" at Harvard a few years ago, it was confidently predicted that other American colleges would follow the example, but not until last spring did the prediction come true in the performance of the "Acharnians" of Aristophanes by the students of the University of Pennsylvania. The success of the presentation was such that the play was repeated last Friday evening in New York for the benefit of the American School at Athens. The interest aroused by so unusual an event, as well as by the worthiness of the object, filled the Academy of Music to repletion with an audience representative of the culture of New York and New England. Not a few Harvard men were to be seen, notably Pres. Eliot, Dr. Brooks, Prof. Lowell, Prof. Goodwin and Prof. J. W. White. Many recent graduates also were present, amongst whom Mr. Evert J. Wendell was noticed, whose part in the "Oedipus" is still remembered.

The merits of the individual actors and the virtue of the performance itself have been dwelt upon at length by the daily press. It remains to compare this play with the one given here in Cambridge.

It may be that comparisons are odious but it is human to make them and therefore natural to contrast the "Acharnians" with the "Oedipus." Whether prejudiced in Harvard's favor or not, I think no one would deny that the "Oedipus" was the much more interesting production. The "Acharnians" lacks that strong human interest which a tragic story has in every age. Personal invective (like the attacks on Lamachus) must lose some point in the lapse of centuries when the attacked person has been well-nigh forgotten, while the sufferings of the Thebauprima are always affecting. Again, the "Acharnians" did not give the spectators that sense of being transported into another world which the "Oedipus" gave. In a word, the illusion was lacking. Perhaps this was in some measure due to the place where the play was produced, in a theatre, in a great city, apart from the scenes of academic life. But enough has been said on this point, rather does so earnest and successful an attempt to reproduce one of the masterpieces of antiquity deserve unstinted praise.

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