Percy MacKaye (1875–1956)
Author of The mystery of Hamlet, King of Denmark; or, What we will, a tetralogy with prelude and postlude
About the Author
Image credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Arnold Genthe Collection
(REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-DIG-ppmsca-17569)
Works by Percy MacKaye
The mystery of Hamlet, King of Denmark; or, What we will, a tetralogy with prelude and postlude (1950) 15 copies
The Scarecrow 4 copies
Sanctuary; a bird masque 4 copies
Wakefield, a folk-masque of America : being a midwinter night's dream of the birth of Washington (1932) 3 copies
sappho and phaon: a tragedy, set forth with a prologue, induction, prelude, interludes, and epilogue (1907) 2 copies
The playhouse and the play, and other addresses concerning the theatre and democracy in America 2 copies
Saint Louis; a civic masque 2 copies
The evergreen tree 1 copy
Gettysburg Play in One Act 1 copy
The sequestered shrine: "Arvia" at Shirley Center, Massachusetts, dedicated to Marion Morse MacKaye 1 copy
MY LADY DEAR, ARISE! SONGS AND SONNETS IN REMEMBRANCE OF MARION MORSE MACKAYE (SIGNED) (1940) 1 copy
i met God waking Leisurely 1 copy
Epoch; the life of Steele MacKaye genius of the theatre v.1. Volume 1 1927 [Leather Bound] (2020) 1 copy
Epoch; the life of Steele MacKaye genius of the theatre v.2. Volume 2 1927 [Leather Bound] (2020) 1 copy
Poesia Religio 1 copy
My lady dear, arise! 1 copy
Weathergoose-woo! 1 copy
Poems 1 copy
A substitute for war 1 copy
Rip Van Winkle 1 copy
Evergreen Tree, The 1 copy
Immigrants, The 1 copy
The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer: a modern rendering into prose of the prologue and ten tales (1907) 1 copy
Dogtown common, 1 copy
Dogtown Common 1 copy
Associated Works
Best Plays of the Early American Theatre From the Beginning to 1916 Complete (1967) — Contributor — 21 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1875-03-16
- Date of death
- 1956-08-31
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA (birth)
Cornish, New Hampshire, USA (death) - Occupations
- poet
playwright - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature, 1908)
- Awards and honors
- Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (1948)
Members
Reviews
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 58
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 114
- Popularity
- #171,985
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 10
There is nothing in this play which cannot already be found in Hamlet. Gertrude flirts with Claudius. Hamlet Jr plays with Laertes. Claudius kills Hamlet Sr, along with a few other people. Hamlet Jr goes to England. Hamlet Sr goes a little mad, to show that it runs in the family. There is a nice touch with Hamlet Sr walking in his sleep, such that the opening mirrors that of Hamlet: the King discovered on a battlement, walking like a ghost. Claudius has visions of a plotting spirit named Gallicus, probably intending to demonstrate a madness due to syphilis, although this is never made clear.
This makes it a nice tribute, in a way, and it would be if it were a single play. Mackaye, however, stretches this out into four plays: where an Act would be to The Bard, Mackaye places an entire play, generally composed of single-scene Acts (which could, therefore, be scenes). Mackaye has none of Shakespeare's economy, and the dialogue drags on and on and on.
Nor is the language very pretty. It reads like a pre-war play aping its classical predecessors: some well-heeled student of the arts fell in love with Literature amongst the polo and single malt of ivy league days, and decided to create some of his own without understanding or appreciating what makes the classics "classic" (hint: it doesn't have to do with when they were written).
There's a postscript of sorts which addresses this, claiming that Mackaye made no attempt to mimic Shakespeare's language. This just makes the choice of language all the more embarrassing: the author was not trying to sound like Shakespeare, he was trying to sound Theatrical. Of course MacKaye has read the Amleth of Saxo Grammaticus, asserts the postscript, even though there is nothing in the play that could have come from Ameth but not Hamlet. Might have been a better, or at least more insightful, play if he actually had.
The postscript mentions that this series of plays contains the romance of Mackaye and his wife, wrapped in the setting of Hamlet as a sort of dramatization. This may be true, in the sense that much of the awful verse could have been lifted from the vast reams of equally-awful poetry that Mackaye wrote to, for, and about his wife. I doubt, however, that MacKaye and his jester friend were murdered by his younger brother, and in any event, Mackaye outlived his wife.
All in all, not worth the trouble of tracking down a copy, even for the Hamlet completist.… (more)