[20.  November 1, 1907.]

Aftenposten[21] found the production admirable.  Christensen’s Hamlet was a stroke of genius.  “Han er voxet i og med Rollen; han har traengt sig ind i den danske Prins’ dybeste Individualitet.”  And of the revival the paper says:  “The performance shows that a national theater can solve difficult problems when the effort is made with sympathy, joy, and devotion to art.”

    [21.  November 1, 1907.]

In my judgment no theater could have given a better caste for The Merry Wives of Windsor than that with which Christiania Theater was provided.  All the actors were artists of distinction; and it is not strange, therefore, that the first performance was a huge success. Aftenposten[22] declares that Brun’s Falstaff was a revelation. Morgenbladet[23] says that the play was done only moderately well.  Brun as Falstaff was, however, “especially amusing.” Aftenbladet[24] is more generous. “The Merry Wives of Windsor has been awaited with a good deal of interest.  Next to the curiosity about the play itself, the chief attraction has been Brun as Falstaff.  And though Falstaff as lover gives no such opportunities as Falstaff, the mock hero, Brun makes a notable role out of it because he knows how to seize upon and bring out all there is in it.”

    [22.  May 15, 1873.]

    [23.  May 15, 1873.]

    [24.  May 15, 1873.]

Johannes Brun’s Falstaff is a classic to this day on the Norwegian stage.  In Illustreret Tidende for July 12, 1874, K.A.  Winterhjelm has a short appreciation of his work.  “Johannes Brun has, as nearly as we can estimate, played something like three hundred roles at Christiania Theater.  Many of them, to be sure, are minor parts—­but there remains a goodly number of important ones, from the clown in the farce to the chief parts in the great comedies.  Merely to enumerate his great successes would carry us far afield.  We recall in passing that he has given us Falstaff both in Henry IV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Autolycus in A Winter’s Tale.  Perhaps he lacks something of the nobleman we feel that he should be in Henry IV, but aside from this petty criticism, what a wondrous comic character Brun has given us!”

As to the success of Coriolanus, the sixteenth of Shakespeare’s plays to be put on in Kristiania, neither the newspapers nor the magazines give us any clew.  If we may believe a little puff in Aftenposten for January 20, 1874, the staging was to be magnificent. Coriolanus was played in a translation by Hartvig Lassen for the first time on January 21, 1874.  After thirteen performances it was withdrawn on January 10, 1876, and has not been since presented.