_As You Like It_ in Stille Beyer's version was played twice during the season 1855-56, on September 30 and October 3. The press is silent about the performances, but doubtless we may accept Blanc's statement that the task was too severe for the Bergen theater.[25]
[25. Norges Første Nationale Scene. Kristiania. 1884, p. 206.]
Rather more successful were the two performances of _Twelfth Night_ in a stage version adapted from the German of Deinhardstein. The celebrated Laura Svendsen played the double rôle of Sebastian-Viola with conspicuous success.[26]
_The Merchant of Venice_ was given for the first time on October 9, 1878, two years after the reopening of the theater. _Bergens Tidende_[27] calls the production "a creditable piece of amateur theatricals," insisting in a review of some length that the young theater cannot measure up to the demands which a play of Shakespeare's makes. _Bergensposten_ is less severe. Though far from faultless, the presentation was creditable, in some details excellent. But, quite apart from its absolute merits, there is great satisfaction in seeing the theater undertake plays that are worth while.[28] Both papers agree that the audience was large and enthusiastic.
[27. _Bergens Tidende_, October 10, 1878.]
The next season _A Winter's Tale_ was given in H.P. Holst's translation and adaptation of Dingelstedt's German acting version _Ein Wintermärchen_. The press greeted it enthusiastically. _Bergens Tidende_[29] says: "_A Winter's Tale_ was performed at our theater yesterday in a manner that won the enthusiastic applause of a large gathering. The principal actors were called before the curtain again and again. It is greatly to the credit of any theater to give a Shakespeare drama, and all the more so when it can do it in a form as artistically perfect as was yesterday's presentation."
[29. April 20, 1880. Cf. also _Bergensposten_, April 21, 1880.]
Concerning _Othello_, third in order in the Shakespearean repertoire in Bergen, the reviews of the first performance, November 13, 1881, are conflicting. _Bergens Tidende_[30] is all praise. It has no hesitation in pronouncing Johannesen's Iago a masterpiece. _Bergensposten_[31] calls the performance passable but utterly damns Johannesen--"nothing short of a colossal blunder." Hr. Johannesen is commended to the easily accessible commentaries of Taine and Genée, and to Hamlet's speech to the players. Desdemona and Cassio are dismissed in much the same fashion.