New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-01-08
TIE DECLINE or TIE DRAMA.

Fatcs forbidl-the compilation would surpass
:, bnl,, oil the volumes of the New American
Cvclopedia! The complaint was common
enough when Eschylus was writing tragedies
or Aristophanes comedies; it was reiterated
| with more reason) in Rome, by Horace, In one
| of tbe best considered of his productions; 1T
WAS raised by Cervantes when the Spanish
| Comedy was the finest in the world; and In
English literature it is o censure which belongs
equally to the time of Dryden and to the time
of Goldsmith. But Goldsmith differed in some
RESPECTS from modern critics, for he not only
knew what a good comedy was, but he knew
how to write one. We have plenty OF people
who tell us that our plays are bad, as they un-
questionably are; but, unfortunately, there
seems to be nobody to write better. In this
emergency, it is customary to berate the uh-
lucky managers, just as in the days OF dram
attic damnation it was customary to boot
the poor actors for the sins of their
author. But theaters are carried on, like
other speculafiohs, for the purpose OF
making money; the highest joy of the
proprietor is to have his pit, bis boxes, ana
his gallery running over; and we Qaye no
| right to expect him to enter into crusade II
behalf of what is called the legitimate drama,
or to engage in n contest with the taste OF the
town which might empty at once his seats and
| his treasury. Mr.. Wallack will give us the
"Soven against Thebes" in the original Greek
tomorrow, chorus and all, if he can be made
reasonably sure that the public will come to
see it; but as nobody would DO found in the
house upon such a presentation, except the
Faculty of Columbia College, with sprinkling
| xfN I;a inn our m
confines himself to the reasonably modern, and
to language either English or purporting to
be. The director in Faust hits the truth
exactly when le says in the Prologue:
with such hash they'll best DO satisfied;
The banquet then not only spread with ease Is,
But a world more easy to provide"
1t is well, however, to be accurate In our
fault-fuding. lie who complains of an inordi-
nate love of spectacle and of costume MS char
acteristic of the modern play going public, mis-
takes the nature of the difficulty. Fine seen
cry, ingenious mechanical and optical effects, and
brilliant dresses are natural and proper aces
series Of the stage. They are inseparable from
the desired illusion, and are unsatisfactory
only when they are accompanied by nothing
more substantial. When Goethe managed the
Wemar Theater, he gave great attention to
with the painters, the tailors, and the macbin-
lists. Only lately in this city we have ourselves
seen, in the production of 1.-THE Midsummer
Nights Dream, how capable Shakespeare him.
self is of this kind Of illustration. When his
plays were originally produced, the theater
was, undoubtedly, deficient in scenery, just as
the orchestra when Handel wrote was far be-
hind the present time in the variety of its in
Al. - h. odd tka
scores of the other not only adapt them
selves to the mechanical condition of
modern art, but fairly exhaust its capa-
bilities without eXhausting their own sug-
gestions. "The Tempest is itself q
more artistic show piece than "The Black
Crook fuller of wondrous visions and of mag
zeal phantasmagora-but there are Prospero
aud Ariel, and the gentle Miranda, there are
Caliban and Trinculo, and Stephano beside.
Tho modern taste which disclaims classical
severity Of dramatic treatment, and discards
without reverence or regret the laws of Aris-
totle, demands certain sumptuousness OF stage
appointment, and is quito right in doing So
But our Indignation is fairly aroused when
money is lavished upon nonsense, when the
coarse and tawdry are substituted for the correct
and tasteful, and when the splendor of the
material is employed to conceal tho meager-
ness of the intellectual. A rude melo-drama
with fine scenery is like woman of the town
decked out in diamonds, and moving in a cloud
of the costliest laces. great deal has been
said OF the immoral influences of the theater;
we are sure that it is never more mschevous
than when it steals away our judgment by daz-
cling our eyes.
The conscientious manager in this metropolis
who really desires to present to his audiences
new plays of unqucstionable literary merit,
finds that the main difficulty is in obtaining
the plays themselves. When people complain
Of the thcaters for bringing out only stuff and
absurdty, it should be remembered, in simple
justice, that frst-rate original dramas are not
to be had either for love or for money. Pray,
what would Mr.. Wallack get if he should offer
81 900 for the best American tragedy or comedy7
About five bushels of manuscript, fit only for the
rag man and the paper mill About five humid
red disappointed donkeys braying at his office
door for the restoration of their precious pro-
auctions Mr.. Wallack knows this as well rs
we do, and therefore he does not offer $1,000
or any other sum, for the best new play. Mr.
Forrest tried the experiment, and what did he
get "The Gladiator" "Jack Cade," and that
dreadful pot-pourri called Metamora"-th
plays which which will never be heard of after
their owner has left the stage! SO Mr.. Wallack
is fain to take refuge in past agcs-to clean
and reproduce Congeve, and to bring forward
Goldsmith, of whom, to his eternal honor it
may be said, that, even in this age of prudery,
he needs no cleaning.
The absurdest resource Of the theater at tho
present time is the dramatization of novels.