Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-25

/ tendency is marked by such play as
1.-THE Man of the Hour" which you IN
Los Angeles saw only a few weeks ago
That play has its problem--the graft
problem-and it has been tremendous
success. 1t proves that people like to SEE
in the theater some resolution OF the
things they are thinking about, talking
about at the breakfast table and voting
| about.
Must Make Concessions
"At the same time the play makes lib
eral concession to the popular demand for
love interest. Our theater Is supported
largely by women, many OF them debu-
tantes, to whom the chief end Of life is
the ALTAR. In response to their demand
love scene has been dragged into the
mayors office. 1t doesn't belong there,
but II is necessary in order to secure
hearing for the play. The mayor is a
young man; he cones into his office from
the tennis court and he finds-the girl.
my ideal of the theater is a social
tribunal which shall resolve problems
believe we shall come to that slowly. and
at first by making liberal concessions to
popular prejudices.
''In Paris, M Brieux's genius is marked.
He knows life and he is able to put 1t on
the stage. More, he Is able to put into
his plays a profound criticism. of life,
a problem and resolves it In the theater,
but he is not didactic nor sophomore.
This is the ideal conception OF the the
ater's purpose; yet in America no one
seems to be striving toward that end,
No General Solution
$50 far as this problem Of race suicide
is concerned, M. Brieux teaches that 1t
can not be solved generally; that it is
matter for personal consideration. He
declares depopulation to be due to racial
characteristics that can't be destroyed
without changing the national ideals, and
he pokes fun at governments efforts to
meet the crisis by offers of money bon
uses for large families, and by granting
10 heads Of large families admission into
the much coveted ranks Of the Legion Of
Honor.
.Maternite realizes my ideal Of the
theater. do not say Sham will realize
It, Sham was written In collaboration,
but II is, nevertheless, a criticism OF life.
On Several Plays
"'The Second Mrs. Tanqueray' is great
acting play but 1t Is no criticism. The
man and woman each go their way. The
man is excused and the woman damned.
Candida on the other hand, is criti-
cism. The woman is outspoken in what
she says to her husband. The Dolls
House. likewise, embodies a criticism that
is an arraignment of a home, a home that
meets all the modern requirements. The
head oil that household paid his taxes,
supplied his family with creature COM
forts and maintained a birthrate that was
flattering to the flag under which he
lived, which is al; that society demands.
Yet Ibsen shows that this was an I'M
moral home. The husband was not the
wife's companion. There was no intellec-
tual home life, no real love- He shows
us the husband is using his wife merely
as a chattel. What isjthe result? She lies
and steals and then comes the Q. Il. d.
of the thesis, the assertion that this atti-
tude of husband to wife is not only wrong
morally, but is wrong biologically; that
the trickery of the mother likely will
makes itself apparent in the children.
American society today is filled with
just such opportunities as Mr.. Broadhurst
seized in The Man of the Hour They
are here If We will only wake UP and
take them. The playwright must illum-
mate the commonplace and relate it in
dramatic form. That will mean a stage
literature which we haven't now. 1t will
come as soon as we get out of our boys
clothes as a nation artistically."