The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-11-03
The Christian Pilgrim.

The poetic drama has never Jared very
we'll at the hsnds Of the American pub
lie. and there Is bound to be considerable
curiosity as 70 how the New York the
Gter-goers viii take 20 The Christian
Pilgrim" At the National Theater all
during the Wee the play did very well
each nights audience being a little larger
and more apprec.ative than the one pre-
ceding 1t.
Without DOUBT The Christian Pilgrim"
is a most beautiful and worthy produc-
ton. and it really deserves the hearty
support and commentator Of those who
believe in the theater as something else
than a mere haunt Of frivolity and non
sensical amusement L has been said
about The Christian Pilgrim" that this
is not the story that Bunyan wrote. II
it had been. then 81 might well have re-
tanned Bunyan's admirable title "PH-
grim's Progress" This sort OF criticism
was disarmed when Mr. James MacAr-
thur stated frankly in his announcement
that mis- play as an adaptation from Bun
vans allagOTy. This has been true OF
practically every drama constructed from
a written story. II was so with Mrs.
Fiskes Vanity Fair" as it was with
Mr. Wizards Colonel Newcome." and
with countless others. Those who object
To adapted drama because il leaves some
thing out do not seem able to realize
that there are much greater limitations
to the presentation Of an aspect Of life
through the stage than there is in writ
tel literature, 10 which, so far. no
limitations have been set.
Nor can It be said justly that "The
Christian Pilgrim" is not a play because
Of the absence in II Of what is so com
monty called dramatic action" Many
theater- goers think that dramatic action
consists in much running to and fro
about the stage, in the constant move
nent or the characters, and the more VIC
iently they move the greater the action
Nothing can he farther from the truth:
FOR the PLAYS Of the INSTRUMENTATION
lists. AT Pinero. Mr.. Shaw. Ibsen. and
their Tx, are notably devoid Of such
movement. ''The Christian Pilgrim"
moves. as a ply. as ! gicaIy and as in
eNorabIy from It's beginning which IS
really when the symbolic curtain is first
shown-to its end. as the Pilgrim himself
moves from the City Of Destruction to
that City Celestial which Is the goal Of
every human soul II fulflls It's function
as an entertainment through its superb
pictures, through dialogue that is full Of
poetic beauty 50 that il delights the ear,
a.. Al,-A.4~-L -Fa l.
markable for the way in which they make
subject purely spiritual appear strik-
ingly realistic But THE Christian Pill
grim" has a much higher function than
that of mere entertainment of the senses;
il affords entertainment for the intellect
and for the soul. II puts before those
who see II, in a most meaningful way
the contrast between good and evil; II
speaks the things that our conscience
speak, and to which, too often, we give
no heed. So far as IT is possible for the
finite mind 10 grasp the meaning OF this
painful passage through life unto death,
so far was Bunyan enabled to grasp It
and in his alIegory to present it in the
written form.
It Is with something Of the same in
spiration that the dramatist here has
taken from Bunyan such OF the more
powerful lessons in the allegory and
transferred them to the stage, where the
appeal is much more insistent and domi-
mating than the appeal of the printed
page. And we need not think il alto
gether an accident that the man who
chose to make dramatic adaptation
from The Pilgrims Progress proves to
be a Scotchman, for in the dour Scotch
temperament, fed by the blood of the
Covenanters. the allegory of Bunyan was
sure 10 strike a responsive chord
There is a line in the prologue TO The
Christian Pilgrim" that would furnish
text for a sermon on the dramas highest
estate:
Would'st thou be pleasant yet be far from folly
To the frivolous such a drama as The
Christian Pilgrim" will mean only
solemn monotone in front Of colorful pic
lures; to the right-thlnking such a play
viii y an abiding pleasure-for the great
est pleasure in life is not in frivolity
and folly, but IL contemplation Of the
great mystery Of human existence, OF
sin and suffering. Of struggles and &C
complishment To realize the high ideal
OF this play is TO realize with Mrs.
Browning:
Yes. very vain
The greatest speed Of al these souls Of men
Unless they travel upward TO the throne
Where sttest Thou the satisfying One.
With help for sins and holy perfeciings
Fer all requirements; while the aTchaugel raising
Unto thy ace his fun ecstatic gazing
F0rgcts the rlsh and rapture Of his wings
And the final word about the play Is
this: 1t richly merits success, and all