New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-12-04
EAST SIDE DRAMA
What the People like-Leonid
Andreyev's "Anathema."


~pive. in English But when the play Is
nv a Russian even though he be as brll1-
fanf and r,oplliar an author as Decnld An
d7eyzev. and the performance is in liodlsh
and in a little theatre on the lower East
Side the event may create little comment
On the night OF November . there wes
.srod,.cet at the LipziE Theatre, No 80
Rowery. for the first time in America
i ,eonid Andreyev's "Anathema- 1T was
ocne IN yiddish. The Tribune was the
Only New York newspaper published ia
English TO print review OF the play lei
the playgoing public Of the lower East
side has been profoundly stirred ny lhis
drama and The Jewish press has been
sYfinting columns about IL mat pe'PiF
who do not understand the mixture OF
flehrew and German known as lidoish
ixho--la go OF their oND accord TO see
,ssv in this language is not 10 be ex-
,nec,ad but it Is surprising how much
rx,leas,re ore can derive from seeing play
OF this sort with one eye on an Ensllsh
vranslatson and the other on the actors III
st be true-and IL is-that no play IS reailE
a play until il has an audience then a real
A,lsv Is 10 be seen at the Lipzin Theatre
where the audience IS Of as much interest
as the actors and the drama itself
No one aside from Andreyev himself ls
more competent 10 speak about me meiil
-of this play than Herman Bernstein VINO
has translated the original Russian INTO
Nrnrlisb. from which the Yiddish adapta-
ZION was made Mr.. Bernstein is not I'm
Synowu 10 American readers He introduced
%he novels OF Gorky into this country has
translated several of the works OF 1olsto!
sbas written The Flight OF Time and
sxe.t7er Poems" in the Gates OF lsTaei.
r.-s.o-ies of the Jews and ''Contrlte
'FIesrts~-a novel. He has also done INTO
English several comedies by Anton CheS-
.hov two of which. THE Challenge ana
-.7rhe Proposal" were produced Dy the
ssu,erican Academy Of Dramatic Arts ahd
he has ADAPTED from the Russian ne
Snow Storm which has been played IN
This city. Mr. Bernstein has also been d
frequent contributor TO the American news
papers and magazines
II, s,eakine of "Anatherna" ne said
..Andreyev told me that while he was not
:. lew himself he wanted TO portray the
Law as he has never before been pictured.
The lew he said. has always been be-
fore the far OF justice-he has either oeeh
defended ax his friends attacked by MS
enemies He has never been deplcted as
he really is / want 10 portray the mar
--yred Jew OF an ages
And il is remarkable said Mr. Bern
stein how he has caught the psycnoIosS
CT his Jewish characters. j asked MN.
How do you know the Jews He re
nlied. I lived with them for tsree DAYS at
,esessa But he said: If one sees
mans coat he can tell what he is INSIDE
n All II requires IS imagination
il The original characters in AndreyeV'
u ,,ar ara snathena, David and Sarah, Da-
vid's wife.
# z
Rernstein. represents the spirit of man
eeesing for truth He wants to know the
unkungn He represents reason and DAVID
f-e-reserts Truth To David he has aftTip-
,,aa the qualities Of Christ ana subordl-
mated them TO the Russian Jew. For TINS
he was accused of biasphemy- He was eN-
communicated. and his play WIS sup
.pressed by the Holy Synod A special eere-
;nouy was presided over by Archbishop
Cermoeen in kiev. Black candles were
lighted and the play was mathematical by
curzing Andreyev.
up to this time the play was one OF the
most successful that had ever been pro-
louced by the Artistic Theatre at MOSCOW.
where Maeeerlinck's 1.-THE Blue Bird was
serxt introduced to the world. "Anath-
~nas. "a rich In Biblical and Oriental
fpoetry. IN David and Sarah one can almost
hear tho old prophets speaking.
Ia respouse to 8 question concerning the
a.se OF Andreyer, Mr. Bernstein said that
he WIS graduated from the St Petersburg
University as a lawyer. He tried one case
and lost st. Then be attempted SUICIDE.
for which he was arrested and imprisoned.
.<vYhen he was freed" Mr.. Bernstein said.
~Andreyey began TO write Tor one OK the
law Journals In st. Petersburg. Soon he
published q book OF short stories, which
carsed Corky to write to friend and ask.
~yyho is this man writing under the pseu-
.5a,1yn OF kndreyev? Countess Tolstoy
wrote letters to Russian journal attack
.ne Andreyev for his realism. but she must
ihsze FORGOTTEN that Count Tolstoy wrote
tKreutzer Sonata The papers took up the
discussion. The younger generation de-
tended Andreyev, This brought his stories
into prominence and his reputation was
made
r sAndrevey kept orywriting. HlS next work
was Fed daughter q vivid and beautifully
written tale Of q Russian soldier who went
20 TIE Japenese WEI and became insane
re wrote a modern morality play called
The Life OF Nan which was given at the
Thsra Theatre, this city. by Nine homis-
erzhevsky and her company OF Russaan
players three years ago. He also Wroee
i.Faack Afascues' the story OF a masquerade
ban. 41 which the masQces represented the
virtues sud vices of the host Another play
IS OF student days. called DAYS OF Our
'TsYes This IS one OF Andreyey's most sue
cessfalI plays. and he was rather ashamed
when he told me that he wrote it IN three
days Another play which be has Just com
'rleted IS The Earth Is in Danger. IN
which the chef countries Of the world are
i.ypssed by Individuals These men get To-
getherec2pftalists. ideal revoluronists. an
.arch.sts professional philosophers repub-
;,,c1ans and ACCOMPLISHMENTS they
feel .hst the world IS wrong and that 1t
should be saved. Although Andreyev is
only thirty-n:ne years old. he Is ono OF the
most celebrated men Of literary Russia
The success OF Andreyev's play amone
athe Hebrews OF tbs lower East Side led
10 the question: How Is 81 that the people
are interested .r plays OF this quality?
= Mr. Bernstein replied: THAT Is largely
due TO the Influence OF one man. jacob
Gocdin. who adapted and wrote forty plays,
ten Of the most important Of which have
been translated into English. He was born
in Russia Ee was q journalist he came
here twenty years ago He didn't know
Yiddish although he was Jew Before
Re came there was no interest in the Jew
Ssh Drama The people liked the trashiest
ixnd cheapest Tiddish operettas. Gordin
f.s.pneA YfS5fSh and aGapted PLAYS by