New-York tribune., 1911-11-26
A REPERTORY THEATRE
Lady Gregory Gives information
About Abbey Theatre That
Miqht Be Used Here.

among those that is who have anv Pa,
interest In the theatre, be II that Of a pro.
feselonal. an amateur or a connolsseur. Ts.
sigh Is for more earnest theatre mo,.
navorsome theatre; for plays that ws,.
written because the writers had to wr,.
them or burst with the repression and
acted by players who have gone on ,b.
stage because they had something IN tharo
| that drew them 10 the footlIghts with an
| irresistible current Those who care "a
have a theatre which can offer them th.,.
things have a plan-that is, a dream-os
| how 10 accomplish IT, But every one toll,
them It is impossible History SAYS Il =.
practical ard that II has been done many
| times. Il Is merely the founding ana
maintaining Of a repertory theatre. Bu,
! this IL one Of the things that cannot b.
done in New York" The phrase is a pop.
ular one, and has preceded many things in
| other departments OF life that now exist
/ here and seem to be reasonably we'll root.
ed-the traffic squad for one instance. and
the subway, for another. Both Of these
things could not be done I'm New York"
according to the deciders OF the public fate
ten or fifteen years ago. Now the thing
that cannot exist in New York Is a roper.
tory theatre, and the cry is so persistent
and is getting so much louder day by day
that II must be almost time for one TO be
started
That a repertory theatre can exist else
where has been proved by the Irish play
ers, or, more particularly, by their di-
rectors, William Butler Yeats and Lady
Gregory. Lady Gregory is in New York
now, deyotedly attending every perform
ance of the company at Maxine Eniotts
Theatre, and to hear her tell OF the Irish
players-who they are. whence they came.
what this whole unique national play move.
ment represents in Ireland-is like reading
from cid books about the theatre, when
acting was dear to the hearts OF the peo-
pie and was called an art
The whole movement started, according
to Lady Gregory. in the desire OF few
persons to express something that was In
them. IL did not start in some ones forml-
lated plan TO found n repertory theatre, nor
was it necessary TO scour the country TO
find playwrights, rlays and actors, and
force them into an inharmonious organizs-
tion. The movement simply grew. Yeats
was one of the principal ones.
He called on Lady Gregory in London one
day-she has It recorded in her diary. He
was seething with plays and plans, she
wrote. He counselled long and often with
her, and as 4 result they went over 10 Dub
lin and collected a little company Eng
! lish actors to produce one or two OF Neatss
plays. The plays attracted attention, be
cause they were simple and because they
went down 10 the people, Instead o. ex'
plotting society. AS George Moore put u
( they were a change from the plays In which
"a gentleman in evening clothes and go1
shirt studs tries to persuade lady IN SIX
| dresses to leave her husband They az
, tempted to strike a note that was distinct
lively Irish. Many persons who were inter
ested in the theatre gathered. Other young
dramatists of something the same ideas as
Yeats submitted plays, Irish actors az
piled for the privilege OF acting in them.
and finally Miss Horniman appeared ard
offered money enough to found national
theatre in Dublin. That, In brief was the
beginning.
1T began TO grow clear TO US then" SAID
Lady Gregory, that we were doing some
thing more significant than just conduct
| ing a personal theatre and producing
more elemental kind OF play. II began 70
dawn upon us that both plays and seuns
had, In a way, gone unconsciousy Gown
| into national traits and discovered poe"'
and a sense of things that were distinc'
lively Irish. After that We went more ae
liberately to work to develop this teh'eh''
| as far as we were able
| 1--WE advertised for Irish players anu
took a number who were young ana hsa
never acted anywhere. These we u"''''
to do as we wanted them to.
Last year | saw the Sicihan players
and was deeply interested in their use Oh
gesture. So, wonderfully sensitive are 'ne'.
peoples hands TO form and acuoh '',@s
their plays could have been undersloou ~
watching their gestures alone lue
rectors Of that company had realized INV
natural trait of the people and had de's'
oped It into an art that was full Oh inea'
ing -.
I'm the same way we realized tha' u'
Irish are not light and graceful OF 'no'e
ment and quick of manner ana acuoh'
we did not try TO cultivate these u@''a
them. We realized that they had De~uu.
voices naturally, so we let sesu0 .h.
count for very little and deyeiopeu
subtle shades Of the voice and depe''eO
this vocal mower for dramatic effect
"Our theme. since we began conseiousN
n have one. has been to find what was
sentially natural in the lrlsh peop" 80.
characteristic OF them and TO deNeiop
things TO their utmost power OF sr0~N
The outcome Of this effort mas Deen I,
hans the founding Of school 9i s'""e -.
ireland. We have now place hs@i
Abbey Theatre i'm Dublin where VIC a,
training Young men and women VIM ~.
gradually come into the COMPANY
Yeats ia there now working with w.
You see. we have only fifteen pla!.,,.
| fact five OF those are merely
who are comparatively new 10 "V -
many. We want at least thirty Al.
for we have repertory OF eighty pay .N.
| roadv and besides We want 10 u' "A
while we have a company traVelins "A
have one also at Dublin. II is mol ia~ ,v
have our theatre there empty tot ~ snsut
u-oaLs for so long a time as we have - "a
over here this fall We plan 20 e0'A N,
America again next year with so'". .,dto
verse dramas, plays that we were r-,en
attempt before We were known W." and
London is constantly sendins i0i nos
we want TO be able to run over ~ ~ clAy.
and again, yet always Leaving eh0Ss n,s
ers behind 10 play continually al ~. ,os
The dramatic season In puonn' Ss&
know. is much longer than II sogd.y
York. We have only six ween N the
in the summer time there. pu'i"s opsa
rest OF the year the plsyhouse vas Il
This continuous work In itsell eous.
necessary zee for us to have larger ,,, NO not
psny so that the members of it WIZ >
be overstrained. 20,
In connection with the rest Oh ~, :, mspy