The Washington herald., 1911-04-16
PLAYGOERS LIKE TO
SEE CRIME ON STAGE
BY PAUL ARMSTRONG.

Somewhere in the fifth century, B. c.,
there was done a play, or rather three,
called a trilogy, on the worst crime
known to man before or since. 1t was
the tragedy Of Oedipus. The name OF
the author was Eschuylus, the greatest
of all the Greek dramatists, for his play
was given two performances while no
other Greek dramatist ever lived to see
a second performance. However ominous
this may sound, it is the truth.
Our own Shakespeare knew his little
book pretty well. 1t is recorded that the
bard only wrote plays to keep out of
Jail Tin which he was as modern as any
of us) and that he took orders from his
patrons Gust like Ames).
It would seem that Shakespeare, when
In good favor, was allowed to write high
browed stuff, such as THE Tempest"
for instance, but when the human beings
Of his time wanted to go to the play
house they insisted that he write some
thing reeking with crime or go to jail.
Hence We have Richard Ill., "OtheIlo.''
and Macbeth murderers all, reeking
with blood but applauded for 400 years.
Hamlet was written when Shake
speare was in favor. for here he tries to
ildhe VI d HcIO, OHe "HOn1 Iudl great
philosopher. Nitzsche, dismisses as I'M
worthy, because he had not the courage
to kill Hamlet" mooned and did not
dare. Richard IIT' forgot the moon.
but murdered; left a trail of crime to
mark his path to the throne. One drew
the people instantly, the other needed
culture to give 1t an audience. And yet,
in Richard ILL.," in Gloster's scene with
Anne, occurs the greatest distortion on
women yet written.
But the point Is that Shakespeare lives
through the crimes he depicted. He knew
that petty larceny was not as attractive
as a felony, nor a disturbance of the
peace as effective as murder in the first
degree.
Dramatixing Petty Larceny.
Drama reached its lowest ebb on the
English-speaking stage when misde-
meanor was the worst crime" depicted.
Congreve, Vanburgh, and wycherly We'd
with one another to see who could make
the most of domestic petty larceny-or to
be more explicit, the excitation of Illicit
sentiment" as that great authority,
Havelock Ellis, would put 1t. Here in
decency and vulgarity, set forth in smart
epigram, held sway. This epoch is COIN
cident with the wcman's advent as an
III the EHSllsn-SpedhlnS IncdIeT.
(This means nothing save exactly what It
says) But the man soon had his way.
1t was in France. at a time that the
drama was dead the world over. the two
men, Pyat and Luchet, and later Dumas,
French drama. 1t was at this very time
that Victor Hugo,s romantic move
nent'' tcrime in disguise, nothing else),
ed to riot, where crime was defended
with arms as the salvation of drama.
1 have always been criticised for my
drama In THE Heir TO the Hoorah,"
ny men were rough. One man packed
l gun even in a dress suit" The hero
gave a man six hours to leave town. And
you knew he would be on murder bent
after the day broke. In "Salome Jane
ny hero killed-without a word of warn
lng-he committed murder.
That was terrible.
A Burglar Hero.
In ALIAS Jimmy Valentine" the man
had ohot only killed, but stolen. He Is
,lastered with signs. Yet
He became a matinee idol.
In 1.-The Deep Purple" the hero says:
If killed you they would give me a
(Applause) Laylock, the
Western killer. goes free amid tears OF
badness.
/ am doubtless wrong, as my reviewers
,ay, but greater than they my public tell
ne with their patronage that I am writ
ng what they want.
And that Is why I am doing another,
"A Romance of the Underworld" for
Vaudeville. / want to get at the great
masses. Again ii is crime. The atmos-
there reeks with it. And they will take
I to their hearts, / think.
And why not crime in the drama? A
Judge of the criminal court once asked
ne to come down and sit beside him on
he bench a day for the good of my
rama. What day?" i asked. ANY
lay." he replied. but the worse the
rhine the bigger the audience"
Why do people want to see criminals?
s II for the same reason they go to see
,reat athletes. or aviators. or any other
hing which In some way excels them?
3 il true that We are all as full OF
rhine as Sing Singg and we long to see
hose who have dared to do the things
We all have had glimpses of-even
mothered impulse to do ourselves-but
Te're too well civilized" let US say?
There can be no drama without danger.
The criminal lives his days and nights
rafting for the words II want you
He Is hunted thing-justiy so. per-
APPS, because civilization must prevail.
tut he Is forever in the shadow. and
ONE way we hope for his continual es-
ape. IL he does one thing to make Us
Ike him.
but for the grace of God there 90 l."
aid great man upon seeing man a.
end the scaffold-
Perhaps that Is II.
Who knows7