New-York tribune., 1911-12-31

and developed a now art Of the drama,
Is still young. He is thirty-nine years oic
At nineteen he was we'll known ss an ac-
tor mainly of old mems parts and other
"fantasie roles" as Germans call them
character parts as they are known in
America In about 1895 he became manager
OF the Stadttheater in Stahlburg. where
he began to study over and develop his
ideas OF producing plays.
It was ten years ago that Reinhardts g
career really began, for then he went to
Berlin with enough money to open little
cabaret. in which he produced one-act
plays on a small scale. but In the manner
OF his later work. Success found him out
in his obscure venture. and 1t was not very
long before he enlarged his cabaret and
rnade Il into a theatre-"Kleines Theater.
he called It. The first pay he produced In
his Little Theatre was Gorky's Die Nacht-
asyl."
The attention of Berliners was soon SO
much attracted by his work that he felt
himself justified in taking more proml-
rent theatre and producing play with
which every one was famihar-as set pS
others Renhardt chose "A Midsummer
Nights Dream and chose well for his OWE
rurposes. for Germans have to all mteh"
tions added Shakespeare to their list OF
patron saints and are familiar with all MS
works Reinhardt made such production
of the fanciful little play as neither the
nIaveoers of Berlin nor any others IN the
world had ever dreamed Of. How he man.
aged TO reproduce the tiny fairyland that
plays beneath the grasses and around the
edge of moon ripping pools no one knows
Rut amidst a forest of trees in glade
that dipped into shadows and rose INTO
hillocks of pale moonlight the little folk
NJ fsiryland. gnOmes and sprites and fays.
held festival with the tiny sparks OF light
that glitter wherever fairies dance, aswing
amongst the grasses
"Sumptuous," it was called. and by many
"too sumptuous." But Reinhardt became
the talk of the hour Then to show his
nublic that mere gorgeousness and won
derfui feats of stagecraft were not to be
characteristic Of all his work he next put
on hi. version of Hamlet" For bare SIM
plicity il was a revelation. 1t was indeed
outrageous TO those who change their
views slowly For 10 them, used as they
we're 10 a Hamlet" played in setting
Of Renaissance Florentine splendor, Rein
hardt's dim fortresslike castle OF the
North. with its stone walls. scant furnish
ings, its gloomy air Of impending tragedy,
showed a lack OF respect for Hamlets
royalty. There was no purple and no fine
linen.
Reinhsrdt's career has been one OF swift
advance. From theatre TO theatre in Ber
lin, where he now directs two of the lead
ing playhouses, the Deltsches Theater and
the Kammerspiele. which he erected him
self. then extending his work to all the
leading cities of Germany and during the
year now passing TO Austria, Sweden. Rus
sia and England. Reinhardt is without
doubt one OF the biggest men in the West
ern world Of drama to-day
His versatility Of conception is only one
OF the amazing features of this young pro-
drcer's work. Where the setting OF one
play will be the very symbol itself Of sim
plicity, showing. perhaps. nothing but :.
few white marble steps running from front
TO back OF the stage, classic altar upon
them, and in the background the chaste
line of a Greek temple partly seen, cutting
| a clear Attic sky, in another he will use
such massings, such enormous masses, az
will startle imagination itself. In THE
Miracle for instance, he has converted
| the interior OF the huge London Olympia
which for lack of any other comparison
| may be likened to a three times enlarged
Madison Square Garden-into a representa-