New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-30
At j. THE f. T1EAIRE2 =
COMMENT
A Few Feelings Left Over from
Last Season and Anticipate
ina the Next.


troubadours has arrived in London, and is
nlaying a season" there. The players have
been to London many times before, often
enough TO refer TO their visit as their an
nual season. And there are some play
goers in the big dark city that Ike the
tone Of the National Irish Theatre, more
fneople than there seemed to be here in
America last fall and winter during the
rather dramatic. from more points of view
than one. career of the Abbey Theatre
PLAYERS in this country, Still there is no
tremendous enthusiasm about them even in
London-no widespread interest, no genera!
RECOGNITION that something new, something
altogether sound, in drama has come up out
Of the soil.
/ The popular ara Of the theatre to-day. as
compared with such drama as that offered
I by the Irish Players or by the Ooerammer-
/ gau people. or by the cathedral players in
, the Middle Ages or by the ancient Greeks
( In the concentrated pits Of their amphthe-
aires. is Photographic rather than interpre-
tative. The playwright Of to-day is ambi-
tious to become a kodak, able 10 catch life
unawares, make snapshots that reveal un-
expected comedy and pathos. such as the
usual eye is too vague, TO diverse, TO see.
surely. full Of fascination and interest But
strangely ephemeral Few things can rivet
Interest and arouse delight as a new photo
graph can. one which is concerned with
scenes and subjects you know about or one
(which YOU have just developed and printed
yourself Yet a year later a great deal OF
the interest has vanished from the often
times faded old print. Styles have changed
the people look unnatural and the situation
that made the picture amusing or vital has
grown different or vanished. The interest
was only a surface one, after all. and natu-
rally. as photography is only surface art
The usual play that is prepared for US
to-day seems to be largely along the same
lines as the snapshot. It hits the interest
of the moment for its clever surface repre-
s.entations. but q year or two later il is out
of date.
8 On the other hand, The playwright VINO
has not perhaps so precise an eye. but VINO
shas depths of feelings to express, feelings
(which are his own and therefore unique
develops something which is in the nature
of a revelation when he gains the power
10 EXPRESS these things through the me-
djum Of the drama.
The main difference between the two
tstvles. both Of which are Accordingly in
Yteresting. seems 10 be that the art wnich
lis photographic itself finishes what 1t has
10 saw, whereas each scrap Of the interpre-
!tative art is merely the beginning Of new
world of thought and sometimes new
world Of feeling. understanding and emo
Ition besides.
! Probably no one would think of the work
of the irish Players as belonging 10 any
I.
What il shows of surface things is i'm
IRRESPONSIBLE. The scenery, costumes ana
STORY Of each play are true 10 life, or
course, but they are suggested rather thah
;6Afnitely dwelt upon. That is probably
because they are not the important part OF
The plays What is important, what the
plays were written for is something that
goes down deep beneath the surface. 1t is
the Interpretation Of the fire. the spirit ana
1.-THE feelings of the people, the caiiore or
their thinking, the mysteries that hang IN
1.-THE air about them.
/ Writers on both sides OF the Atlantic who
ihave expressed their opinions Of the plays
fof the Irish National Theatre have said
that they have caught up the feelings OF
1.-THE people and explained the Irish charac-
liter: that they have shown now it feels TO
Hand. filed with its mists and it, mysteries,
TITS limitations and its various tempers'
. Fcornic, petty, generous and naive.
~ Therefore, to see play that has such
Yttntengence in the stuff of which it is made
lis an unusually rich experience, because
Fnuch as it is in itself, it is merely the be-
Iginning Of a new outlook for each one OF
bus And those playgoers in this country
" ri GRO
at the scarcity Of plays-and Of all other
tsort Of material which can give it to them
There is very little offered here on the
Estage into which the element OF sugges-
ytion enters. The plays are eloquent OF sur
sfaces They tell Of costumes, decorative
<interiors and architectural eXteriors. They
describe manners and customs and all the
daily detail of surface life. Some of them
soffer profound theories which seek TO re-
form the conventions. But conventions are
bonly surface things, so that even the prob
Item plays do not go into the depths, and
Zone can watch all these things without a
change Of feeling.
e. Those theatregoers who prefer the inter-
pretative style of drama to the other find in
their favorite art all that the Photographic
sort offers and all its own richness besides.
sThe impressionistc costuming and scenery
seem TO leave a more definite idea Of the
originals than a detailed reproduction on
the stage ever does. The stages that are
fitted up so that you would be glad 10 back
a moving van to the curb. take all the
things home and furnish your own place
with them, so complete and genuine and
kbeautifuI are they. make a very limited
appeal TO an audience To see these stages
IFS so little change 10 the eye from looking
| around the home rooms, or friends quar-
tiers or the public places that we frequent
that the average spectator does not look
at them at all. If street scenes are shown
| the streets of his own or of some other
| city are so accurately reproduced that the
( man in the audience might as we'll be out
! side as in the theatre for ell the change Re
I gets by being there.
! The inpress!onisIc scenery and costur-
I ing. however. such as the Irish Players
use eive the general effect Of the realities
Z they represent and. in addition, some def
Unite suggestion that base come out of these
/ things 10 the mind Of the scenic designer
who has fashioned them.
Whether the mass Of players would wish
fto turn from the elaborate reproductive