New-York tribune., 1912-02-11
|rensors Here and Abroad
oossvgLT As CRITIC OF PLAYs-MR BERNARD SHAW AND
NN " MR. FILsoN YOUNG As CRITICS AMERICA
Copyright, 1912. George w. s.aaneyl
London, January "a.

n Mr.. Roosevelt "ha' II pto
Pon IN Washington was somnoiencc
lossu ,,ness OF the spirit. We Went 10
pa W. cheerful party of four.
y ~ melancholy soon seized tor ner
nO" Trus. we thought the motive OF
So -svolting and improbable. Par
p know, served Sophocles as
+~ atrsl idea for "Gdipus Rex opt ''S' @
en- u,ore than two thousand years ago
,hs period of the tragedy was sun
n0 y" ..rnots. and the Use made OF the
p0's wa. totally different. But inns is
''' ,usptieth century Of the CHRISTIAN
and Ireland is not Greece nor was
ssnre q Sophocles, nor is the ifish-
p ,iece a tragedy. Parricide Is no
pan : a. conception about which to
v NnS . modern play than was prosutu-
- ,n Mr.. Bernard Shaw's Mrs. war
w : Tp,ofsssion'; or than abortion is IN
!. Granville Barker's Waste
san our revolt against it was not
80 enough TO fix the attention or
us awake. Two of us slept. Inc
~ two talked a little at Intervals
+, for the most part, sat IN stoicdl
E.noe as did the thin audience which
[,,nsssed the performance. a play must
come dramatic value. This had
people wandered from the wings
l. the stage, delivered a few remarks
Ia wandered off again. Nothing hap
E.,sS or nothing TO create real IN
.a,t 4 New England farmer, IN the
- when there were New England
.rmsrs would have summed it up as
su talk and no cider; a pregnant
ls,.ss descriptive Of many piece by the
Er,ters of the new school; two OF whoni
have named above.
But since have read Mr. RooseVeil
..,d;ct on this Irish play nave no
lo,bt ! and my friends were wrong 20
[. bored He seems to include In his
.,nAgyric ether Irish plays and other
bsrformanees Of the Irish players, but
I,wavs understood that The Playooy OF
he western World" was the best OF
fbsu. At any rate, it is one Of them ana
he players also are among those on
mann. as on the authors, Mr.. Roosevelt
roseunoes this sweeping eulogy:
'In the Abbey Theatre Lady Gregory
IA those associated with her have not
nly made an extraordinary contribution
\ tbs sum Of Irish literary and artistic
lchisyerasnt, but have done more for the
Irana IN; , has been accomplished by
Inv other nation in recent years.
Mr. roosevelt we all know, revels IN
mpsrlatives. vet it is little startling 10
|. teld on this high authority that Dub
En has superseded Paris and that the
Lbbey Theatre he's eclipsed the Fran
ais should not think of disputing
Er. RoeseveIt's dictum. ] know that
nan Of his balanced mind and his habit
II patiently studying facts and patiently
Iehecting on them would master his sub
bet, any subject, before expressing an
Ipinioa upon il. Precisely when he did
/ ] DC. not know. but he must have
Eudied the French drama at first hand
b Paris and the Irish drama at first
hand In Dublin, and this present deiiv-
sranee can only be the result Of a con-
kdered comparison between the two.
More than that He must have studied
lhe German and Italian and even the
Belgian and English drama for the
tisb have surpassed them all. We are
Ihsrsfore 10 understand that Sudermapn
lDd dAnnunzlo, Maeterlinck and Pinero,
Victor Hugo, Augier and Dumas the
founger. Bernstein and Maurice Don
lay, capus and Wolf are henceforth
lut foiis 10 set of the superiority Of Mr..
iynge and Mr.--but Mr.. Synge is the
MY name that occurs 70 me as celeb
sty Of the Irish drama. Mr.. Roosevelt
pay know OF others. but, whether by
himself OF In company with other Irish
latriots. Mr.. synge excels in dramatic
enius all the writer's have named and
hany more.
Nor is that all We sit at Mr.. Roose
Fits feet 10 be taught that not only
fish authors but Irish actors outshine
v others, since in artistic as we'll as
terary achievement the Irish are at the
pmrnit. II is Ireland against Europe.
ueh actors and actresses as Sarah
Iernhardt and Bartet, Simone and Le
Fargy, Mounet-Sully and Rejane must
Gs Teekoned henceforth In the second
put ] must admit ] cannot remember
ne names Of those players who have
pow surpassed them. From the passage
70 The Outlook" article which has been
paeiea 10 London the names are unhap-
ply omitted, but Mr.. Roosevelt must, Of
course, have given a list, which ! shall
walt with imPatience 10 see. When q
man IKE Bacon or our illustrious ex-
PRESIDENT has taken all knowledge to be
us province, we must not be captious
concerning details
among my dramatic memories. which
are many some of the most cherished
are french. have spent hundreds of
oshshtful evenings in the theatres Of
rar'S' all OF them during what Mr..
OsefeA calls recent times: by
enicn ne may be taken to mean the last
senersuon or two What ] chiefly re-
s'e' that ] could not have had Mr..
'0ssfeus advice in time TO profit by
rad only known that the true
"7 ot the modern drama was in Dub
.' ana moi in Paris. / might have spent
hundreds OF evenings on the
gaiiAs OF the Liffey instead Of squander-
"s 'hen on the banks of the Seine. 1
sU not have wasted my admiration
a'usts whom ] ignorantly thought
r,eoinparabie. That ensemble at the
'SHsais which | was taught TO believe
''e most perfect in the world must.