New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-12-06
WHAT IS THE DRAMA
LEAGUE DRIVING AT?.
a Diffident Inquiry Into the
Aims of Its Playgoing
Committee.

SdhlZduOn some weeks ago-an interest
naturally aroused by an association OF in
telligent, enthusiastic people with no
axes to grind. keen desire TO encourage
the better sorts Of drama and the leisure
10 make that interest effective
The league has been successful in the
Middle West, where il was started and
has apparently done real good II has
stirred up a tremendous amount OF en-
thusasm among its members at any rate.
and you will hear them tell OF the plays
they have tried to help-"The Yellow
Jacket" for instance-almost with tears
in their eyes.
The purpose Of the local playgoing COM
mittee. as stated I'm its bulletin, is TO en-
courage good plays by 'pledging support
during the first ten days OF any new pro-
duction upon which the committee re-
ports" The committee does not condemn
poor plays; ii merely gives it's subscribers
general idea of those II considers
worthy of support. 1t Is the work OF this
committee which prompts certain specu-
lation-of the most diffident sort. need
less 10 say--as TO what the committee
mental processes may be and just what
IL is driving at.
Its motions began to be mysterious
when 1t failed TO bulletin General John
Regain" Here was A piece which intro
duced to America one of the most in
telligently amusing rrishmen OF the day
comedy full OF delightful satire and
nourshing humor-preclsely the sort Of
thing one would suppose the Drama
League would welcome to Broadway
After various shrleks OF protest had gone
up the committee did consent to mention
the plays existence at the foot OF one OF
its later bulletins
The reason for not recommending
Canon Hannay's play was. presumably,
the delightfully."- ira tonal rule that farces
are not TO be bulletned. The reason
ing here, OF course. is that farces are
generally popular enough TO take care OF
themselves. and in any case scarcely
worth serious consideration. But, OF
course. the most intelligent sort OF satire
and fun can be set in the key OF farce
most of Mr.. Shaw's plays are farcical
The most delightful evenings entertain
mcnt in the New York theatres this sea-
son. perhaps Forbes- Robertson in Caesar
and Cleopatra essentially farce.
Between the comparatively common
place Tongues Of Men" which the COM
mittee recommended. and the Shaw play.
how long would IL take any sensible play
goer 10 decide? Yet IL Forbes Robertson
had not appeared in other serious
PLAYS. the committee. under its rule about
farces. could scarcely have recommended
Cesar and Cleopatra" for II has an
other rule equally curious-that mere
acting may not be the cause for recon-
mending a play
The maunuvres Of the committee be
came even more banning when il failed
10 notice Miss Rachel Crother's play
ourselves. Hero was piece written. II
would bc supposed. directly at the su-
perior and discerning individuals who
compose the Drama League. IL is prob
| ably the strongest plea for a single
standard of morals ever made In our the
! atre-a play not only profoundly moving.
hut one that brings 10 Broadway ideas
| and ideals seldom encountered there. The
spectator may not share these ideals, he
may object that the play is special plead
| ing, but he cannot escape the fact that here
is work OF unusual distinction. red hot
with conviction. and taken right out Of
the air that thinking and responsible
Americans breathe.
IL Ourselves" had been produced
earlier in the season il would very likely
have been a big commercial success. But
II came when the public was tired Of
hearing about white slave plays too
tired to grasp the fact that in this case
the subject had been passed through the
clarifying fire of discriminating intelli-
gence and fine feeling. instead OF coming
merely az the crude surface report Of a
policeman ourselves" needed help, pre-
cisely the sort OF help the Drama League
is supposed TO give, and which 1t In this
case refused.
Yet i'm the same breath II warmly bull
letined Mr.. cyril Maudes "Grumpy"-a
pleasant little domestic detective comedy,
Of Victorian favor. written by ac-
tors. actor proof, audience-proof. and as
certain To please as anything in Mr..
Maude's repertoire. Not that Grumpy
isn't worth seeing. II is, and Mr.. Maude
is a finished light comedian. and the two
make a thoroughly agreeable entertain
ment and one having just about as vital
a relation TO our own life and time here
In New York "A Jar OF Crosse a Black
wells marmalade, or a copy OF the Christ
mas Graphic"
No one who follows the stage at all
closely can be unaware, IT would seem,
OF the tremendous changes that have
taken place Of late in the English-speak-
ing theatre. Whether il he through the
hnespun realism of Mr. Galsworthy, the
wIstful poetry Of Synge, with its almost
desperate determination to return to sim
pier, wilder things. or our own muck-rak-
Ing plays like Dope or The Lure, "
! the stage is closer to life than IT used to
be. and people who write at all are more
and more turning 10 the theatre when
| they have something to say.
II is not that form is unimportant, and
great work will grow into beautiful
shapes now as always. but the content is
more valued and the forms are more
| flexible. People 20 to the theatre
| NOWADAYS not only TO be beguiled and
forget. but also now and then to be in
| formed and to think. Any committee whose
duty IL is to discover and encourage i'm
portant work must have. in the highest
| understanding OF the word sense OF
! news as well as a sense of art And II
| would be pity II such work as the
Drama League hopes to do should fall
into the hands OF professional aesthetics