New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-26
Louis Calvert Is Not
Anxious to Meet G.. B. S.
The Man Who Produced Major Barbara Is Content TO
Have the Author Thereof Remain
Right Where He Is.

Ceoygc,s PLAYHOUSE. in New York.
Tbereupon he and others fell upon
that last act with full force and
soueezed therefrom something like 1877
mounds of superhuous dialogue. With
George Bernard Shaw, unknowing,
some 5000 miles away!
No. Louis Calvert will not contrib
ute to a fund TO bring Mr.. Shaw to
America lust now. He likes Mr.. Shaw
where he is. And he knows the swoop
of the Shaw wrath.
"If Shaw had been in America the
play would have failed" said Mr.. Cal
vert. ale would have insisted upon
the retention of every speech, every
line, every word that he wrote into the
play. Woe unto the actor guilty OF an
omission, and double woe unto the pro-
Queer who elects TO cross him! 1t may
be. of course, thGt The Tribune Will
find its way into ShaV's hands. To the
best of my knowledge, he is unaware
that his play has been cut. Well, |
don't care ii g!Ca; deal if he knows 1T.
l am here nov. lie could merely write
letters"
Mr.. Calvert, although no announce
ment has been made, will continue with
end Of the run of Major Barbara" He
ia now producing "The School for
Scandal" in which he will play Sir
Peter Teazle. And it is a lucky task for
Calvert. for he is never happier than
when dabbling with a repertory COM
pany.
"a company of players who are used
to each others work." he said, who
are used to each others peculiarities,
and who consequently work smoothly
together can certainly extract more
from a play than can company hap
hazardly gathered. have known many
plays to fail in the regular course Of
production and to succeed later when
played by a repertory company. The
reason, Of course, is that the audience
knows and takes an interest in the
players.
For example, the public is already
beginning to love the Playhouse COM
pany I felt the difference in the at
titude of the audience when / came on
on the opening night. ! have been
conscious of it in subsequent per-
formances. / am the newcomer; | did
not appear in the company's previous
productions, and I am not yet entitled
to be regarded as one of the fold.
Generally speaking. the American
public has not been in touch with any
particular set Of actors. The tendency
is to equip play with a cast of stars,
and the result is to smother il. 1t is
well known that an all-star cast al
most inevitably means failure. In
Scotland, at the end of the curling
season, it is customary for a team OF
shippers to meet a team of ordinary
players. The shippers are the cap
tains-selected because they are the
best players. And it is quite surpris-
ing how frequently team of unknown
players will defeat the shippers.
81 would like to see the repertory
idea developed until national CLASH
cal company is attained. Some day,
perhaps, I shall take steps toward the
organization Of such @ company. II
should have the support Of the uni
versities and such other bodies as
have the interests of the drama at
heart And il would not come into
the large cities until it had roper
tory of ten or twelve plays-until II
was a perfect machine"
"The New Theatre"--
"Ah. yes, the New Theatre. | know
something about il. / was one of its
directors Dul IL SldIbtN az wv
end-it started with the assumption
that it must have an enormous theatre
and an enormous company and an enor--
nous salary list. II has been proved
in England that that is not necessary.
Occasionally Miss Horniman brings her
company from Manchester TO London
with a play like 'Hindle Wakes or
What the Public Wants. and she as
+onishes the thinking public by the
excellence of her productions. This
excellence is brought about by sys-
tenn of truth in acting-a sense of pro-
portion. There must be due proper
/ ton of everything in a produced play
/ independent of the personality of the
actor, independent of the manager, in
/ dependent OF everything"
! And Independent of the author.
| thinks Louis Calvert-especially when
/ the author is G.. B. S. 1t may be ad-
/ vanced without fear of successful con-
/ tradiction that Mr. Calvert is beginning
! to like New York.