Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-16
RIVAL RECIPES FOR
NATIONAL THEATRE
English, American and Irish Pro-
posals--Is the Secret of Creating
National Drama to Be Found in
Lady Gregory's Irish Players2
BY KENNETH MAcGowAN

brought out very broad hints from some of
the founders of the late New Theatre" that
they will be backing him In similar venture
next year.
F. c. whitney, manager whose principal
experience has been in exceptionally good pro-
ductions of operetta, is out with an elaborate
announcement of what he calls a National
Theatre. 1t is to be founded, financially,
the subscriptions of 5000 people to one 81
seat each for a season of 30 weeks. To all
appearances Mr.. whitney purposes simply
good stock company and acting school giving
STANDARD" pieces; there seems nothing ven
turesomc or in the broadest sense creative
about the proposition. His list of possible
plays includes almost every actabe play OF
every language and some that very certainly
are not The list of American dramas, for
instance includes such silly old standbys as
"The White Slave" from which that famous
line. Rags royal ralment II worn for
virtues sake" is reputed to have come.
There seems little promise in a venture which
begins by announcing: 1--WE have no inten-
tion of exploiting realistic plays" and then
qualities that absurd statement by proviso
quite as naive: I'VE shall not discard any
modern play on account of its realism"
Lastly, there Is Lady Gregory the gray
haired, fresh souled director of the Irish
Players. This year the actors Of her Abbey
Theatre are playing to their own public in
Dublin, while their guide and friend is tour
ing the United States talking on "A National
Theatre for America" Though Philadelphia
has been honored with her presence only, not
her lecture, 1t may find her recipe for a
national drama well a national thea
tre, in the pages of the charming journal of
har in in Noti al
Chapter in Autobiography"
Three things have made the Abbey The
atre and its plays. Three things may make
such theatre in America. They are tire
less. persevering, provldent endeavor. sufl-
cient endowment to carry the venture
through years of struggle to the goal of
popular support, and an unswerving devo-
tion to the ideal of new, intellectually
creative, native drama.
This is not Lady Gregory's deliberate pre-
scriptIon. She has only dropped the hints
from which we may derive It.
Building Up An Audience
Sometimes they humorous hints. even
though they deal with discouragements and
record perseverance through Indifference
and i'll fortune:
Building up audience is slow business
when there is anything unusual in the meth
ods or the work Often ! have gone
out by the stage door when the curtain was
up, and come around into the auditorium by
the front hail. hoping that In the dmness 1
might pass for arrival and
age the few scattered people In the stalls.
Very often in the green room l have
quoted the homely proverb. Grip is a good
dog, but Holdfast a better! And
Mr.. Yeats in his turn, wrote, to encourage
me: ANY fool fight a winning battle.
but It needs character to fight losing one
and that should inspire us which reminds me
that dreamed the other night that | was
being hanged. but was the life and soul of the
party"
How did the theatre live these 10 years?
Endowment that necessity of any enlight-
ened theatre that Is to create itself in the
midst of commercial competition.
We asked a guarantee fund OF G3o0 to
make the experiment. which we hoped to
carry on during three years
enclose a guarantee paper filled up for
such sum as ! can afford Cor perhaps more
to lose, but I hope there will be no loss for
anybody in the matter while there will GER
tainly be some gain to Ireland!
Perhaps 1t was the patent magnitude of
the odds against them that made them see
the necessity for endowment. For they went
into the venture with the most modest of
hopes built upon the slightest of foundations.
took Yeats to the office. We sat
there through that wet a1ternon, ana though
I had never been at all interested in the
atres. our talk turned on plays. Mr.. Mar
tyn had written two, THE Heather Field"
and "Maeve." said II was pity we
had Irish theatre where such plays could
be given. Mr.. Yeats said that had always
been a dream of his, but he had Of late
thought 1t impossible one. for 1t could not
at first pay its way.
We went on talking about it. and things
seemed to grow possible we talked, and
before the end of the afternoon had made
plan. We said we would collect money,
or rather ask to have certain sum of
money guaranteed. We would then take a
Dublin theatre and give a performance of
Mr., Martyrs Heather Field" and OF
Mr.. Yeats own plays THE Countess Cath
leen" / offered the first guarantee of s25.
Even in the modesty of that beginning they
had the germ of the idea which was to make
great theatre-the deliberate Limitation to
a national Irish drama, drama that must
be created.
That Limitation of the theatres work to
plays about Ireland or by Irshmen was the
secret of its artistic success. as perseverance
and endowment were the key to its ultimate
financial triumph And similar limitation
of an American theatre to the plays and
playwrights of its own country, or better
still OF its own locality may be as much a
secret of success for US Such policy sooner
or later brings out an audience that finds a
peculiar interest in Its triumph; and the test
of the need for an enlightened theatre as
we'll as its ultimate justification must lie
in the native drama that 1t viii call forth.
There can be no doubt of the Abbey Thea
tres success with this policy. When Lady
Gregory and Mr.. Yeats resolved on an Irish
playhouse they saw three plays to be acted.
Just three. When Lady Gregory finished
the writing of "our Irish Theatre" in the
spring OF 1918. 1o1 Irish plays OF various