New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-15
Eloquent but Gloomy Play
from Russian Given as
a Treat
WASHINGTON SQUARE
PLAYERS DO WELL
Drama by Andreyeff
Proves More ObStetriCaI
than Is Usual
Nv REDWOOD BROUN

w,sn away the pleasant pretenee
Inch grips drama. In other words
/. would oppose Come Out Of the
v:.,hen~ with Get Into the Cellar
l.. fact he has. although the play hap
a,,, 70 be called The Life Of Man
:. rss produced at the Comedy Theatre
last night for the subscribers Of the
Washington Square Players.
The dramatic skill Of AndreyeF is
--,st and his c'oqdence marvellous,
INT he suffers from the Characteristic
Russian falling Of loving misery more
well than wisely. when character
.,counces 81 shall turn inside out IN
-oment and be red We must confess
=, being disturbed. We were glad that
he didn't.
II it IS good that false ideals and
false optimism shall be shattered, we
would not choose Andreyef as the
.rokesman Of the movement. lie
throws away his case. Were life the
horror he pictures, out Of deeency
,yervbody would have to die. In JUS
ice TO Andreyef it must be pointed out
hat his pessimism is sincere. HIS
Sorrspher informs US that in early
Fe he made three attempts 20 XII
himself. Satisfied that his suicidal
technique was imperfect. he turned 10
drama. Here he does mastery work
IN spite Of an unsound theory
Il is Andreyef's idea that action. III
ne accented sense OF movements and
Visible achievements on the stage, is
10, necessary 90 the theatre. The
-,ost tragic aspects Of life, ne tnds,
sre deem in the recesses of the soul
In tbeor;zinr on the theatre he has
contrasted Benvenuto Cellini and
Friedrich Nietzsche and has decided
that the German was a much more TO
mantle figure. despite the fact That ms
life was infinitely poorer than the
Italians I'm physical activity and al
venture Andreyef wishes 10 preseh,
the drama Of spiritual and intellectual
conflict and so he has chosen sGmO0I-
ism as rs method Of expression ne
<does not realize that this oners no es-
zane from the stern necessity OF &C
lion imposed BY The stage. 1t is easy
enough 10 interest an audience III
Isl
Ary one who has traced the prog
-sss % the English drama knows that
3. could not be confined 10 the 40
stractions of the early moralities. The
figures grew more concrete and more
,oDcro-e all the time until we md
hat Good-Deeds and Fellowship and
discretion and the rest OF them are
nsreIy queer aliases for DEFINITE
sverydav folk. Nor is this tendency
limited 20 drama Nobody cares what
Christian or Apollyon typified IN
PILGRIM Progress They lived be
cause they stood toe 10 toe and slugged
tbemselves into the fame which comes
70 al GOOD fgf tiers, be they called
Christian. ApollyOn. Porthos, Brlga-
der Gerard or what you Will. The
famous battle i'm Havana would have
gained 10 added interest II Jess VIII
lard had been placarded as Light and
JACK Johnson as Darkness
So 10 is with the distractions OF
Andreyef. Long before the play IS
done We know that Man is not all
men. but a definite and we'll charac-
terized individual Only the Being IN
Grey remains an abstraction.
The Russian is humorist. but he
uses laughter, not to relieve. but to
heghten horror In the first act IN
which Man IS born it is the laughter
Of the old women rather than the
cries Of the mother which pile the
agony on 20 the breaking point. Re
belion is the factor which lifts tho
play now and again out OF the murkl-
ness Man fights fate, and the most
dramatic Incidents in the play arc
those IN which ne defes the Being in
Grey.
Il is easy TO tell the story Of the
play, for this may be done by means
Of part Of the prologue, as follows;
Look and listen. ye who have come
hlther for mirth and laughter. 10,
there Will pass before you all the life
Of Man. with its dark beginning and its
dark end. Hitherto non-existent,
mysteriously hidden in infinite time,
without thought or feeling, utterly IN
known. he will mystericusly break
through the barriers of non-eXistence
and with a cry will announce the begin
ming Of his brief life. In the night OF
non-existence will blaze up a candle,
lighted By an unseen hand. This is the
life Of Man. Behold its flame. 1t is
the life OF Man.
After birth he will take on the
image and the name of man, and in all
respects he will be like other people
who already live on tho earth, and their
cruel late will be his fate, and his
cruel fate will be the fate of all people.
lresstibly dragged on by time, he Will
tread inevitably all the steps Of human
life, upward TO its climax and down
ward 70 its end. Limited in vision, he
viii not see the step TO which his un-
sure foot is already raising him.
Limited in knowledge, he Will never
know what the coming day or hour or
momen, is bringing TO him. And IN his
blind ignorance, worn by Apprehension,
harassed by hopes and fears. he will
complete submissively the iron round
Of destiny"
OF course, it is possible TO make an
swer 70 such a theory of life. X, FOR
Instance, Man is limited in knowledge,
how comes 10 that Andreyef is so Ger
tain In stating that he was hitherto
non-eXistent"? And can he say with
certain confidence that he goes to dark
ness? However, there can be no dis
putting he wisdom of warning those
who came for "mirth and laughter
They are hardly suitable for play
when begins IN travail and ends IN
oellrum tremens.
The Washington Square Players in
lnelr production last night used the
variant for the last act which the au-
NOR prepared 10 meet certain ObJec-
lions By the critics. On this occasion,
therefore, the hero died without the
Background Of alcoholic horrors. In the
variant Andreyeff made certain conces-
SONS, but most of them we're cynical.
lie explains. for instance, Mercy was
absent from my play. and this also
seemed 70 many unjust. In the present
lcFsion ~ sr ,.o,rorovfad IN tho oh