Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-13
NORA HELMER SLAMS
LITTLE THEATRE DOOR
Which Is to Say, Stage Society
Gives Educational Revival of
"a Dolls House" There
PERFORMANCE A CREDIT

n.
NHS hrogstad. ...',...,, Henry j.. Fox
Revivals such as that Of "a Dolls
House last evening at the Little Theatre
by members of the Stage Society have de-
cided educational value. even when lacking
in merits of artistry of staging and convlc.
tion Of personation.
This is not an Implication that the pro.
duction was scencally inadequate or his.
TECHNICALLY ineffective, for it had very def.
mite claims on attention, interest and praise.
This too. despite manifest limitations and
deficiencies that sometimes passed from
mere tendency into positive defect.
But the chief laudation must be that the
performance brought Gbsen ~ the stage,
showed him in the medium through which
he sought the expression Of his art Henrik
lhscn. Of all the great dramatists, must be
seen in the theatre, must not be read in
the chamber. lie wrote, in his prime period,
playhouse not closet drama. He has no
resonant lines for rotund cnunciaton no
rhetoric to set and color scenes.
In the Greek dramaturgy tho speci-
mems that have been given in recent years
have always conveyed an impression of the
curious reconstruction Of the antique I;
seldom have they had CLEANS of the pull
| satng passion Of human life except in the
dccadcnt modernistc versions of a Hoff-
! mannsthal "Eektra," set to the horriflc
score Of a Strauss which contains the
Eatharsis Of pity and terror" Even in
inproyscd ampithcatrcs they have seldom
/ restored the classic effect, possibly because
! there was no community of interest, no con-
tact, bctfecn their audiences and ours
! Shakespeare, even, goes better in the
/ reading than does his great scandinavian
colleague. Elizabethan limitations of stage
/ craft forced the dramatists of those spacious
| days to be as spacious in their lines, to
! build the scenic environment out of rare
| poetry. to utilize the projecting apron
! stage FOR narrative and descriptive dcClama-
| tion with lbseu's picture" stage, i'm which
/ everything is detailed dovctailed, articu-
/ lated, cconomized in n frame. as a pic
| torial composition" the stage the modern
4 stage as it technically developed from his
| works, Is the only medium for those works
| Hence the Stage Society performed a laud-
! able work in giving Ibscn as he designed
! his plays should be given. 1t is ten years
! now since Na2mOva did "a Dolls House
| here for the last time. 1t is well nigh thirty
! years since Beatrice Cameron first did mis-.
| sionary work for lbsen, by producing this
very same specimen, this side of the
| Atlantic. within that score of seasons
this and other Ibsen plays have been sci.
domly presented. Yet it is a truism, and
| perhaps patrOnizing, to say that they have
! their interest and claims.
Such performance as that last night
/ despite its defects, the most serious of which
| was the elimination of number of salient
| passages in the richly human dialogue, com.
| municated the thrill of the drama of con.
| hiCt and stress which has. only the sensa.
| ton of emotion and none of that of event
to attract and hold attention. The actpl
! moved irresistibly and inevitably forward
| The tolls of the plot gripped and con
| strcted The characters were vital in theii
tensity despite laXity of emotional force
! And the famous slamming of the door n
the climax. which likewise slammed tn,
door on the stage conventions of the we'll
made play of Scribe and Dumas fills il
was noticeable, had quite the olden shocl
of older performances. Noticeable, too, wa!
it that we have outgrown Ibsen somewhat
Miss Baer is young actress. She real
lied very well the "Doll" of the title ant
it was not to her discredit that she haC
not the pantherine passion of ALA Nazi
nova or the psychological subtlety of Mrs
Fislle, to which these ripened actresse!
worked up for their climax. The Helme
of Mr. whitney and the krogstad of Mr.
Fox were smoothly enacted and the sub
sidiary roles fully deserved the epithe
capable.
"a Dolls House" can become more thar
a name and an historical interest in tn,
drama to such of the younger generation al
may wish to visit the Little Theatre th
week, to which period the run" will b,
confined. w. r. NJ,