Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-02
BAHR'S NEW COMEDY
A STUDY in EGOTSI
Arch Radical in "The Master"
Vividly Portrayed by
Arnold Daily
AN ACRID, BITTER PLAY
THE MASTER-Drama IN three acts. by
Herman Bahr, adapted by. BcnJamin +;

/ TIE MASTER-Drama IN three acts, by
Herman Bahr, adapted by BENJAMIN r.
street Theatrc
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Dr. Raymond Wesley director OF Public
yulle,e his his wi'''..... wic Marion fr Esiiou
gr. Rok9ro o....,.,.......... Charles Halt0n
Or. Evans. .......,....,.,.,i. i.angdon Gillette
Dr lsaaor President Of Medical 'fE auFsIcaI FRS'
Hon Peter Brooksonn,, ihic Mayor, ~, = w ''"e
Mortimer Weeks editor Of The Faun ''' -
BENJAMIN I.cgere
Clemens ..,,s......,...,....B BCrtram Mllar
Hermann Bahr SENS to specialize In
cgoists. He submitted "a most engaging
one In "The Concert" for not the Keen
est barbs Of satire compromised the
human appeal Of the amusinCy sof-Cen-
tered musician-hcro of that delicious
comedy. No such mood of sympathy
prevails in The Master" which last eve
ming marked Arnold Days return to
Philadelphia after an absence of some
six years. The picture Is painted with
pigments Of bitterness. Max Strner,
with his characteristically German die
tum of my right is the right" might
conCeivably have rejoiced i'm the central
tBure Of the scene. Herr Bahr, how
ever, has less "kultur" lie overturns
the irouic idol Of his own creation. The
emancipated immoral" woodworking
physician of the title is conquered In
the end through the force OF extremely
elemental human emotions Mental gym
nastics, Cold-blooded reasoning and
Nietzschean "super-manhood" sustain a
pitful discontinue when the apologist
for marital infdelity tastes the acrid
fruits Of his own philosophy. Arthur
Wesley, brilliant intellectual champion OF
MS own lapses, becomes for all his
mastery sorry spectacle when be-
trayed by his own wife.
Although the manner Of this dramatic
fabric papably betrays modernist in
huences. notably those of Ibsen and
Bahrs own compatriot, Hermann Suder-
mann, the message Of the play is quite
as old-tashioncd as Copybook aphor-
ism Bahr has simply recaparisoned an
old warhorse Of the footlights. The in
Nestiture, however. is often mentally
stimulating as TO dialogue, powerful and
vivid as to characterization. These at
tributes are The Masters" chief merits.
Tor the play is somewhat ierkily COM
pounded. wavering i'm .technidue and
cIogged. especially in the weak last act.
with words that savor of formal Ge-
batting.
BENJAMIN +. Glazer's translation is
corched in flexible idiomatic English
bus mis- transferenCe Of the locale to
some vaguely defined land, whose in
habitants are supposed to speak our
vernacular. is not wholly convincing
The essential Teutonism of the piece is
II appears in the
dramatic portraits, virtually all of
which are in contradiction of American
or English types. in references TO metro
politan life which suggest only Germany
and, indeed in the whole course of the
action developing the theme. Surely il
would have been better to blame the
whole repellant atmosphere of the pIav
on the Central Empire of its origin. The
exhibit would then have been all the
more terribly sardonic and grim as
was Won Bayerlein's Taps"
The acting of this disagreeable and
yet often-interest holding play attains
general high level of excellence Mr..
'aly gives an authoritative and effec-
tive portrayal of the self-opinonated
surgeon. Marion Ballou and Geraldine
Beckwith are emotionally effective i'm
the two chief feminine roles. and Lang
don Gillette strikes refreshing natural
istic notes as The Masters chief assist
ant. The comic parts won considerable
laughter, although farciCal over-em-
phasis both in histrionism and the
dramatic material itself was inappro-
prately apparent
IL T. G.