New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-04-21

dQy TfgNt az tHe COtNW HeUtTe.
<<TT has remained" wrote Louis
- Sherwin in "The Globe" "for
j. Henri Lavedan to show how
the theme Of patriotism can
be used in the theatre with dignity,
with passion, with irresistible power,
and incidentally with consummate
skill" Fer.
'quite aside from its implicit emotional
force. the sheer craftsmanship of his play,
Service compels our admiration. To hold
the attention of an audience without the
inevitable love story without which few
plays find their way to the footlights is
of itself an exceedingly difficult feat. When
you consider, moreover, that there are only
six characters in Service three of which
have very little to say, and that the dra-
matte conflict between them is so taut
that one does not rea. re any of these
things until it is all over, you may imagine
with what masterful stagecraft M. Lavedan
has built his scenes"
The reviewer under quotation fur
ther observes that
"to exploit the patriotic feelings of an
audience for cheap theatrical applause is
always abominable, but never so revolving
to people Of sensibilities as in time Of
war, especially such war. This is re-
proach that might be made against spectacu-
lar melodramas if anybody took them seri-
ously. But one goes to see them one
goes to the circus, and pays no attention
to their topical fustian.
"This reproach M. Lavedan escapes be-
cause his Service cannot in any sense be
said to exploit patriotism. He takes
theme that the war and the suffering Of
France and the gallant sacrifice of her
men have inspired. He uses that theme
to show the pathetic conflict between hu-
man souls under the influence of the
passions it arouses. And he makes of that
conflict a profoundly moving, stimulating
drama. It is the sort of drama that, I
should imagine, would shake even q pacifist
to the core"
III OWEVER, not all the playwright's
Il present critics find so much to
praise. In one paper, for example
(''The Sun") it was pointed out that
s'the theme-for it is certainlya play with
a theme-would never be suited to any
other country at any time. The spectator
who would take an interest in this theme
and the long discussions which develop the
triumph of loyalty over pacifsm, must put
himself in the place of French specta-
tor"
Again, Haywood Broun, in The Trib-
une, after analysing the characters and
finding them psychologically faulty,
turns to the plot, which he pronounces
equally inconsistent. Of course
"the fact that it stretched all bounds Of
probability might be pardoned; but, not con-
tent with playing tricks with facts, the dra-
matst was also arbitrary in handling them
This recent business about the clock has
lessened our respect for time. and yet it has
some rights. We were not satisfied last night,
when colonel invited general out to
dinner and returned five minutes later with
the air Of a man who had dined we'll. Even
though there were an automat in France, it
could not be done like that. Again, in the
last act, elaborate diplomatic nego-
tiations were cleared up and war declared
in a matter of two and half minutes.
The privilege of seeing Service almost
reconciles US to own war plays, for
it excels them in little except literary fin
ish, and that has been largely dissipated
in translation"
On the other hand, in ''The Evening
Sun" one reads:
Service is an intensely interesting war
play of superior calibre. AS might have
been expected of such an experienced
dramatist as NJ. Lavedan, the presentation
Of conflicting personal reactions toward tn 4,
profession of patriotic soldering is al
ways dramatic and never academic"
THE story covers conflict based in
= fiction, but prophetically close
enough to ensuing eventuality to exert
a sharp appeal to-day. "The World"
declared:
although first produced in Paris full
year before the outbreak of the war, this
fervid drama the theme of patriotic
service was remarkable prophecy of the
part that the French nation was soon to
play In the world struggle. 1t has been
acted in Paris hundreds of times since
1914, always gathering new interest in the
light of actual events, and now it is pro-
duced here in practically it's original
version"
And "The Times" carries it on:
Those who look to the stage for actual
experience with airplanes and big guns
may be disappointed in Service It's ac-
ton precedes the declaration of war, and.
2 IN fact, the war which is heralded at the
iinai curtain is quite fctional, the play
having been first produced in 1913.
In the present case fiction is less i'm
pressive than fact. This Franco-German
war OF 1913 was caused by the murder of
q young French officer in Africa at the
hands OF German spies. 1t has the adyan-
taSe, however, Of being more in scale with
the theatre. The murdered officer was Of
The household with which the audience vas
familiar. SO no one was puzzled by the
CQn4tctinx clainna of ofEcial ,..Li4s