The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-01

ants and the lords as to their priv
ileges, the discussions between Luth-
erap and Catholic and the inevitable
problems that come from interests so
vital. SO the peasant play Of the Ger
man theatre passed over into the
drama Of tendency with the struggle to
correlate II to life.
The crude plays of the warblers
and dancers who have for years been
coming to this country thus remain
as the only rural drama from that
land In any way analogous to our
own. The dances Of the Sennerin and
the ear splitting squeals of the feather
decked, wooden shoed hunters, which
compose little more than species Of
dramatized Defregger. alone survive
from the artless. miscellaneous peas
ant play Of old
The French theatre never knew
such dramas. There are OF course
endless lists Of plays largely melo-
dramatic that are dependent on the
background of country for their In
terest. But they are not Of the simple.
homely character that distinguishes
OGi uOLlCcblC tNo
evitable soldier OF the country play
and tense theatric interest are the
properties Of the rural play OF the
Gallo theatre. England knows to-day
nothing like our singing characters
and the Well stamped stencil OF men
and women that make up our country
plays. Imagine an audience there ap-
plauding for years a play in which
the characters sitting about in rock
ing chairs tanning themselves sud
denly broke into song. How much
more incomprehensible would such a
scene be to the French accustomed to
the order and clearness OF their DIFF
ferent schools Of plays. No: our bu-
colic-disrespectfully described by
gcsh-country play may be a poor
thing, but 1t is certainly all our own.
Yet there must eventually be an end
to the repetition OF the old devices
without variety or imagination. There
Is in the first act of Home Again"
| for instance, an eXpedlent of mIrth
which has done service in so many
different kinds Of drama tina. its char
acter must by this time be interna-
tional. 1t was seen in its last preced-
ing use in Potash and PerlmutteI
Society" which is fair proof OF its
adaptability. In the play OF the Glass
characters an insurance agent per-
suaded the emiable and gullible Potash
that he was seriously III with arterio-
sclerosis merely by the power OF sug-
gestion. In "Home Again." Macklyr
Arbuckle as the travelling medicine
man makes Charles Dow Clark fee
that he also is an invalid by the same
methods In order that he may buy
several bottles OF his medicine. Any
Incident so elastic in character as e
serve in "A Yiddish play as we'll as 9
drama of rural life In central Ininoi:
must have stood the test of time. Thi,
incident is indeed time honored.
But there is reason to believe tha'
possibly there may be an end to 4,
efficacy In speaking of the gooC
fables for stage use and identifying
those that are known to be appealing
II is not meant that the same oil
material may be used indefinitely
Some new inventiveness, some trace O
Imagination, some novelty OF treat
ment-this much change is indispen
sable. however valuable the idea ma,
have shown itself in the course of tn,
ages. Yet authors of rural play d,
not always bear this in mind any NOR,
thoroughly than do those dramatist
who use other themes that hav,
proved themselves to possess a specla
appeal for the public. There is n,
more yearning for Soyelty in "Hom