New-York tribune., 1919-10-25
Benavente Plays
Another Brilliant Volume
b. Great Spaniard

PLAYS ny Jacinto Benavente Charles
Scrlbner's Sons. New York.
This new series Of comedies by Bena-
vente, whose Bonds of Interest" was
presented here las. winter by the Thea
ter Guild Players, includes one short
sketch, "No Smoking" and three rea-
sonably long dramas, princess Bebe, y
The Governors Wife" and "Autumnal
Roses" mo Smoking" is an amusing
burlesque based upon the adventures
ard m sadventures of some passengers
in a train. "The Governors Wife" is
a satire upon the corruption of Span
ish provincial politics, not unlike Co.
go's "1nspector General" in tone and
subject. "Autumnal Roses is a pic
ture of bourgeois life in Madrid, and
"Princcss Beba" is brilliant, wistful
drama of youth and disilusion, not
bound by any exact considerations of
time and place.
Benavente is an artist of very diff
ferent type from his countryman,
B asco Ibanez Both men are stanch
upholdcrs of the truth as they see it;
b 7th fig't against evil sham and re-
action with all the weapons at their
command But where Ibanez is wont
to use the heavy, massive strokes Of
the battleaxe. Bcnavente prefers the
light, delicate thrusts of the rapier.
Tbanez combats evil by painting it in
all its black and hideous co'ors; Bena-
vente is inclined to caricature it as
something ridiculous and grotesque
The direct method of Ibanez is perhaps
more congenial to the Anglo-Saxon
mind On the other hand, Benavente
is unquestionabiy more successful as
an interpreter of the d istinctively Cas-
tilian humor which finds it's ideal ex.
preston in the immortal creator of
"Don Quixote."
The peculiar ironic qualities OF
Benavente's genius are best exempli
fed in "Princess Bebe" In this play
a, princess. beautiful, witty and
charming. breaks away from the stu
pid conventional ism of court life ard
elcpes with a man Of much lower rank.
But she finds that love and happiness
cannot be gained merely through a
change Of external surroundings. and,
after ser es of disillusions she
adopts an attitrde of mocking gentle
IRONY toward life, with all its elabo-
ratc pettinees and complex follies. Oc-
casionally the elegant satire of the
Huthor gives way to passionate
human outburst. So Bebe, provoked
by the srobbishness of those about
Fcr. cries out:
Why this insane desire to shut our
selves off from each other, to ticket
and classify ourselves, to create dis
tinctions between US and fancy that we
are superior to our fellows, when we
are all equal and ali be ong to the same
race, the poor. despised human race
which spends ali it time diviling itself
and hating itself and marking itself
off INTO casses and castles and indi-
viduals, when all the sympathy and all
the love in our hearts which might bind
then among 80 many to alleviate the
sorrows Of life"
AS a rule, however. the author mair-
tains more detached attitude toward
the problems Of existence. "Princess
Bcbe y with its combination of ebul-
icnt humor and haunting, wistful
tenderness, repeatedly di ispe led by
bursts OF mockcry, sugge IS the spirit
of lhsen's early play, The League o.
YOUTH" although Benavente's work is
a far moce finished literary and dra-
matte creation.
1t is easy to understand the popular
ity of "Autumnal Roses" upon the
Spanish stage. 1t is rich play, full
of intrigue and abounding in passages
which afford an excellent opportunity
both for comic and for tragic acting.
1t Is less evanescent, more concrete
than princess Bebe." 1t is n satire
on personalities rather than on ideas.
John Garrett Underhill deserves hon
orab.e mention for an excellent trans
PRODUCTION, which sets forth Bena-
vente's theories of dramatic art and
describes the general tendencies of his
work