Evening star., 1919-03-11
ADJUSTMENTS
"The Burgomaster of Belgium"

1t was not the Maeterlinck who has
delighted the world with sympathetic
nature studies and subtle allegories
that was revealed on the stage of the
Shubert- -Belasco Theater last night.
The audience, one of the most distin-
guished ever assembled in Washing
ton, owing to the interest in diplo-
matte circles, was not led, over paths
of delicate fancy through our own
wonderworld to which this Belgian
genius has known how to give SEEM
ing more beautiful than dreams.
Burgomaster of Belgium" is not a
thing of dreaming. 1t is awakening. 1t
lis an ernbittered outcry as the cruel
ties Of existence force themselves into
the consciousness of a poet whose
mind hitherto had been sensiiyely
concerned only with the noblest and
gentlest idealisms. This Maeteriinck
who was heard with rapt attention is
a reaIist. His play this time is mot
la blossom of Imagination nursed into
existence with the aid Of passing sun
shine and shower. 1t is gem, Drill
liant as diamond, and as hard.
crystal whose blazing luster has been
attained under heat and pressure IN
Icalculable.
The authors skill as a dramatist
was shown by his contempt for con-
yentionai drama. The obvious tempt
alton to weave mystery plot around
the shooting of German ofhcer IN
the home of Belgian was swept
aside. Nobody knows or cares who
fired the shot. A single human life
means too little to bring attention to
a pause in this great, graphic revela-
ton. There is curious little ffash OF
the dialogue. The burgomaster, an
ardent horticulturist, is describing his
grapes. Each of them, he says. is "a
drop of wine touched with snow. 1t
is a trace of the old self, like the
smile of happy memories which Will
cross the face even of the prisoner
hopeIessIy condemned. Almost every
other sentence of the play is direct
human expression. The story Is so
simple, yet with every scene and every
speech SO vital in Significance. that 1t
might easily be spoiled in an effort to
condense il into a synopsis for casual
reading The essential situation in
wolves the lofty-minded. simple-na-
tured man, the burgomaSter; his
daughter, loyal to love and home as
a young German officer, to whom she
was married long before suspicion
could arise that treaties were to be
only scraps of paper.
The father and daughter become the
German officers prisoners; the father
| tive of sacrificing others who would
gladly lay down their lives for him.
AS an evidence of great magnanimity,
the son-in-law at the last moment is
excused by his military superior from
| obeying the order ITO head the firing
party in person.
! The statement that Maeterlinck has
dispensed with allegory madr at the
beginning of this comment should be
modified. Allegory is present. al
I \. =, tor, IN
anisrn to impress figuratiye construc-
tion is employed Human individuals
/ are used as symbols; and they are no
| less human and intense in suffering
anA sacrifice because they are so en-
ployed The burgomaster stands in
recollection as the expression of the
! Belg ian national spirit that disdained
1 to save itself by the sacrifice of honor.
The German officer and husband typi-
| fed the ineNorable discipline that
crushes sentiment and makes crime
| of personal affection. The young wife
reveals the womanhood of the nation
as her father reveals It's manhood.
| Her rejection of the husband In the
concluding scene is a reminder of the
hopeiesspess of reconciliation where
minds and purposes have been SO diff
ferently schooled. Even the little boy
who boldly resents the intrusion of
German arrogance into his home
speaks with the indornitabie soul of
! nation whose IAIE VIII tnDlStGn Cnb
pages of history with tears for CEN
turtles to come.
When group of German soldiers
came on the stage. forming a picture
of the insensate snbordination which
crushed out even conscience, there
| was a little hiss. There was no hiss
| ing later. The arraignment was too
| cold and implacable to call for any
demonstration such as might suffice
| to reproye an inadvertent phrase or
| an indifferent actor.
| The play is acted with the perfec-
! tion that is absolutely essential The
! praise ordinarily showered on per-
| sonai achievement in acting is de-
| served most abundantly. Those with
| the greater responsibility met that
! responsibility with consummate skill;
| and those whose parts were technical
/ ly subordinate were both competent
and sincere. Even the old gardener
spoke with a simple eloquence that
breuxht tears as he voiced the feel
ings OF kds fellow laborers whose lives
hoped Tor NO reward beyond the kind
sOeaDAndke6ection1 which htthnxtoh had