New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-10
Theater Guild Adds
dance of DEATH to
Its Many Successes
Scandinavian Drama by Au-
gust Strindberg Is Shown
for First Time i'm America
With an Excellent Cast

The Theater Guild added to its long
list OF dramatic trumphs at the Gar
rick last night. 1t presented for the
hrst time in this country "The Dance
OF Death" by the Scandinavian play
wright, August Strndberg, now dead.
Inc play was admirably produced by
emmanuel Reicher, and the settings by
Lee Slmonson were quite excellent.
In this play, written in 1901, Strind-
berg portrays the hideous existence of
married pair whose hate for one an
other Is so terrible that they do not
scruple to use friends or enemies and
even their own children to, strike at
finally in the death of the man, just
when all his ends have been gained at
the cost of running friend, and in the
consequent defeat Of the woman.
The play is dramatic piece of SYM
bolism, well soaked in the vinegar Of
Strindberg's hardest pessimism. 1t is
rather curiously constructed. There arc
really two plays and not one, as both
acts or parts, subdivided as they are
into many scenes, are distinctly alien,
both in mood and treatment. In the first
part Strindberg records the sufferings
OF characters engaged in wrestling
against domination by invisible life
forces, while in the second part those
characters are no longer really alive,
but have become puppets.
When the play opens Captain Edgar
and his wife are seated in room
within a rounded fortress, which the
former commands automatically. There
is an omipous silence, broken only by
the swish of the sea without The two
exchange inanities casually but beneath
the surface is sensed a deep and over
powering hatred that chills the already
cold twilight atmosphere.
In time, the inevitable quarre! be-
gins. So glibly do these two attack
and parry in sharp and bitter phrases
that one gets the impression that they
have repeated this quarrel once a day
during the twenty-five years of their
married life. Alice appears ready to
he in turn is ready to pierce her with
his saber, although they both on the
surface are mildly discussing the pos
sibility that Curt, the new master of
quarantine and Alices cousin, may
dine with their enemies.
Due to the captains unreasonable
frankness, coupled with an objection
able arrogance, he has succeeded in
securing for himself and wife complete
isolation and social ostracism. All
society" in the small sea town are his
enemies and even his children u. have
been sent away to school for fear they
may learn to hate him.
Strindberg has no ;llusions about
women and Alice is consequently a
rather unlovely person. She is sh;fty,
sly, cunning, mean, hypocritical,
cowardly and lustful. Yet neverthe-
less she has her good moments And
1t might be interesting to state at this
point that Strindberg always regarded
woman as the biological inferior of
man. A somewhat unpatriotic thought
in these days of femnism.
Curt the quarantine master, has
forbearance. The captain makes him
his conhdant and later ruins him.
Alice makes him her lover by display
ing her shoulder and then calls him
hypocrite.
In later scene Alice embraces and
kisses Curt in the presence of the cap
tain, infuriating him and disgusting
the former, who pushes her away and
wlthdraws. Alice proclaims Curt
hypocrite, and when this act closes she
and the captain have actually agreed
to celebrate their silver wedding.
The captain has decided, for some
he accomplishes by keeping him in the
dark about stock transactions in which
both Of them are interested and by
securing his own appointment as in
snector of guarantees. The latter ap-
pointmcnt he has secured from the
colonel commanding the section by
promising him his daughter Judith as
MIS- wife.
judith has played her fathers game
until she discovers that she loves
Allan, Curtis son, and then. when she
gets through talking to the colonel
over the telephone, he in turn tele-
graphs the captain that their amicable
relationship is at an end and so is the
captain, who is stricken with apoplexy
His last dying words are: Forgive
them, for they know not what they do"
Curt and Alice do not understand this
for The moment and we leave them dis
cussing the captains beautiful quail
ties
Albert Perry invests the role of the
captain with fine authority and does
some very good acting. His exhibition
of the captain in his senile moments
is quite extraordinary. Dudley Diggcs
does an excellent bit as Curt, but
Helen Wesley as Alice marred some
of her finest speeches by forgetfulness.
The rest of the cast is excellent.
The "Dance of Death" will be re-
peated next Sunday evening.