Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-28
NOVELS OF PROTEST AGAINST WAR
BRANDER MATTHEW'S
ON PLAYCOINC
He Has Written an Entertain
ing and Informing Book
about the Theatre

With an apparently sincere revival
of interest in the production of Shake
speare's dramas as attested by sold
out houses for Robert Mantell's roper
toire in this city during the last two
weeks and the announcement OF several
other ambitious projects along such
lines, Prof. Brander Matthews's latest
book, "The Principles of Playmaking,'
ought to find large demand.
No more entertaining book on
theatrical subjects has ever come from
the prolific and facile pen Of this modern
Hazlitt. The title is a misnomer to a
certain extent. 1t might much better
have been 'The Principles Of Playact.
ing" or better still, "The Principles
Of Playgoing," for its appeal is to the
lay reader and not the craftsman.
The name of the book. however, is
taken from the first Of sixteen essays
which is a highly readable and concise
restatement Of the theories of compost
tion in thirty pages of text, supple
mented by a thirteen page compendium
m "How to Write Play" These
titles sound school -bookish and formid-
able, but the essays are not at all prosy
or academic. The advice Is drawn from
a reservoir Of wide reading. sagacieus
observation in the best and only place
to learn the truths of the art, the play
house itself, and kindly humor which
gives tang and appositeness to the
authors genuine lore.
But to most readers with taste for
the drama, the fourteen other essays
viii be found equally valuable and en-
loyable as the first two. The Columbia
University sage is none Of your dry as
dust pedagogues, citing merely by rote
and .precept Of library ancients. He
has had the advantage Of personal
acquaintance, often intimate, with the
celebrated and great of the American.
English and French stages during his
long and distinguished career as q
teacher aud critic. Big names con-
stantly flash forth in his sentences, ac-
COMMANDED by shrewd judgments and
amusing anecdotes. The effect is
fascinating to anybody with fair for
the theatres history and traditions.
There is often touch Of gentle irony
as in the chapter called "On Putting
Literature Into the Drama" where he
remarks that the ripper development in
the final years Of the nineteenth century
was retarded by three untoward events
the premature deaths of Clyde Fitch
and William Vaughan Moody and the
premature birth of Bronson Howard
There is erudition in easily assimilable
form in the essay on "Three Theorists
vt the Theatre" wherein discussing
Nristotle. Lessing and Sarcey. Professor
Natthews reveals without affectation q
'ofound knowledge of the literature OF
stage many periods and languages.
But Il lover of the stage classics
'ow happily awakening a new public
interest-will find chief delight in the
"ssays touching upon Shakespearear
subjects. Shakespeare Stage Tradi
tions" is a pithy talk upon stage bust
ness and customs. which have variously
Namoered and amnlified the art of the
master. Hamlet With Hamlet Lef,
Out tells Of queer productions, where
H'aywrights have built dramas about
Characters never seen. "If Shakespeare
Should Come Back" is charming
Sneculation that stimulates respect fol
the authors sound views on modern
methods. There are chapters on thu
relationship of the playwright to tn,
Nlaycr, the difficulties of devising new
"ituations. the Irish plays and authors
he conventions of the music drama. the
modification of stage scenery, and tn,
"ocabulary of the show business. tn,
hole winding up with chapter OF
Matthew Arnold and his ideas of tn,
'rama's future and a chapter of per
ronal recollections Of Edwin Booth.
In time when the affairs of th,
thcatre are deservedly attracting NOR,
attention than ever from readers. the ad
vent of Prof. Matthews's volume ought
to have more than ordinary praise TO,
its catholicity Of taste, its ease of styl,
and its wise content. II every followe,
of the better things in the theatre wer,
to read 1t, the resultant elevation |,
taste would be bound to reflect itsel
in the kind Of productions offered b,
the managers. with a consequent les
$ening of the demand for inane and sill,
"girl" shows.
We PRINCIPLES OF PLAYMAKING. n
Rrancer Matthews. professor OF drama n
literature In Columbia University. Ney
York: Charles Scribners Sons. s1.6O