The New York herald., 1921-02-20
Archer, Critic,
Passes Judgment
On His Own Play
Moving Force in Late James c. Hunekers Art Was His
Eager Search for Ne Revelations the World of Music
Hopes 'The Green Goddess Is
Good, but Says the Public
Must Decide.


Archer. Scottish. mot English" dra-
matte critic, the other day, II did venture
an opinion that | could not write a
play. What i meant was that in my
youth i had written one or two short
plays without giving satisfaction to my
self or any one else. Suddenly the idea
of The Green Goddess flashed across
my mind. and l saw also in my mind
the exponent of the chief character in
the late ii. B. Irving. Few dramatic
critics, in England at any rate, have
written successful plays. Just as an art
critic seldom paints a good picture.
Maybe / have broken the rule. l hope
so The decision lies with the public.
Have while writing this play learned
anything about technique which didn't
know before? | don't think so. ] have
never acknowledged any rigid rules Of
drama. except one rule laid down. |
think. by Dumas-that every sort of play
is good except the tedious sort.
"Of course the specific characteristic
of the drama is the result of its appeal
to the throng, not to the individual. The
chief figures OF a novel are not always
required to know their own minds. but
a belief in free will Is always favorable
to the drama. The technique of the
drama is more difficult to grasp than the
technique of prose-fiction. The novelist
need consider his readers only; the dra-
matist must consider the actors, the
theatre and the audience.
Il m. fp M 20
transparently clear in the early scenes
of a play. You may remember that in
'Adrienne Lecouvreur' Scribe kept his
heroine out of the opening act in which
all the other characters appear, to lay
the foundation of the plot, and reserved
her appearance to arouse interest In the
second act. Well. 'Adrienne Lecouvreur'
is really play in five scenes-scarcely
acts-and / don't think this example
should be followed. at least not exactly,
as rule. 1t is, however. sometimes
good plan to delay the entrance of your
star until the closing moments of the
first act The star might object? Well.
there are certainly cases in which he Cor
she). II intelligent, would see the advan-
tage of it.
do l agree with Planche, who says
that you must tell the audience what
you are doing, when you are going -
do 1t. then you must tell them tina. you
are doing it, and after that you Will tell
them that you have done II. and then
confound them-perhaps they will under
stand you? No. l don't think modern
audiences are as dense as he would
make out. But, as Dumas says. the first
act must be clear. the last act short. and
all the acts interesting.
while writing my play l had TO re-
rep1har all dramatistS must keen In
mind that my audience has only one
pair OF eyes apiece, and one pair OF
ears, and that the stage is not a three
ring circus. Tho drama ought tc re-
veal the human will in action. and
though the central figure in the play
ought to know what he wants. and strike
for 1t with incessant determination, yet
there are exceptions to this rue-the
play of Hamlet for instance, which has
had at times most successful career.
II have certainly tried in this present
play to carry on the interest from act
to act to arouse curiosity--not exactly
or merely to make situations. Only a,
the end of one of my acts will you And
what may be called a picture-p poster
situation
But, as have said, rules-dramatic
rules--can be. and are. broken but you
must know when and where to brea:
4
in The Bad man. where the play j.
practically over at the end OF tns sec
ond act, but is successfully renewed in
the third.
IT try, also. never to leayc my auli.
ence vaguely aware that they have bs"r
deprived of something to which they are
entitled / agree with Sarcey in holding
that an audience ought no 10 be balked
OF what Il may justly consider scene
a faire.'
Some authors say they are forced to
content themselves with being the obedi-
ent, humble servant OF their stage di-
rector / disagree with them. At all
events in this particular instance ] did
not find this to be the case. I have
heard il said, too. that actors neither
make nor mar dramatic literature that
the plays of the period shape the actors,
molding them to higher.and lower uses.
don't believe it, III. b. Irving. In the
first instance, and George Arliss in the
second place. undoubtedly helped to
shape my play.
"And finally, what is coming in the
dramatic world? We've had in our
time the cup and saucer drama. the
growth of farce, the decadence of bur-
lesouc and opera bouffe. and now we are
in the whirl of musical comedy, bed
room and Turkish bath plays. What
next7 The answer must be left to the
audience. What we certainly need now
Is individual genius. some individual
genius at all events, IN musical plays.
We have no Offcnbach; we have no Sui
livan. The public, now plunged into the
maze of musical comedy, has remark
ably short memory, and maybe when It
has quite forgotten Offcnbach. Lecocq,
Won Suppe and the rest of that brilliant
band some genius will arise who will.
though not quite in the same way, rival
their masterpieces Of comic opera
Taken as a whole, in my opinion
things dramatic arc in a much better
condition than they were twenty years
ago and vastly better than they were
thirty years ago. And as for the intelli-
gence Of audiences-well, / don't think
you would come across in these days
any one displaying such charming igno-
rance as the Southern Colonel who, on
leaving the theatre after having seen
Salvini in 'Othello,' remarked:
1t was a good show--a mighty good
show--and / don't see but the coon did
! =. Of -