The New York herald., 1922-01-01
Says Critics Make Success
Easy, but Hard to Maintain
Miss Zoe Atkins Declares Theatrical Reviewers Help
One to Know Ones Limitations

When Miss Zoe Akins's latest play.
The Varying Shore" opened at the
Hudson various critics reacted with
startling variance to her experiment in
play construction. namely. to write q
play OF memories exactly as memories
come TO one--the nearest and latest
things first and the earliest and dim
NEST things last.
Some OF them liked the Idea. others
Derated Miss Atkins for, as one OF them
put It. standing her play on it's head
ana maintaining It gracefully. In that at
utude." All of this has brought from
the playwright some intcresting Views on
playwriting in general and critics in
particular.
You know. it's too silly to feel that
critics are chary of praise or recogni-
uon." she observed. "They make sue
cess easy to get--and very hard to main
tain. They're glad to bestow the chap
let OF laurel, but they're always coming
pack to make sure IL really fits ones
head. Thank goodness they dot keeps
one on the gus pive. They help one to
Know ones limitations. but II one felt
sure that he was simply bound round
with limitations he'd keep on writing, as
. 4 do. because somehow 1t seems the one
thing to do Of all the things In the
world. ~
cCritics. I imagine, think Of play
wrishts somewhat In the light OF anna
teur players-one who at his first per-
formance In sort OF spiritual stimula-
tton. strikes an attitude which he can't
maintain. For any one to, do over and
over again In cold blood what he at
tained in hot makes him a professional.
The New York st1ge is cIuttered with
amateurs who act the theater to pieces
the first performance, play with fire and
Bpontaneity. and are never good after
that night. And the critics naturally
wonder IL we with each succeeding ges-
ture can achieve the distinction of our
first
II can't help feeling little as Wilde
felt when he said, Artists are like Greek
gods--they vie only with eacn other
that O critic should be able to do, or
should at least have tried to be able to
do. the thing no. criticizes. He needn'.
rave been q success, but one should get
the feeling Of authenticity In his work.
IL Is such A satisfaction to me, 81 to my
one. to read an article reviewing my own
work or that Of any Of my contempora-
ries in which there Is something of a
fundamental congeniality.
In connection with The Varying
Shore I was very much amused by tho
criticism of one man who tool, excep-
tion to the fact that Lady Helen Hoden
of 'Declasse' and Julie Venable OF The
Varying Shore were well born. He put
1t down to something akin to snobbish-
ness on my part. No doubt il seems
very recherche for woman who has
broken a moral law to be either the
daughter OF an earl or the granddaugh-
ter of the Governor of Virginia, but
there happen to be q number icf these
people In the world. and being in tho
world 1t naturally follows that they
must be of it. u
And to me no life is truly Significant
unless there Is the element Of choice in
the decision made by the character in
question. Unless II Is life In which
there Is the privilege OF many alterna-
tives ther6 is no particular va:ue in the