The New York herald., 1922-10-15

RptNtut COfTcSpOOueOCc 10 HE NEW lphh
HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau.
Berlin. Sept. 80.
7~HE fall theatrical season in Ger
many opened on September I
- with all the punctuality of
clockwork and the old Prussiannarmy.
On the night of August 81 the theater-
OF plays. operas and musical comedies,
hut with the exception Of three or four
classics-comedies for the most part,
and a real drama or two, he found 1t
difficult to form an adequate notion
of what the modern theater in Ger
many has to offer.
The next night, however, twenty
J theaters opened their doors lin Berlin,
.-at least) and he could have judged
any one of large number Of sam
pies OF the classic and modern rep
ertories of drama and opera; could
have attended any one OF the half
dozen low-priced peoples theaters and
seen Shaw or Shakespeare, Goethe or
1bsen played by first rate troupe
in theater far better equipped than
all but the two or three finest houses
/, in America. Musical comedies, operas,
ballets. pantomimes; their number is
s-legion. The crop sprang mp literally
overnight and the autumn season is
on.
With the possible exception OF New
York, Berlin is the most hospitable city
in the world to the plays of other ma
tions. The great majority OF theatrical
offerings at present are Russian. Eng
ttlish and French. This Is due mainly to
the publics desire for variety, MS well
\ as TO paucity OF new German plays
These lacking. the classic and standard
modern repertory is being constantly
\ drawn upon. Most Of the older genera
= ton Of German dramatists seem to have
disappeared or to be turning out per-
fnnctory and uninspired work. Haupt-
mann Is Kept before the public in every
city of the land only because OF n ma
: -tion wide series cs revivals. All his
thirty-odd plays. without exception are
now being acted In perhaps fifty cities.
and In Berlin alone most OF them have
been performed during the last five
weeks But this is exceBtlonai. Ger
!. many is celebrating the sixtieth birth
day OF her veteran poet-dramatlst.
Young Dramatists Dominate.
n YOU would know something Of the
recent developments OF German drama.
1T Is not 70 Haupumanu or SudermJnn.
|. NNedeIind or Halhe that you must turn.
but TO the younAgeneration. a group OF
more or less revoutiunary dramatlsts
who have come into existence during
= the last five or six years. The most
talented among these young men are
Gcorr Kaiser Fritz Won Unruh, Walter
Easenclever and Ernst Toller.
Toller IS at present serving sentence
FOR revolutionary agitation But he has
wasted no time In prison. and at least
{. three plays have been produced since
sentence was passed upon him. Tho
best known Of these is "Mnssetnensch :"
p revolutionary appeni W more or less
dramatic form. But his more conven-
b iionai and Iutest play Is die Maschin-
snsturmer." which ran during the sum
rner 81 Max Reinhardt's peoples thea.
ser. The Crosse Schauspiolhnus.
die asehlnenstuerfner" II n SYM
~,athetic presentment or the striking
hard wesvers IN England n hundred
sears ago. faced with ruin and starva-
aOn b. the Introduction OF machinery.
They destroy the machinery but fnd
Themselves no better Off than when
fh,y besan 70 strike. hopeless picture.
@n3 feeble revolutionary document. as
= Fans % draw any satisfactory corr
: eigsivu. AS picture of human charac-
Ter the play Is Infinitely inferior to
- -faurtrrann's "Wcavers" by which "
eeerts 20 have been inspired.
o. ather plays BY native writer's II Is
firsfJ,; 81 speak hs none Of any sisnih-
~srce has as yet been produced this
Z fsn but Y new original plays are few
'f, musical comedies and opcrettas arc
pft1tifui The average quality ~ these
u s--s1sllx hlSh. as the Germans seem