New-York tribune., 1922-12-03
By Joseph shapIen

year.
BERLIN, November 10.
The last Eve years- years Of revolu-
tion and civil war--eannot be said TO
have been the best. most creative years
Of the Moscow Art Theater. On tho
contrary, they we're years Of great
trial ard disorganization. years which
compelled the organization and It's
leaders 10 devote their main thoughts
and energies not 70 the development OF
new and better things, but 20 the pres
ervation Of what had been accom-
pllshed. For three years the company
was split. one grOub, with Stanislavsky
and Nenirovitch- -Danehenko, remaining
IN Moscow. and another, headed by
Mma o. l. Knippcr- Tchechova CTehe-
shoh's widow and V. S. Kachnlof,
travelling about south Russia and
southern and central Europe. While in
Rostoff-on-Don (where the group
opened one evening with the town In
the hands Of the Bolsheviki. but closed
che performance with the town In the
hands Of Denikin) this group found
itself cut OF fiom Moscow and decided
20 proceed 20 Odessa and thence to the
Crimea, from where il made its way to
ConsiHntinople. Bulgaria, Serbia, Aus
tria. Czecho-Slovakia, Germany and
Moscow. The iast performances we're
IN Berlin. In the spring Of this year
When the wanderers returned TO Mos
COW, after having been on the road
since 1919.
wherever these splendid artists
whose work and art ase really their
daily bread, appeared ,h-'y we're re-
eoived both By Russian and foreign
audiences not Only with unbounded ap-
plause and enthusiasm, but with gen
uine love and affection, for they are
regarded not only rs great actors but
rs the living symbol Of the Russia that
was. that Is net, but viii be-the Rus
sia Of great idealism, Of Lofty striving,
Of noble art and devotion 20 those
things which cannot be measured with
material yardstieks, and which, for the
moment, lie subdued and trampled be-
meath a gigantic mass Of social, eco
nonle and political debris
The reunion Of the company in Mos
COW was a most happy one, and so
great was the success Of the Knipper-
Kaehalof group abroad that the entire
company Is nov touring some OF the
leading Europcan capitals prior 10 its
departure for America next month.
The tour was opened in Berlin with a
series Of ffteen performances. The
itinerary includes Prague, Paris and
Scandinavia, and the repertoire con
sists Of "Csa- Fedor," Gorky's might
Lodging" (-M the Depths') and Tehe-
ehoa's "Three Sisters" and CHERRY
Garden"
Il is understood that "Unele Vania'
may be added in New York, where the
company will appear under manage
ment Of Morris Cost. OF these plays
''Night Lodging" Is the only one Ia
miliar TO New York audiences. Because
Of this familiarity and the universal
appeal Of the play. IL is likely to prove
the favorlte in New York
The Tchechoff plays. on the contrary
may not prove 20 Successfui' for even
Russian audiences no longer take the
same interest and the old, keen pleas
ure in viewing TeheehoG performances
Beautiful and subtle elegies Of a soft
lyric quality. Tchechof's plays SOUND
as strange and far away lat least TO a
Russian audience. as was evidenced
here, at tho Lessing Theater. in Ber-
linz as does the ancient and forgotten
curfsw. They no longer move the Rus
SLAMS as they did in tho old, far-ofi
DAYS before the revolution, for toe
much has intervened, too great an
epoch Of human suffering and travail
separatss TeheehoH, the Teheehof Of
the delightful Sunday morning per
formanees in Moscow before the war
from the grim reality Of to-day. For
what Is the tragedy or comedy oi
Liubov Andreyena Ranievskaya CON-
pared with the epic drama Of tho de-
struetion Of the entire landlord class
from which she sprang? What Is the
destruction Of her beloved, charming
~Cherry Garden" compared with the
mighty agrarian revolution that has
swept Russia!
How Insignificant are the rise and
triumph Of Jermolai Alexeyeviteh Lo'
paehin, that peasants son who rises "a
wealth and power on the ruins OF the
cherry garden, % the rise Of the en-
tire Russian peasant class into the
position Of the supreme, determining
factor Of Russia's future development
Long live the new iifel" cry Anja and
Troflmov on leaving the old homestead
and cherry garden, but how weak, how
unreal and inadequate this sounds IN
the face OF the new life that Is actually
being born in Russia from amid the
nationwide suffering, disappointment
disillusionment and travail that ar'
holding Russia IN their grip and from
which her millions are struggling tC
emaneipate themselves 70 begin the
work Of master buildlngl These made
auaeiea and unreallties from which
TehechofI now suffers in the light Of
what has passed we're manifested very
strongly at the recent performances in
Berlin. They doubtlessly appear even