Evening star., 1926-03-07
Tradition With a Touch of
the Modern.
By Ph,1ander Johnson.

THE drama, like hidden stream
comes to the surface from time
to time. It has flowed limpid and
untainted far below a luxuriant tan
gle of overgrowth fantastic and
often noxious. 1t is often necessary
to go deep for pure water. Few
theatergoers have in the past beer
willing to go as deep as the lbser
thought stratum, when so many pud.
dies and rivulets were ready at hanc
to satisfy immediate taste, which, III
time of intellectual drought. canno,
permit itself to be too fastidious.
X X
From time to time the Ibsen play
has been popularity regarded as hav-
ing disappeared entirely from the
theater. Again it comes to attention
and is gratefully received. The graft
tude is less for the thought Ibsen SO
elaborately fashions into drama than
because of the opportunities for ex-
cellent acting that his writings for
the theater afford. He is. above all
student OF the national tempera-
ment suggested first in child life by
the bleak crags and unsparing storms
of far northern Europe. and which
are reinterpreted in mature art by
the music of Grieg.
X X
"The Master Builder" is typical in
its protest against standards of
thought which become so inhexible
that they revert 10 sheer selhshness
and defeat their own ideals. 1t is
evident that the central figure in the
authors mind was the title role. 1t
is presented with the feminine roe
by Miss lie Gallienne. uncompromis-
ingly in the foreground The admi-
rable performance of Mr.. Brecher
shows his mastery OF stage tech
nique not only in a highly polished
and convincing rendition. but in its
expert management of values. He
does not permit for an instant the
danger of overwhelming the prece-
dence IN impression that belongs to
woman star in whom feminine
audiences now feel a particular in
terest. Never before has Miss lie
Callienne revealed temperament and
personality with such unrestraint.
She makes Hilda not the mere
chance in events that brings the
morbidly ambitious introSpection OF
"The Builder" to a tragic culmina-
tion, but she becomes the inspiration.
the competing force. She sweeps
away the mans self distrust. reminds
him that he is leader who need fear
no rivalry. and presses him too far
in a self-reliance which his own self
ishness has weakened.
X X ~
Miss lie Gallienne has an advan-
tage over many players in obviously
understanding her poet. Herself the
daughter of a poet, this may be re-
garded as her natural privilege.
The play in its exploitation of Hill
da brings the relief of novelty with
heroine far removed from the
haunts of pitiful vice now so COM
monty revealed 1t is a welcome
change to come under the influence
of the Scandinavian trolls and forget
the trolls of the city pave.
X Y Il
1t may be doubted whether lbsen
would permit Miss lie Gallienne her
cigarette and boyish bob if he could
know about them. They both lend
attraction. the cigarette especially
being a means of lending to gesture
many subtle signihcances. Perhaps
the little step toward modernizing
Ibsen is Of assistance in crossing the
barrier which the Imagination meets
in understanding mental attitude sc
foreign to our own.
y
To write Master Builder for
an American audience. the dramatisi
would find himself utterly at loss
for the materials of picturesque ira
ditien which lend 50 much mysteri'