The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-04-14

Reduced to brass tacks, construc-
tivism, as applied to the theatre,
means the substitution of solid, three
Intentional stage settings for the
flat, painted canvass. The advantage
of the constructed, setting over the
painted one is that it gives the actor
one more dimension in which to move.
Mere solidity is not the aim of the
constructive. He wants his settings
to afford the actors several levels,
with running stairs and other means
of gradual transition from one level
to another. He wants to conquer
space" and afford the director vari-
Gus possibilities of plastic motion on
the part of the actors, of mass action
and mass rhythm.
The conquest of space also affords
the spectator a new sense Of the
theatre. Under the scheme of flat,
painted settings, the contents of the
stage, including the actors, are pro-
jected against the flat background
and mingle with the painted back
drop to create from a distance the
illusion of a painted picture, and
even though the actors move about,
the play as a whole remains essen
tally static and flat in the literal
sense. The constructivist setting
does away with the background lat
least with the backdrop) and gives
the spectator view of the action as
taking place in space and not upon
flat surface, thus making the pro-
ceedings on the stage more dynamic,
more real even if not quite so
realistic" as in the regular"
theatre.
Useful, Not Ornamental.
Necessarily, constructivism does
away with most of the old devices
as well as with some of the new
methods of stage setting, and if we
examine the destructive and the
negating aspect Of constructivism we
find that it aims to abolish: ~ The
old naturalistic decor which under
takes to reproduce Cor to fool you
into believing that it does) a chunk
of "real life; (2) the interpretive
decor, which seeks through various
means, such as construction, paint
ing, lightning effects, to produce the
atmosphere" or induce the mood"
or bring out the "soul" of the play;
(3) the esthetic decor which is con-
cerned primarily with the outward
beauty of scenic effects, even if they
are not organically related to the
play. The constructivist, then, does
not want to be "true to life" nor to
create moods, nor to interpret, nor
to mystify, nor to make pretty things
for the sake of prettiness. What
does he want?
AS co-operator in the collective
art Of the theatre he wants to be use
full rather than ornamental. His
chief aim is to help bring out all the
plastic potentialities of the actor,
hitherto unused and neglected. He
wants to make settings upon which
and within which the actors and the
play as a whole could move about
freely. He wants to Conquer space"
both for the director, the actor and
the spectator, and in his extreme
expressions the constructivist wants
to do away entirely with estheti-
cism in stage settings, to rid the
stage decor of decorative elements
which generally usurp the attention
of the spectator to the neglect of
the performance as whole.
Close To Spirit of Age.
Within this meaning constructivism
is a welcome innovation in the
theatre and aside from other consid-
erations it has the added value of
closer kinship with the spirit of our
times than the naturalist or the
esthete can claim for his method. IN
an epoch of skyscrapers, Ford fac
tories, I-beams, tractors, moving
stairways, the constructed decor,
dominating space and affording OPP
portunity for dynamic effects is more
in harmony with the spirit of the
times and can better serve its needs
than the painted canvass with the
static and idly-pretty frills upon and
around it.
But when we observe the efforts of
some constructivists and their fol-