The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-12-17


He may not have any great wealth
of original ideas; but he is first of all
a student with a real fund of knowl-
edge, and he is then an executive art
list with an unerring and absolutely
conscientious adherence to whatever
style he has for the time being
adopted
Reinhardt is a small, clean shaver
man, his curly hair neatly brushed
back from his forehead, and his rather
beady eyes evidently taking quiet no.
tice during the interview of what was
going on upon at least three sides of
him. Here was not only the chief
personality of the Salzburg Festival,
whose dramatic side he has made even
more important than the Mozart per-
formances that the festival was orig
inally established to give, but the
chief personality, certainly of the
German-speaking theatre and per-
haps of the theatre of the whole world
today. Twenty years ago the stars
were actors and actresses. Now they
are producers. The fact explains
much in the evolution of dramatic art.
Position of the Producer.
The position of the producer was
one of the first subjects of the con-
versation, and it is interesting to note
that Reinhardt regards him as pro-
visional or rather a transitional figure
in theatrical development. The ideal
state of things would be one in which
he author should perhaps be an &C
.or, as Shakespeare and Moliere were,
out should at least be sufficiently a
nan of the theatre to produce his
plays The fact that Shakespeare is
| said to have been an indifferent actor.
while Moliere was undoubtedly a
very good one, does not affect the
case. Both knew the theatre; and as
hey knew it and its ways, they could
not only put their plays upon the
stage, but could alter them and allow
them to grow in rehearsal, according
to the circumstances of their theatre
and, above all, the personalities of
cheir actors. 1t came to the same
thing that Moliere wrote for his own
personality, and Shakespeare for that
Of Burbage. Both built up their
or, anu~ even in, the theatre.
If the producer is necessary today,
says Reinhardt, to bridge the gulf be-
,Ween the authors and their actors, it
IS really because the authors do not
know their business. They write their
plays in the solitude of the study
chat is a phrase which Reinhardt used
several times. They leave it to the
producer to translate those plays into
theatrical expression, whereas they
not only ought TO be capable of doing
! the translation themselves, but should
compose and adapt and modify their
plays in such sympathy with the thea
ire that no translation is necessary.
Authors might begin, he says, by
Kidding themselves of the fallacy that
it is beneath their dignity to write
plays for the special talents Of par
Cicuiar actors. That is just how they
should write plays; but to 10 so tie.
must understand acting.
1t was not surprising to near Rein
hardt say this, for perhaps his great
est talent as a producer is his power
not only of adapting himself TO cir
cumstances, but Of exploiting to the
fullest extent the accidents not only
Of the temperaments of his actors but
of the surroundings of his stage.
Now, what is this stage, whose evo-
luton the modern author must follow
and for which he must write? To say
that he must follow it is the right
word, for it is now growing independ-
emily of him, and he lags behind unit
re can catch it up and take possession
of it.
Not For Isolation.
This stage is certainly not, in Rein
hardt's opinion, the stage behind g
picture frame, which was developed
during the latter part of the
eighteenth and in the nineteenth cen
tury. That isolation within picture
frame is not the form which the
stage took at the beginnings Of the
modern theatre, and still less in the
theatres of Greece and Rome. Those
were theatres made by actors for ac-
tors; and the instinct of the actcr
says Reinhardt, is to have the public
around him as much as he can. So the
stage of Shakespeare, like that of the
Greeks, advanced into the middle of
the audience, with the result that the
actor had his listeners to right and
left Of him as we'll as in front. If it
receded behind the frame during the
eighteenth century, it is because there
were no great dramatists and few
great actors during that time, and
possession of the theatre was taken
by opera and ballet, to both of which
the picture stage was Suitable. Now
that the dramatic side of the theatre
is once more gaining the upper hand,