The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-01-04
u DRAMA -
A Ghandi Dies With Boots On
Provincetown Playhouse First Production of the
Season Misses Fire

"THE PRISONER" by Emil Bern
hard, translated by Alexander
Berkman, and pro duced at the
Provincetown Playhouse is one of
those Tolstoyan themes, based on the
precept, "Resist not evil with evil"
A certain revolutionist in Tsarist
Russia, just before the end of the
world war, decides that "simple
things are best and first" (Ghandi's
doctrine of the Satanism of western
industrial life) and that the Biblical
phrase, "thou shalt not kill" was
meant literally, and should be obeyed.
He convinces large part of the army,
is courtmartialed, put in prison in
Siberia, and followed as saint by
increasing numbers of people. The
success of the military campaign be-
ing thus endangered, the Tsar sends
General Kamishansky to argue with
him, to offer brides, in vain. Captain
Abrasion, the prison warden, egged
on by his wife who wants to get back
to the bright lights in Moscow, tries
to flog him into signing paper alb
juring his views and boosting the war.
Abrastov's wife tries to vamp him
into signing. All without result.
Irene PoIosova is girl revolution
list. Berkman & Bernhard treat revo-
luton as merely series of attentats.
Irene, arguing with Tverskoy, thumps
her breast and exclaims ecstatically,
Gone bomb, and all is over with the
tyrants!" She gives Tverskoy bomb,
but he refuses to use it, even on the
warden, relying on universal love in
stead to accomplish the end of the
system.
Finally in pity for Captain Abras-
tov who is plainly suffering agonies
from the contrary stubbornness of his
wife on one side and Boris on the
other, Tverskoy signs the paper-just
like that!
Whereupon the captain, doing as
any American warden would do, has
him beaten to death before he can
possibly rescind the signature. But
after that the warden, as no warden
would do, as wardens do only in Toll
stoyan theory, suffers revulsion of
conscience and sets free all the
prisoners.
This play is founded on a very
ancient theory, the theory of non-re-
sistance as a social force, which,
enunciated by the various sages of
history and legend, By Lao TIE, Bud
dab, Christ, Tolstoy, and Mahatma
Ghandi, makes peculiarly strong ap-
peal to slaves, has originated half
dozen great slave religions, very dis
quieting to the master class of their
time, but always sooner or later made
to serve the master class, because
however heroic its martyrs, and how
ever subversive of older state re-
ligions, theory of non-resistance on
the part of the slaves cannot help but
leave those who did not care for any
thing else but themselves in control
of the situation. And the masters
institutionalize the faith, and make it
useful to themselves.
But the theory has sure-fire emo
'ional appeal in times of trouble and
danger-such times as the present. l
think that if there were some really
great tragic actor to appear, some
body on the same plane as the Ma
hatma, should he turn actor, that we
might have a new religion of Tvers-
koyanity, or more correctly, Bern
hardism. Nothing like that happened
at the Provincetown Playhouse. The
actors somehow seemed to fail to
make the thing grip. The possibilities
for tragic genius are very great;
perhaps Harold Johnsrud is not one;
perhaps he was uncomfortable in his