Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-18
One Play of Past Week
Is Splendid Production,
Audiences Slow to See 1t
Heart of the Old-Tmer Was Gladdened by Drama
at t-Belasco-Words of Wisdom From
Man Who Knows His Theater.
By w. H. Landvoig:.

there is still hope for the nobler
impulses in spite Of the roar ana
whirlwind of the propensities
Even in the decadent theater are
to be found signs that give prom
Use and warnings that the wise
will heed. Thirty years ago the
situation in our theater was much
as it is today, but without the mad
rivalry of the talking picture.
Then, even as now, they were
going abroad to find what our
dramatistS seemed unable to sup
ply at home. But then the art OF
acting was not given over to the
clevernesS of imitation as it is to-
day, and the great majority OF
folks clearly discerned the differ
ence. Even our local amateurs
were doing things worth while,
and our Washington players of
today seem inclined to follow in
their footsteps. Which leaos up
to recent very important con-
tribution of Lawrence Langner,
who has given 20 years of his life
to the theater, chiefly with the
Washington Square Players and
the Theater Guild of New York.
Mr.. Langner is now closely identi-
fled with the New York Repertory
Co., and his theatrical wisdom
seems eminently worthy of atten-
ton.
"'THE old theater," says Mr.
Langner. whose glamour he
seeks to recover, was a theater
of theatricality: the new tends
to be a theater of photography.
Photographic realism comes
from. holding the camera up to
nature, rather than holding the
mirror up to nature. Mir
rors reflect light, photographs
are but arrangements of shadows.
The repertory theater can be of
TO-DAY. if it can bring the play
wrights and actors the lessons
they can learn from those of other
days, who knew how to blend
poetry, music, color and drama
into theatrical fare" Mr.. Langner
thinks our theater is living too
much in the present, and he asks
what might be the condition of
our American and English litera-
ture if our reading were limited
to only new books. He has some
thing to say also 'of the dingy
drabnesS of our theater interiors,
"dimly lighted and casting a pasty
pallor over their occupants" Also
he says, I'VE must strive to re-
place some of our fast-fading
great players trained in the school
where one man in his day plays
many parts not where types are
lifetime occupation" He points
out that all our great actors and
actresses were trained in roper
tory. from Bernhard to Moskvin,
from Edwin Booth to Duse. I'm
repertory," he states, there is
constant rotation of players in
various roles and unceaSing effort
to develop ensemble playing. Time
and careful study in training" he
believes will bring success, ano
with it the restoration to our the
alter of some of the old color and
excitement missing today.
ESPECIALLY to our young as
pirants of today does this ad-
vice seem invaluable. The theater
lives through its players, not it's
scenery. There frequently is too
strong a disposition among self
seekers to exploit themselves.
rather than good acting, good the
alter. The self-advertisers are not
an asset in constructing real the
alter, where carefully selected and
trained talents must be WIDELY
versed, and where each player can,
if he must, lead or follow, as cir
cumstanceS may dictate. The
glory of ambitious promoters must
come from the perfection of what
is promoted, not at its expense or
it's sacrifice, even in the smallest