The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-25
The World of
the Theatre
BY HAROLD EDGAR
The Artef and Others

AAAN IA Willy OCWlOkl MOth-
ers' theatre in Americas present.
ing Saturday and Sunday nights at
the Hecksher Foundation (Fifth Ave.
and 104th St. translation by Mois-
save j. Olgin of 1.-THE Third Pa
rade," drama of the Bonus March,
by Charles Walker and Paul Peters.
AS the Artef has produced great
er number of plays than any other
workers organization in New York,
and has built up permanent COM
pany and something of a permanent
audience, its work should be seen by
every one interested in the develop
ment of revolutionary theatre.
Their productions always have an in
ner simplicity and conviction and
even a kind of maturity that COM
municate themselves to the audience
despite many serious obstacles. One
feels that the roots of this organi5a-
ton are set deeper than those of al
most any other similar group, and
that whatever may come to disturb
the progress of their movement, the
Artef will nevertheless survive.
For this reason it is important to
discuss the shortcomings as well as
the qualities of this group, for they
will be the shortcomings of other
groups who propose to present full
length revolutionary plays for work.
ers' audiences.
The present production suffers
somewhat from being a translation
of a play typicaly American in its
idiom and in its characters. 1t is
true, of course, that the conditions Of
the class struggle are virtually the
same for workers everywhere, mad
that since the Bonus March is as ia
miliar to the audience OF the Artef
as to any other, this play is proper
vehicle for production by them.
But such a rational argument does
not mold in the logic Of the theatre.
To be exciting and convincing in the
theatre, the audience must feel that
the workers represented are not ideo-
logical distractions, but men and wo-
men whom they know well, people
whose rhythm of thought and habits
CT life are akin TO their own. In such
play as THE Third Parade" the
workers are the laconic, hard boiled,
open-road type of American born of
the pioneer industrialism of the West.
This type of worker is difficult for
any but an equivalent type of actor
to suggest, and the pale-faced actors
of the Artef, more characteristic of
shop-workers than of the heavy in
dustry workers the authors had in
mind, bring to the play an element so
foreign as to create a sense of I'M
reality.
We must not press this criticism
too far, since every workers theatre
must choose whatever plays are
available, and the repertory of reyo-
lutionary plays in America is still ex-
tremely limited. But it should be part
of every workers theatre program to
do, as much as possible, those plays
which are closest in their background
to the actors who will perform them
and the audience which will see them.
In such a play as -Four Days."
Jewish drama of the unsuccessful
Bolshevik revolution in Poland, the
production by the Artef proved far
more organic than the present one.
And if there are plays Of American
Jewish workers, those are the plays
that the Artef should give preference
to, and should encourage dramatists
to write for them.
More serious than this, however, is
the matter of direction. The sense OF
authenticity that we got from the Ar
tef productions comes entirely from
the actors: it is they who have within
them those qualities Of simplicity and
maturity we have mentioned. Theirs
is the chief reality of the plays they
present. But these qualities tend to be
hidden rather than released by the
kind of direction imposed upon them.
Not that this direction is unskillful,
but the more skillful it is the more
damage is done to the actors.
1t is the kind of direction that en-
phasizes stage-business, numerous de-
tails OF individual action, theatre eff
fects, tricky outward characterize
tons. Such directions might be very
useful in Second Ave. theatre or on
Broadway, but for actors compare
lively new to the stage, and more
over for actors whose natural quail
ties are much fresher than those Of
most professional actors, this direc-
ton only creates self consciousness
and an actory posiness entirely alien
to the spirit Of revolutionary |
theatre.
In other words, the direction of |
the Artef endeavors to make its &C
tors appear experienced and stage
wise in the manner of Yiddish Art |
actor, which initiates against |
the Artef actors spontaneity and in |
iects n element of false and incom- |
pet theatricality into the play. |
What is needed is a direction that |
will preserve the actors natural en-
dowment and allow him the freedom
to be himself in a way that is both |
enforced and yet interesting on the
stage.
This is q problem that faces all |
stationary workers theatres. To make
the actors of workers theatre pro-
ficient in the Broadway manner is
except with actors of
Broadway experience, and it Is I'M
desirable in any case. To make them
alive in their own right
-as young actors of revolutionary |,
time, hard work, and o
trained director. But there
will be no truly satisfying workers
theatre without this.