The Washington times., 1933-02-09

to see second-rate dancers imported; decide that
certain play art exhibition soprano tightrOpe walker
is smart" And once in while they hit upon
thing good and you forgive them their SINS from which,
If you have any sense you do not have to suffer-
Van Vechten's Advice
At this moment minor fad is to go to the Jewish Art
Theater to the production of "Yoshe Kab, and
that production is of the most interesting events
of many theatrical the people who have proved
their judgment good. l first heard of the play from
Carl Van Vechten whose instinct for the extraordinary
falters and Mr. Van Vechen charmingly assured
me that it not necessary to know the language He
is quite right. full synopsis and little attention will
pull you through. | suspect, from hearing muttered
conversations behind that of the Jews do not
know the particular daetc in which the lines spoken;
and it doesn't matter.
The Jewish Art Theater has the distinction of produc
ing plays often which memorable in the
strict sense that they actually cling to your memory
remember ancient productions of rags" "The Idle
1nn "The Bronx Express under various managements,
with different stars, all profoundly moving and absorb
ing Maurice Schwartz the present director has taken
play distant in time remote in it's problems, and, by
superb production, given it greater power your
mind and heart than plays and books and
headlines dealing with the most intimate and important
concerns of your life. That is what the theater
should do.
The story is of studious young man who sins swept
away from honor and righteousness by the passion of
young, unhappiy married woman and of his expia-
ton when falsely accused of another crime he refuses
to defend himself and is finally cast out to wander
the world like banshed spirit. Ancient mysticism,
racial habits of mind odd customs all in the back
ground in the foreground are meodrama tragedy,
nllarlOuS comedy, drunken scenes and at the END
mastery meeting of the sanhedrin to decide the ques
ton not of guilt innocence, but of identty-to de-
termine who this man is.
The richness of life which flows through this play is
manifest in the production; it is all theatrical in the
great sense of the word. 1t isn't little piece
of play in which everything happens the way it al
ways happens in real life it thousand times better
than real life People compare with the great works
of the Moscow Art Theater. I confess that find it
more varied richer and exciting. It hasn't any deli
cacy and little subtety; but it has tremendous go.
A Great Audience
The effect on the audience is of the things
American producers ought to watch. (They probably
won't bother to learn anything from the stage selfO
The audience rude in comparison with the standards
of Longacre Square, but ninetenths of its rudeness
rises from a tremendous interest in the play; people
sh-sh each other through half of each act, because
about one-thrd of the audience is explaining inter-
preting and exclaiming to the other two-thrds For
those without interpreters the whole thing has the
effect of silent movie, when people used to voice
their opinions pretty loudly.
The great thing is that the audience is not politely
sitting by while the play is going Most of our cur
rent Broadway plays recall remark of Goethes that
the popularity of obscure German play
wright merely proved that people will pay to see any
thing in motion the stage. "Yoshe Kab is another
thing entirely; the audiences passions and memories
are stirred; they to take part in the play and
help to make it the extraordinary and impressive spec
tacle which it is.