The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-22
The World of
the Theatre
~ HAROLD EDGAR
O'Neill's Latest

PRACTICALLY every one has agreed
l that Eugene O'Neilps latest play,
Days Without End" at the Henry
Miller Theatre, is bad play. There
would be little point therefore, In
repeating this bare feet. The play
Is bad because its writing is dry, its
characters conventional, It's plot anna
flourish.
Yet the most important aspect of
this play is not its bsdness-most
plays are bad and many are the work
of good authors-but the cause and
nature Of its badness. 1t is amazing
that reviewers, in attacking the play,
fail to remark that in this, O'Neills
poorest play, he still holds ones at
tention because the play is about
something, whereas most plays that
the reviewers praise, are admittedly
nothing; and 1t is even more amazing
that all OF them fail TO talk about
that something with which the play
deals. In failing to discuss the plays
theme, they actually fail to discuss
the play itself, for how can one judge
dramatist's artistry unless one com
pares his subject matter with the
treatment he has given it.
Let us, for the moment, be liberal"
with O'Neill, and say that days
Without End" does not necessarily
signify that he has confessed himself
sinner, repented and formally re-
turned to the Catholic Church. Let
US say that when the hero of his play
kneels before the cross, alongside q
)1>1St who gives thanks for his soul
and cries out Life laughs with love"
that O'Neill simply means to take the
crucif1x as a symbol Of suffering hui
manity, and the expression OF faith
expressed in the plays last line means
only that O'Neill wishes to voice his
belief that life is worth living, and
that despite all its pain, q man should
be willing to struggle, hope and look
forward to its continuance. Here Is
a statement and belief that we can
share. Yet when we ask ourselves
what such statement leads to, we
realize that 1t directs US to combat
the forces in our world that are de-
structive of life on all its levels-bio-
logical, social, cultural-it leads to a
fight to the death with capitalism.
ONeilps credo realistically viewed
must become a summons to action,
which in turn means the education
Of the workers, farmers, intelIectuals
and indeed every one who truly
wants to eradicate the blight of
capitalisnl-and live.
But precisely this struggle for life
is what O'Neill tells us is Evil! His
hero frees himself from his ancient
heresies Of atheism, Socialism.
Ntetzscheanism, ConfucianEsm and
mechanism" And ends in what? In
belief so abstractly stated that if
means exactly nothing In terms Of
everyday humanity, but which may
mean & good many very real things
when once translated into terms of
life. The choice is clear: on the one
hand, an abstraction which is as
static as death, on the other hand
the road TO conflict. a confict with
the capitalist civilization of today for
the sake Of life which will be freed
Of capitalism's devastating contradic-
tons. O'Neill hugs his cold, empty
abstraction.
Yet the Church Is no abstraction.
II ONeillS affirmation is to mean
anything 1t must mean the church.
And the reality of the church is an
Organization as concrete and as prac-
tical for its own ends as any other.
Let O'Neill try to find out what these
ends are, and what means the
Church uses to achieve them. He
will find them to represent q prac-
tice that Systematically turns peoples
eyes away from reality, that leads
them into mystic darkness where
there is no pain because there is
no life. II Mr.. O,Neill were in con-
tact with the world and looked at
1t, he would see that it is the Church
today which is "the spirit that
denies"
And the proof Of this Is the play
itself. Just as it's feshIass theology
is in the last analysts obscure and
rigid, the creation it leads to, makes
for characters without life or rnovc-
ment, scenes that are drawn me-
Chemically out Of the dramatic dust
bin and peter out into melodramatic
tableaux. When O'Neill was a
hereto" he was hardly . better
thinker than he Is today, but he
wrote plays like THE Hairy ABE"
and Desire Under the Ems" which,
'aulty though they may have been,
had in them the breath of Kfe, a
sense Of struggle that meant growth,
4 passion that showed living con-
7ection with the world around him
.oday his religious Optimism
'oesn't cheer, his new-found CLARITY"
'oesn't reveal, his "rebirth" doesn't
reate. O'Nefll's church is a mauso-
cum. One more such play as 'Day-
Without End" and we shall pro
ounce him dead.
The Theatre Guilds production l. |
nooth, careful, cold, unrelated tc |
e. 1t fits the play.