The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-05
Reviewed by
HAROLD EDGAR

beading John Wex1ey's "They
II Shall Not Die" In the somewhat
decorative volume which Alfred
Knopf has recently published is the
present reviewers third contact with
the play, The first was the manu-
script itself which the author per-
mitted him to read. then there was
the Theatre Guilds production in
February, and now again we are
more than ever impressed by the
plays simple power. This is Sc
we're test: many plays which are
effective on the stage appear thin
and watery when they are set down
in cold type. At our first reading,
we might have been swept away by
the sheer excitement that this dra-
matization Of the Scottsboro case
must inevitably arouse in every hui
man heart; in the theatre, the pres
ence Of Negro players I(who are al
ways the most affecting actors when
their manner is easy and unspoiled)
might have had something to do
with our enthusiasm, but in the
printed volume. there remains
nothing but the play as play. How
does it stand the test? The answer,
as suggested, is that 1t is always a
clear, moving, significant drama.
Wexley's achievement in They
Shall Not Die" has been taken too
much for granted in a rather pecu-
liar way. On the one hand, the
hasty and perhaps melodramatic in
PRODUCTION of the story in the first
act, has been severely criticized on
the grounds that 1t does not pro-
vide a sufficient social explanation
for the behavior of the sheriff, the
town lawyer and the others who
are planning the boys execution.
On the other hand, many have
praised the play simply as a literal
transcription Of the facts. Between
these two reactions, one rather
too o1e-sided censure, the other
patronizing applause, there are the
various shades of hesitant praise or
blame expressed in the dramatic re-
views. Some felt that the play
should be seen Cor read for the
sake of its valuable propaganda"
others that because of its "propa-
ganda" 1t was too hot and too "an-
CRY" to be art But all Of these
points Of view, arising from differ
ent sources and motivated by diff
ferent interests, have this in COM
mon: they do not completely real
ize the dramatist's problem or ap-
preciate his accomplishment
1t was no easy matter to take the
complex material of the Scottsboro
case-dramatic as it is-and so ar
range it in a closely knit, lucidly
progressing sequence of scenes that
an audience unacquainted with the
facts Gas most of the Broadway au-
diences were) would be forced to
accept them as the truth, whether
they liked Il or not. What Wexley
has done Is to tell his story in a
way that gives no evidence Of IAN
ger" Except to those so ignorant as
to believe that his facts are inven-
tionsD or even of any overemphasis,
while preserving at the same time
its unmistakable justified partisan
ship.
MOREOVER. the charlottesville
Nl the possible exception of some
of the officials at the beginning
always have raciness and an
original tang that we rarely get
in plays of this kind, particularly
when they are based on living
modelsl But the Negro boys, the
MID. lawyer, the counsel for the
defense, the various prosecuting at
torneys and most of the others all
emerge as people whom we know
not as stock characters in a pattern
that has become familiar to us but
as living beings With their own in