The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-23

An Accomplished Juliet
ROMEO AND JULIET, by william
Shakespeare; presented by Kath-
crime Cornell at the Martin Beck
Theatre for five and one-half
weeks only.
Reviewed by
ALLEN CHUMLEY
VERY little to date has been done
toward Marxist appraisal of
Shakespeare. Stanley Burnshaw in
a recent New Masses made the first
beginning. Shakespeare, he pointed
out, lived and died, to the best of
our knowledge, a typical bourgeois
Of his time. In his class attitude, as
shown both in his plays and his lit
tie known life, he never transcribed
these limitations. Neither, for that
matter, did he erect them into a
world-embracing philos ophy.
Shrewd, almost opportunistic, as a
playwright, he tailored his outlook
on life to the needs of his specific
play and the views of his specific
public.
Despite these shortcomings, he
merits signal attention. His plays
afford us as broad and as penetrat-
ing picture as has come down to
us of the type of people his class
brothers we're. For this, if for no
other reason, historic materialists
should cherish his work. And in the
Soviet Union, where the workers,
in Lenin's words, have a right to
true, great art" where "the beauti-
full must be retained, taken as an
example, and held on to, even
though it is old Shakespeare
has not been neglected. Within the
last four years there have been wit
messed in Moscow and Leningrad
alone no less than seven notable
Shakespeare productions.
Tairov, director of the famed Ka-
merry Theatre and sponsor Of per-
haps the most ambitious drama
turgic project in recent years chat
of fusing into a single dramatic
whole Shakespeare's Antony and
Cleopatra" Shaw's Caesar and Gle
opatra" and Pushkin's poem, "Egyp-
tian NightsD, has summed up the
directors duties in producing class
les as follows: First and foremost
he must give the play significance
for the modern spectator. To dc
this, he must select and then high
light only such elements as have
enduring vitality; the rest he must
discard like weeds in a garden. And
at the same lime he must keep ever
in relief the historical setting, the
social "milieu," in which the action
takes place; he must achieve this
not by mere period" props but by
intrinsic content. . Soviet artistic
standards are rigorous indeed.
AMERICAN producers set them
n selves easier tasks. Katherine
Cornell Undertaking the first i'm
portant Shakespeare revival within
four years. did it for the part
not the play. AS an actress nearing
the peak of her powers, she needed
but the triumph Of enacting Shake
speare to put the last gem in hel
crown. No new significance of the
play moulded her production. Nc
new masses Of people found through
her production meaning in Shake
speare undreamt of and startlingly
vital. Hers was a performance fol
professors engrossed in mere word!
and for the "culture-lovers" among
the Four Hundred to whom, in The
sphere of the theatre, it was the so.
cial event of the season"
Bringing to the role an alert anC
informed intelligence, she read thu
rich verse with a freshness, sure
ness and a. comprehension which
more theatrical" actresses had fall
en- far short Of. Nor did she lacl
the technical equipment to give tn,
long gamut of moods each its fit
ting expression.
Basil Rathbone as Romeo re
sponded to none of these moods
and his cold, clipped - prosaic =
defamation gave the first clue Il
the plays underlying weakness. H
made the love story unreal. Edit
Evans as the wholesomely bawd
and garrulous Nurse rendered tn
contrast greater by the very bril-
lance of her realistic playing. Sh
brought the play down to earth
And Brian Aherne's Mercutic
changing with lightning like swift
ness from one mood to another Blu
always the apostle of common
sense, presented us with credibl
human being
One might add, as pertinen
postscript, the following "theatrica
note: During this current Sovie
season the youthful Theatre Of tn
Revolution, whose speciality ha
been post Revolutionary life, Wi
produce this play. They will try
in their own buoyant words
make the young Moscow Communis
love Juliet no less ths' Romeo die
and the young Moscow telephon