The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-20
Reviewed by
NATHANIEL BUCHWALD

| I EFT it be noted at the outset that
Awake and Sing" which was
opened last night at the Belasco had
been written some two years before
Odets overwhelmed us with his
Waiting for Lefty" Perhaps it i,
the startling success of the latter
that prompted the Group Theatre
to put on Odets' earlier and less i'm
portant play. On its own merits
Awake and Sing" does not measure
up to the calibre of the Group The
atre. It lacks distinction both in sub
ject mater and manner Of presenta-
ton. The domestic squabbles and
woes of the Berger family (proleta-
rian with petty bourgeois upshots)
are real enough and the characters
are we'll drawn, but the play lacks
guiding idea to make the whole
thing significant.
To be sure, there is the general
idea Of the disintegration Of a
family under the destructive unfit
ence Of poverty and prevarious exist
ence, but neither in plot nor in
character portrayal is the play To-
cused upon this idea.
There is also mood Of resent
ment and faint revolt against the
existing order Of things, and the
chief carrier of this mood is the
grandpa of the family, a home
grown revolutionist whose fight
against capitalism never went be-
yond reading books and annoying
his children with his "crazy" ideas
The old man realizes his failure and
exhorts his grandson to do some
thing" to "go out and change the
world" His grandson, however, is
for the time being too busy loving
a girl ne cannot marry and too
unhappy about it to bother about
remaking the world.
The old philosopher commits sui
eide that his grandson may inherit
his insurance and marry on it. To
him life has become empty and I'M
bearable after his daughter, in a
fit Of tantrums, broke his favorite
monograph records. Only then the
young man begins to see the light
and solemnly resolves to read grand
pas books and see what could be
done about changing the world.
"A WAKE AND SING" is not a rev.
n dictionary play, yet its social
blues" are affecting. A deep going
dissatisfaction pervades the lives
of m ost of the characters.
Something big ought to be done
to abolish the blues, something like
an amendment to the constitution, "
says the young woman who married
a man she did not love. If you give
these words a "higher" meaning you
Just about have Odets' basic idea.
In Awake and Sing" this idea is
diffuse and incoherently expressed,
but it has ripened and found its
bhrningly eloquent expression two
years later in Waiting for Lefty. !"
In the matter of live, f1avorsome
dialogue and unhackneyed three
dinensional character portrayal this
play is even richer than the racy
drama of the taxi strike. Here and
there the Clever lines" come peril
ously near wise-cracking but most
Of the humor and happy phrases
proceed from character and situa-
1 ton.
In the direction the play is de-
cidely inferior. 1t is cluttered ur
with messy naturalism, sinking tc
the low level of actually pouring
out soup and things like that. Aron-
sons set, while routine in style is
dexterously designed and affords a
good frame for this domestic drama
but it is used badly for the purpose
of giving the play theatrical form
Clurman's direction is routine, litera
and all around shabby. 1t is not Of
the Group Theatre stamp.
Stella Adler's compelling perform
ance as the harrassed mother Of
the Berger family is marred by q
cheap Jewish tone typical of the
worst acting of Second Avenue. II
is really a pity that Miss Adler;
brilliant work in this part should
have such an unlovely smear on it
Where were the directors ears?
Morris Carnovsky again establishes
his title to a place in the front row
of the acting profession His OLD
philosopher is a memorable per-
Torrance. Phoebe Brand and Jules
Garfield bring to the play something
of the same 'low brow" pathos OF
the two youths in Waiting fol
Lefty who find themselves "ur
against it," Luther Adler does ex-
ceedingly well in the part of the
somewhat romanticized racketeer
while j. Edward Bromberg acts the
part of the manufacturer with gustc
and humor. Art Smith, Roman
Bohnen and Sanford Meisner round
out cast that has hardly weak
spot in it.
But all told, Awake and Sing" is
a come-down for the Group Thea
ire They can and should do more
significant things. For all it's sin
certify and social implications, this
domestic drama is an unimportsn'
| play, whichever way you look at it