The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-18
Reviewed by
LEON ALEXANDER

Reviewed Dy
LEON ALEXANDER
WITH Recruits" the Artef showed
W what it could do with play
that required semi-stylized acting
and direction. Given now drama
of Psychological realism, they have
created a production that is aware
of every conflicting mood, every
subtle motivation of character. At
the same time, under the direction
of Benno Schneider, they have
fashioned an acting company that
is second to none in its individual
and ensemble playing.
"Dostigayev" is not so much the
drama of the onrushing revolution
as of the moral and cultural disin-
tegration Of a class. However,
though it plays but little part in
the physical action of the play, the
revolution is always present in the
minds and in the heartbeats of the
characters, an unacceptable, batter
ing torrent before which the world
of Dostigayev, the industrialist, is
crumbling.
The play takes place in pro-
vincial town of White Russia; the
time begins with July, 1917, The
collapse of the provisional Kerensky
government has begun; the revolu-
tionary stream is rising. The shadow
of the coming November is already
upon Dostigayev and his class.
It is at such times that the mettle
of man and of a class come
forth: in Ryabinin, NE Bolshevik,
determined will, quiet certainty,
faith and resolution; among the
bourgeoisie, the Nyetrashnis, the
Troyerukovs, the Lisonogoys, indie
cision, hysteria, selfishness, futility
and rampant brutality: the face
of the fascist beast which the So
Wet Union crushed, and which the
rest of the world allowed to breed.
Dostigayey, however, is intelligent
and shreWd. He has nothing but
contempt for the members of his
own class; he realizes the strength
of the BolSheviks; he wants to
compromise with them, to find a
"modus vivendr" with the onrush-
| ing revolution. 1t is his fate that
| the Revolution will not compromise
with him, will not be fooled by his
liberal pretenses. Ryabinin, whom
Dostigayev insists in calling, half
iestingly, half-respectfully: Com
rade Ryabinin," orders the arrest
of the industrialist And as the last
curtain falls, Dostigayev, cowed, his
subtle arguments useless, faces the
New Russia "a tall Red Guard,
good humored sure in his strength
and in his peasant common sense.
AS I have already stated, the pro-
n duction is an artistic triumph
| for the Artef. 1t is the first play
that L have seen this season in
which I find an unwavering unity of
conception that extends from the
written word to the acting, to the
direction, to the settings. The whole
is cast in one integrated mood,
bearing clearly the mark Of man
of culture as well as of a man of
the theatre. Under the direction
of Benno Schneider, the Artef is
the first of our revolutionary dra-
matte organizations to have at last
reached artistic maturity.
The settings are frankly theatre
cal, in the best sense of the word /;
they go beyond the merely repre-
Sensational and realistic to become
a carrier of the mood of the play,
and at the same time, like all good
settings, they never obtrude. The
use use of color is especially effec-
tive f1orid like the blotched face of
a drunkard and "gourmand" in the
first act, which is laid in the Mer-
chants Club; purple, red and green
lige a poisonous mushroom in the
last act, Dostigayev's drawing room
AS for the acting, it would prob
ably be unfair to choose anyone
for special commentator in cast
that is uniformly excellent. The
minor characters are given quick
life and reality by characteristic
make-ups, gestures, intonations-as
the Young Man in black shirt
IN. Schaff), the Young Man with
a notebook III. Bender M. Gold
STEMS Dostigayev is shrewd, not
without dignity, and projects ad-
mirably a sense of wasted power
The bafflement of the younger gen.
Grafton finds clealy individualizec
portrayal in the Shura of Amelia
Ballad, the Antonina of Bella Dorf-
man, the Taysia of Goldie Rusller
Among the revolutionists, Pyotl
Ryabinin is played with quiet au'
thority and an amused self-aSsur.
ance by M. Schneiderman; S. Levin
SIS the bearded Red Guard, has rich
muscular strength and a peasant
good-nature.