Evening star., 1937-08-08

THE two great instances Of modern
history wherein war and revo-
luton were followed by a true dra-
matte renaissance were, of course
Russia and Ireland. In Russia the
great events following 1917 resulted
in an immediate increase of interest
IN the theater and tremendous use
OF the stage as propaganda, two mat
tiers in which the Spanish have by
no means followed them, but it wes
not until the White armies had been
driven out that the theater really
had time for its great and apparently
now departed days. In Ireland Sean
O'Casey, who has made the greatest
dramatic use of a period of war and
revolution in the history of the
modern stage, did not emerge in
the days of actual warfare against
the British or between the Republican
and Free State forces, but immedi-
ately after them. A dramatist, no
matter how frey and impetuous he
may be, needs time to ponder and
gather together his resources. and
cannot be hurled headlong into his
task. Thus the drama is ALWAYS lust
little behind the times, although it.
usually makes up for lost months by
Its vlvldnesS and power. The modern
Spanish theater is by no means one
OF the great theaters, and it will be
interesting to see II the heroic il
tragic events the sons of Spain are
going through will not eventually
bring about new and more vigorous
spanish orama, just as they are bring
ing about a new and more vigorous
Spain.
Whenever you talk to any one about
the prospects Of the new drama he is
certain to shake his head saGly sno
tell you OF the loss suffered by Spanish
letters, and in particular the Spanish
drama, in the execution by the rebels
IN the early days of the revolt of the
poet Garcia Lorca. 1 have neither
seen nor read any of Garcia Lorca' 5
plays, and l understand that there
was still a certain youthful na'yete
10 MS works up to the time of his
death, IN Grenada, but it appears that
this versatile young man, who SEEM
lnsiy could do as many things in tie
theater as Noel Coward, showed eyerv
promise of becoming his country s
great revolutionary dramatist, and
that no one yet threatens his position
All fnp n0noont
only dramatic works with topical
revolutionary subjects are short plavs
that are written by Alberti and others
Tor the puppet stage These are pre-
sented about the country by studcn.
groups and it is conceivable that
mere may be the nucleus for The new
drama that should certainly emerge
eventually.
HIS expedition, incidentally. reached
Valencia several days ago after
an overnight train trip from BARGE
Iona. In normal times the journey
taxes about seven hours. but due TO
the necessities Of warfare We were
about double that time on the ROAD
1t was. however, an extremely COM
lor1aole trip, in best wagon Its
fashion, snd it proved, among other
thlngS that Spanlards still travel.
The train consisted of almost 20 cars
ana all of them were crowded. In Va
lencla 1t is much simpler to believe
that you are seeing a war than it is
IN Barcelona. where there still seems
to be something curiously distant and
detached about the public attitude
toward the struggle You see military
men everywhere, and there are indi-
cations of a whole -souled determina-
ton to win the war which does not
include the amount of talk about the
lockeying for position of political
parties that you still find In some
quarters in Barcelona And then, too,
the city seems so much more crowded
than Barcelona, which is natural,
since the population, which was about
100000 in prewar days, is now per-
haps triple that size But 1t Is the
single-mindedness of the city that is
most impressive
Among the various investigations
into the arts conducted by this de-
partment there has been one into the
matter of the proper dress for an early
morning air raid. I can repor. that
the clothing is highly informal, and
that coat slipped over a pair OF pa
Jamas is regarded as just the thing
A decided ease of manner that is by
no means f1attering to enemy s.viators
is likewise prevalent. Whereupon this
sets out tomorrow for the
heroic city of Madrid.