,transcriber's ,note ,italic text displayed as3 italic ,,by ,,kenneth ,,macgowan ,,the ,,theatre ,,of ,,to-,,morrow4 ,illustration3 ,the ,redoutensaal1 a great and splendid eighteenth-century ballroom in the ,hofburg in ,vienna1 with an arrangement of curved walls1 staircases and platforms newly built into one end4 ,here1 under the light of crystal chandeliers1 surrounded by the baroque beauty of ,maria ,theresa's palace1 audience and players unite in a relationship freed from all the associations of modern stage-setting1 a relationship essentially theatrical in the newest and the oldest sense of the word4 ,the stage is here shown cleared of all but a few chairs for the wedding scene in ,mozart's ,the ,marriage of ,figaro4 ,,continental ,,stagecraft ,,kenneth ,,macgowan ,,robert ,,edmond ,,jones ,illustration3 ,decoration ,,new ,,york ,,harcourt1 ,,brace ,,and ,,company ,,copyright1 #aibb1 ,,by ,,harcourt1 ,,brace ,,and ,,company1 ,,inc4 ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,of ,,america ,,to ,,the ,,playwrights ,,of ,,america ,certain of the chapters and illustrations of ,continental ,stagecraft have appeared in ,vanity ,fair1 ,the ,century ,magazine1 ,arts and ,decoration1 ,the ,bookman1 ,the ,theatre ,magazine1 ,harper's ,bazaar1 ,the ,theatre ,arts ,magazine1 ,the ,freeman1 and ,shadowland4 ,,prefatory ,,note ,this book is a record of impressions gained from ten weeks of travel through the theaters of ,france1 ,sweden1 ,germany1 ,czecho-,slovakia1 and ,austria during ,april1 ,may1 and ,june1 #aibb4 ,these impressions are partly reinforced1 partly orientated1 through previous visits to ,paris and ,london1 and through a long sojourn of ,mr4 ,jones in ,germany just before the war4 ,for the purposes of this book1 the journey excluded ,england1 because observation and reliable report showed little there that was not a faint echo of what was to be found on the ,continent4 ,russia was regretfully excluded for reasons of time and the difficulties of travel2 but fortunately we were able to see in ,stockholm a performance by the touring company of the ,moscow ,art ,theater4 ,though the most interesting evenings of our trip were spent in the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna1 and in the ,vieux-,colombier and the ,cirque ,medrano in ,paris1 the larger part of our time was passed in ,germany1 and the greater number of illustrations come from productions seen there4 ,in ,berlin1 in particular1 there were things to be seen which had been much discussed by ,american visitors--,masse-,mensch1 the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 and the work of ,leopold ,jessner1--and these1 we felt1 demanded lengthy study and analysis4 ,in our ten weeks ,mr4 ,jones and ,i saw close to sixty performances4 ,we had expected to find it difficult1 if not impossible1 to see in this time as much as we should have liked of the really significant new work of the ,continental theater4 ,but1 as it happened1 good fortune and the great courtesy shown us everywhere enabled us to see almost everything that we wished4 ,through special performances arranged by the managements of the ,royal ,swedish ,opera and the ,berlin ,volksbhne1 and by ,jacques ,copeau1 director of the ,vieux-,colombier1 we saw half a dozen most important productions which we might otherwise have missed4 ,luck and the repertory system found us at various ,german theaters in time to witness the most characteristic and significant work of the past few years4 ,finally1 we were fortunate enough to come upon two theaters--one accomplished1 the other potential--of extraordinary interest and importance1 which had not as yet been seen or discussed by ,american visitors1 the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna and the ,cirque ,medrano in ,paris4 ,continental ,stagecraft cannot pretend to be so exhaustive a study as a year's visit would have made possible1 but1 in view of the exceptional circumstances1 ,i think that it is more than proportionately representative4 ,with the exception of one sketch of a supposititious production in the ,cirque ,medrano1 the illustrations show exactly what we saw and nothing else4 ,mr4 ,jones's drawings are in themselves a kind of criticism which the modern theater stands much in need of4 ,they give the actual visual quality of the best productions on the ,continental stage far better than could photographs of settings and actors1 which are usually flashlights innocent of the atmosphere produced by the stage lighting1 or the designs of the scenic artists1 which are sometimes imperfectly realized and sometimes bettered in actual production4 ,mr4 ,jones made his drawings as soon as might be after the performance1 working from many rough notes made during the progress of the play4 ,they are1 ,i believe1 uncommonly true to the impression gained by the audience4 ,my only reservation would be that they catch the scene and the lighting always at the best moment1 and1 through the quality of the drawing1 they sometimes add a beauty that is perhaps a little flattering to the original4 ,the text is a collaboration in ideas1 though not1 with the exception of the captions under the pictures1 in writing4 ,it is a compilation of our impressions1 reactions1 and conclusions4 ,because the words are my own1 ,i have taken the liberty of the personal pronoun 8,i0 when 8we0 would be editorially pompous or inexact4 ,the book began as an attempt to supplement the ,international ,theater ,exhibition held in ,amsterdam and ,london during the first half of #aibb4 ,this large1 varied1 and arresting collection of sketches and models showed the art of the theater largely as it existed in the imaginations of the stage designers4 ,many of these sketches were for productions never made1 some had been greatly altered for better or for worse in the course of production4 ,it was our feeling that we might be able to add something to the knowledge which this important exhibition was spreading abroad if we could make some record1 however incomplete1 of the actual accomplishment of the artists upon the stage1 and particularly of the directors and actors1 who1 after all1 have the major share in the art of the theater4 ,we have seen so much that is interesting1 so much that is significant1 and a few things so stimulating and inspiriting1 that we have been tempted often to push our report of impressions into an anticipation of future progress4 ,we have1 ,i fear1 substituted our own imaginations in many places for those of the artists of the ,international ,exhibition4 ,,kenneth ,,macgowan4 ,pelham ,manor1 ,n4 ,y41 #a ,august1 #aibb4 ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,page ,,prefatory ,,note vii ,,chapter ,i4 ,,beyond ,,realism #c ,some dull definitions4 ,realism of the flesh vs4 ,realism of the spirit4 ,in ,the ,cherry ,orchard ,tchehoff and the ,moscow ,art ,theater reach reality4 ,a mystic picture of life beyond our ,realism4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,living ,,stage #ag ,the art that lies closest to life4 ,because its materials are living men and women1 it should not seek the illusion of reality4 ,its object is to achieve the ,form of life4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,path ,,of ,,the ,,play #bg ,from ,realism through ,expressionism4 ,the attempts of ,ibsen1 ,tchehoff1 ,wedekind1 and ,strindberg to reflect the ,form of life4 ,the expressionist movement in the ,german theater2 its violence1 morbidity and failure4 ,its arresting significance4 ,some examples of its vitality4 ,expressionism and the unconscious ,through ,form to beauty4 ,,iv4 ,,black ,,curtains #dj ,the place of ,germany in the theater4 ,its pioneering past and its natural virtues and failings4 ,a beaten and bruised people that still makes a fine audience4 ,berlin becomes ,broadway-ized and morbid4 ,economy breeds simplicity4 ,a new day dawns on a black-curtained stage4 ,v4 ,,the ,,twilight ,,of ,,the ,,machines #ed ,relics of the past which was once the future4 ,the abdication of the designers1 ,stern and ,roller4 ,reinhardt seeks a new way out4 ,linnebach1 apostle of the machine1 turns apostate4 8,einfach0 and 8,podium0 the catch-words4 ,stage machinery sinks into its place4 ,the designer replaces the mechanician4 ,,vi4 ,,light ,,as ,,setting #fh ,from ,appia's theories of the 'nineties to the day of projected scenery4 ,lamps of six thousand candle-power4 ,color comes under control4 ,the dome no longer a sky2 a neutral boundary in ,jessner's ,othello1 a void in ,masse-,mensch1 a wall to be painted with light in a ,stockholm ballet4 ,settings projected by ,linnebach and ,hasait4 ,light as a dramatic motif4 ,,vii4 ,,the ,,german ,,actor #ha ,the effect of the war on the ,german players4 ,the break-up of ,reinhardt's exceptional company under the pressure of war and the motion picture4 ,the ,festspiel brings them together again4 ,ensemble persists in ,vienna and ,munich4 ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity as played at the ,burgtheater in ,vienna and at the ,vieux-,colombier4 ,the players of the ,munich ,state theaters4 ,teutonic vitality and intensity which often become violence4 ,,viii4 ,,new ,,acting ,,for ,,old #ia ,four styles of acting3 ,impersonation by wigs and spirit1 as practiced by the ,moscow ,art ,theater4 ,impersonation by type-casting4 ,the exploitation of personality by great actors4 ,presentational acting1 and the expository performances of the ,vieux-,colombier4 ,,ix4 ,,the ,,reinhardt ,,tradition #ajf ,in the search for the director who can fuse the new acting and the new play we come first upon ,max ,reinhardt4 ,his past and his present4 ,his virtues and his faults4 ,powerful theatricalism in the best sense possible in the old theater4 ,his influence and his followers4 ,his future4 ,x4 ,,the ,,artist ,,as ,,director #aah ,the advent of the artist in the theater1 a functionary unknown to ,molire or ,shakespeare4 ,the designer as an originator of directional ideas4 ,the inevitable union of director and artist1 in the sceneryless theater of the future4 ,,xi4 ,a ,,new ,,adventure ,,in ,,direction #acj ,the methods of the director of the ,state ,theater in ,berlin4 ,the steps and levels upon which he moves his players in three-dimensional compositions4 ,how he creates effective pictures and significant groupings in ,richard ,,iii1 ,othello and ,napoleon4 ,distortion of natural action to make points4 ,the motionless actor4 ,arbitrary lighting4 ,a4 ,b4 ,c4 conceptions and limited vision4 ,,xii4 ,,masse-,,mensch--,,mob-,,man #add ,jrgen ,fehling of the ,volksbhne adds understanding to ,jessner's freedom and vigor4 ,a drama of industrial revolution produced in abstract terms and made immensely moving4 ,scenery almost disappears and a workmen's hall becomes a flight of steps surrounded by blackness4 ,arbitrary light and a chorus that speaks as one4 ,audience1 players and play pass through the black purgatory of revolutionary ,germany4 ,,xiii4 8,,the ,,theater ,,of ,,the ,,five ,,thousand0 #aeg ,reinhardt's ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 the gigantic compromise between the ,greek ,theater1 the circus and the realistic stage1 in which he made his last effort towards a new type of production4 ,the failures of the building architecturally4 ,its virtues and its possibilities1 which the withdrawal of ,reinhardt has left unrealized4 ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,theater ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,hundred #aga ,jacques ,copeau's ,thtre du ,vieux-,colombier in ,paris4 ,the naked stone stage with permanent setting which ,copeau and ,jouvet created in their search for a playhouse that should give the actor full freedom4 ,three productions3 ,les ,frres ,karamazov1 ,le ,paquebot ,tenacity1 ,twelfth ,night4 ,the quality of writer or expositor in ,copeau's performances4 ,the future of this theater4 ,,xv4 ,,the ,,redoutensaal--,a ,,playhouse ,,of ,,permanence #ahd ,the ,redoutensaal of ,marie ,theresa converted by the ,austrian government into a theater without proscenium1 machinery or scenery4 ,audience and actors lit by crystal chandeliers and surrounded by ,gobelins and a permanent setting of baroque architecture4 ,mozart and ,reinhardt bring to it an old and a new theatricalism4 ,the principle applied to the stage and the plays of to-day4 ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,cirque ,,medrano #aih ,the little circus on ,montmartre as a presage of a theater in which the audience will surround the players and gain a new relationship with the play4 ,the attempts of ,reinhardt and ,gmier at the circus-theater4 ,hamlet or ,masse-,mensch in the ,medrano4 ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,old ,,spirit--,,the ,,new ,,theater #bac ,seeking both the new theater and the old spirit1 ,reinhardt invades the church4 ,the ,cuckoo ,theater4 ,religion in the terms of the theater a thing of vital and creative spirit in ,greek times and in the ,middle ,ages4 ,can the artist of the theater bring it out of our material age8 ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,in ,,color ,the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna ,frontispiece ,,facing ,,page ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped--,a ,pitoff ,production #bd ,die ,meistersinger--,setting by ,roller #ef ,faust--,a ,reinhardt ,production ,designed by ,stern #ajh ,samson and ,delilah--,setting by ,grnewald #abj ,richard ,,iii--,a ,jessner ,production ,designed by ,pirchan #adj ,masse-,mensch--,a ,fehling ,production ,designed by ,strohbach #aef ,the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna--,scene from ,the ,marriage of ,figaro #ahf ,,in ,,half-,,tone ,the ,cherry ,orchard--,a ,stanislavsky ,production #aj ,mrder1 ,hoffnung der ,frauen--,setting by ,sievert #cb ,der ,traum1 ein ,leben--,setting by ,strohbach #dd ,macbeth--,an ,andr ,production #ed ,der ,schatzgrber--,setting by ,pirchan #fj ,das ,rheingold--,setting by ,linnebach and ,pasetti #fd ,das ,rheingold3 ,valhalla #gf ,maria ,stuart3 ,westminster--,a ,weichert ,production ,designed by ,sievert #aab ,maria ,stuart3 ,fotheringay #aad ,samson and ,delilah--,setting by ,grnewald #abb ,uncle ,vanya--,a ,pitoff ,production #abd ,napoleon--,a ,jessner ,production ,designed by ,klein #abf ,othello3 ,before ,brabantio's ,house--a ,jessner ,production ,designed by ,pirchan #abh ,othello3 ,the ,handkerchief #acj ,othello3 ,cyprus1 the ,castle #acb ,othello3 ,roderigo ,is ,wounded #acd ,richard ,,iii--,a ,jessner ,production ,designed by ,pirchan #acf ,richard ,,iii3 ,richard and ,his ,shadow #ach ,richard ,,iii3 ,richmond and ,his ,army #adb ,richard ,,iii3 ,richard's ,soliloquy #add ,richard ,,iii3 ,richmond's ,soliloquy #adf ,masse-,mensch3 ,dream-picture1 a ,courtyard--,a ,fehling ,production ,designed by ,strohbach #adh ,masse-,mensch3 ,the ,revolutionists' ,meeting #aej ,masse-,mensch3 ,the ,rallying #aeb ,masse-,mensch3 ,the ,machine ,guns #aed ,the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus3 ,an ,impression #afd ,judith--,at the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus #afh ,les ,frres ,karamazov--,a ,copeau ,production ,designed by ,jouvet #agd ,le ,carrosse du ,saint-,sacrement--,a ,copeau ,production ,designed by ,jouvet #ahj ,the ,redoutensaal3 ,a ,scene from ,the ,barber of ,seville #aij ,the ,cirque ,medrano3 ,an ,impression #bjf ,the ,cirque ,medrano3 ,a ,supposition #bjh ,,continental ,,stagecraft ,,continental ,,stagecraft ,,chapter ,i ,,beyond ,,realism ,it is a pity to begin a book by being dull4 ,but a time of change is upon us in the theater1 and a time of change is a time for definitions4 ,we have passed through such times before1 and we have come out after some years--a century or so--with categories neatly fixed4 ,we can look back along the history of ,english literature and place a judicial finger there and there and there and say ,middle ,english1 ,classicism1 ,romanticism4 ,all this is pretty well set4 ,then we come to ,realism and its quagmires--quagmires of balked creation and quagmires of discussion--and we wallow about gesticulating and shouting and splashing the mud into our immortal eyes4 ,what is this bog we have been so busy in8 ,and what is the fitful and rather blinding storm of illumination which plays about the horizon and calls itself ,expressionism8 ,of course these things are just what we care to make them4 ,various parties to the argument choose various definitions--the kinds that suit their themes4 ,i claim no more for mine than that they will make clear what ,i am talking about1 and save a certain amount of futile dispute4 ,there are plenty of sources of confusion in discussions about art4 ,to begin with1 it is not an easy thing to limit a dynamic organism by definition4 ,creative efforts in drama1 fiction or painting run out of one category and into another with distressing ease4 ,more than that1 there are apt to be many parts to a whole1 many divisions to a category2 and the parts or the divisions can be extraordinarily different4 ,finally1 fanatics and tea-table gossips are equally unscrupulous when it comes to 8proving0 a point4 ,they make the definitions of friends and foes mean what they like4 ,they take the part for the whole1 the division for the category4 ,they pin down a lively and meandering work of art at just the place where they want it4 ,two disputants1 bent on exhibiting the more indecent side of human intelligence1 can make the twilight of discussion into a pit of black confusion4 ,let us bring the thing down to the present quarrel in the theater3 the quarrel with ,realism1 which has moments of clarity2 the quarrel with ,expressionism1 which is murky as hell4 ,what are we going to mean when we talk about ,realism8 ,so far as this book goes1 the word ,realism means a way of looking at life which came into vogue about fifty years ago4 ,it sees truth as representation4 ,it demands a more or less literal picture of people and happenings4 ,it insists that human beings upon the stage shall say or do only those things that are reasonably plausible in life4 ,resemblance is not always its end1 but resemblance is a test that must be satisfied before any other quality may be admitted4 ,realism is not1 of course1 a matter of trousers1 silk hats1 and machinery4 ,the realistic attitude can invade the sixteenth century1 as it does in ,hauptmann's ,florian ,geyer4 ,trousers1 silk hats1 and machinery can be the properties of a non-realistic play like ,o',neill's ,the ,hairy ,ape4 ,the test of ,realism1 as the term is here employed1 is the test of plausibility3 ,would men and women talk in this fashion in real life under the conditions of time1 place1 and action supplied by the playwright8 ,it is the business of the realistic playwright to draw as much as possible of inner truth to the surface without distorting the resemblance to actuality4 ,there should not be a great deal to quarrel about in such a definition of ,realism1 though its adherents may deny hotly the natural assertion that the method of ,realism is barren either in whole or in part4 ,at any rate1 people generally understand what the row is about1 and the disputants can kick up only about so much dust on this battle-field4 ,non-realism is another matter4 ,that the thing is the opposite of ,realism is obvious in just one respect3 ,it does not admit the test of resemblance4 ,it denies in the theater1 as furiously as do the works of ,czanne or ,picasso in the picture gallery1 the validity of representation4 ,but what will it substitute for the technique of ,realism and what will it call the substitute8 ,it will go back to romantic periods for a free technique1 but it will look forward for its materials along paths which psychological research has lately opened to men and women outside the ranks of true poetic genius4 ,by this it may arrive at the inner truth of ,shelley and ,goethe1 ,shakespeare and schylus1 while it sacrifices the outer truth of ,ibsen and ,bataille1 ,pinero and ,galsworthy4 ,the question is both of technique and of materials1 for an inner truth is to be found in a study of the unconscious mind which will not brook the obstructions of actuality and resemblance4 ,inner truth is so much more important than actuality that the new type of drama will not bother itself to achieve both1 and if one must infringe on the other--which must happen in almost every case--then it chooses quickly and fearlessly the inner truth4 ,to give this anti-,realism a name involves confusions dear to the heart of the controversialist4 ,to give it the name ,expressionism multiplies these confusions4 ,yet it is hard to see any alternative at the moment4 ,we must embrace the name--and the confusions4 ,the chief confusion is due to the fact that there are two kinds of ,expressionism1 as there are doubtless two kinds of ,realism4 ,there is the larger and there is the smaller4 ,realism can be a mere technique--resemblance2 and it can also be a resemblance through which you catch a vision of the soul4 ,expressionism can be seen by the friends of ,realism only as the narrow1 neurotic1 violent1 and formless art which displays itself in the dramas of the new ,german writers like ,georg ,kaiser4 ,i should be prepared to defend this sort of ,expressionism against the ,realism of ,augustus ,thomas or even of ,john ,galsworthy2 but ,i should not admit that it was the end of the reaction against resemblance4 ,expressionism may be applied--and for the purposes of this book it shall be applied--to the whole tendency against ,realism1 just as ,romanticism is applied to the whole tendency against ,classicism4 ,many who dislike ,realism and neurotic ,german ,expressionism equally1 prefer to give the form they seek some such well-worn and inoffensive label as ,poetry4 ,this finickiness doesn't matter--except as it admits new confusions and dodges the issue4 ,this issue is plain and should be kept plain4 ,realism1 in any but a very extraordinary sense1 is a cramp upon art4 ,instinctively artists of the theater are beginning to recognize this and to seek some way out4 ,this involves new qualities in the play4 ,for practical purposes let us call the way of escape ,expressionism4 ,some other term may establish itself in the course of years1 but for the moment this is all we have4 ,it is fairly easy to apply these terms and definitions to the current theater--if you are not too doctrinaire or too partizan4 ,realism yawningly enfolds ninety-nine out of a hundred playwrights4 ,maeterlinck and ,d',annunzio require a little special attention and ,shaw and ,barrie raise nice points4 ,but1 in general1 the distinction holds2 resemblance shepherds the realistic plays1 emanations of the unconscious guide us to the expressionistic4 ,even the purely representational performances which most of our actors and directors give do not always succeed in hiding the cleavage4 ,the most startling and disturbing experience that any friend of ,expressionism can have is to sit through a performance of ,tchehoff's ,the ,cherry ,orchard by the ,moscow ,art ,theater--even by that portion of ,stanislavsky's celebrated company which was cut off by ,wrangel's army while playing in ,southern ,russia and compelled to tour ,europe for two years before repatriation was possible4 ,here is a play of a generation ago written by the man whose dramas were the cornerstone of success for the world's greatest realistic theater4 ,it is a genre study almost without plot3 decayed aristocrats1 old servants1 newly-rich peasants and the incident of the sale for debt of an ancestral property4 ,there is no more violence in it than the violence of life which rots an oak4 ,there is no more distortion than is to be expected in light reflected from the troubled surface of life4 ,and it is played with an almost utter perfection of realistic detail1 complete impersonation1 and rounded ensemble4 ,yet if this is ,realism we have never known ,realism in our theater4 ,it carries us through life and out on the other side4 ,it drenches us with a mystic sense of existence4 ,and when we read the text of the play and separate it from the extraordinary emotional actuality of the performance1 we discover again and again and again speech that drives straight at free expression instead of resemblance1 and action and character permeated with an almost religious symbolism4 ,all this fused by playwright and players into what seems a work of the most perfect resemblance1 but what is actually only the appearance of appearance4 ,the surface of the play is the surface of life4 ,mme4 ,ranevsky has returned to her estates after a turmoil of years in ,france4 ,there are the usual appendages3 a daughter1 an adopted daughter1 a governess1 a housemaid1 a major-domo1 and a man-servant who have grown into the life of the house1 a brother1 an old1 impoverished friend1 a village clerk with his eye on the maid-servant1 an up-and-coming merchant whose grandfather was a serf on the estate4 ,these people talk a great deal1 and in talking they make certain matters plain4 ,one of these is that no one can save the estate1 the beautiful cherry orchard1 from the consequences of the family temperament4 ,madame and her brother have always spent their money as becomes gentlefolk1 and some one has forgotten the secret of how the cherries used to be dried and sent to the markets of the far cities every year4 ,they flounder about in self-deception1 always hoping for succor1 never willing to accept the scheme of the friendly merchant for cutting the estate up into villa lots1 and never able to do anything themselves to save it from the auctioneer4 ,ultimately the merchant buys it in1 and in blissful callousness puts the ax to the trees as the family leave the old house4 ,out of these people and their dilemma rises the most curious and moving symbolism4 ,a suggestion of symbols1 rather2 for there is nothing bald about it4 ,truths of ,russian temperament1 even ,russian politics1 are figured with the hidden yet revealing quality that so often rises out of life like an odor from old fields1 freighted with memories and anticipations4 ,perhaps the simplest and most moving example of this comes at the very end of the play4 ,through it all has moved a mumbling1 bent old man who has been the loving guardian of the household for two generations1 one of those rare and ancient servants who1 by sheer servility1 have lifted themselves out of servantage and into a share in the family life4 ,in the end1 the house is sold1 the furniture removed1 the shutters closed4 ,the family depart4 ,then into the dim room comes the old man1 forgotten4 ,he totters across to the derelict sofa that has been left behind4 ,he curls up on it like some old leaf4 ,there in the darkness he dies4 ,the soul of old ,russia4 ,illustration3 ,realistic production at its best4 ,the final moment of ,tchehoff's ,the ,cherry ,orchard as produced by the touring company of the ,moscow ,art ,theatre4 ,the ancestral house has been sold1 curtains and pictures have been taken down1 the furniture is shrouded4 ,the shutters are closed4 ,the lights are so dim that the room is no longer a room but a vague1 brooding presence4 ,the old servant gropes his way through the darkness1 crawls upon the couch and dies4 ,as the old man dies something occurs that gives us all the license we need in order to see in other portions of the play methods and attitudes far indeed from ,realism4 ,the stage directions read3 8,a distant sound is heard1 as if from the sky1 and the sound of a string breaking1 dying away1 melancholy40 ,it is a sound that occurs also in the second act1 unexplained1 ominous4 ,symbolism4 ,arbitrary and very expressive sounds from heaven4 ,is it at all surprising to find the characters of this play indulging in lengthy accounts of their lives without taking the least trouble to find some stranger who might plausibly be ignorant of it all8 ,perhaps this is ,realism1 perhaps not4 ,certainly it is both sharp with actuality and mystic with life's intensity as these ,russian players act it4 ,the company did not contain the greatest of the group which ,stanislavsky has gathered about him since he opened his theater in #ahig4 ,the director himself was not there to play the maundering brother4 ,on this night ,kachaloff was out of the cast4 ,but ,mme4 ,knipper1 the widow of ,tchehoff1 played ,mme4 ,ranevsky1 and ,p4 ,a4 ,pavloff played the old servant4 ,how many of the other players acted parts long familiar to them ,i cannot say2 but their work gave the impression not only of exceptionally fine individual performances but of an ensemble long and lovingly built up into perfection4 ,it is an old clich as well as a sad comment on acting as an art to say that a player does not play a character but literally is the character4 ,in the case of this company from the ,moscow ,art ,theater1 there is a deep intensity in the performance and a frank desire for absolute impersonation which make such a comment on their playing of ,the ,cherry ,orchard the obvious and revealing truth4 ,it is a comment that applies to the ensemble as much as to the individual acting4 ,the wedding of an utterly realistic performance with a play of mystic overtones is justified by the sense of an old and complete life which both possess4 ,the intimacy of the actors with one another is as evident as the intimacy of the characters they play1 and the intimacy of masters and servants in this ,russian family4 ,the welcome of the mistress on her return may be a matter of the clever rehearsal of off-stage noise--amazingly clever1 you can believe2 but when this adoration comes out of the wings and walks upon the stage1 it is seen as the perfection of emotion and impersonation4 ,a performance in so foreign a tongue as ,russian gains because our eager imagination is at work to interpret in the acting the gaps left by the lack of words4 ,it also loses1 because the meaning of the play is not always there to show the linking of character and character1 and of incident and incident2 great spaces of action are blank and without emotion2 we carry away fewer and shorter memories4 ,how many and how continuous1 however1 are the memories of this performance1 and how piercingly keen are the sharpest of them6 ,mme ,knipper3 a welling flood of emotion at the old nursery of her childhood2 blind affection for the lovely1 ancient orchard2 childlike prodigality in her gesture as she scatters money that might once have saved the estate1 followed by childlike penitence2 and then the moment when she hears at last that the orchard is sold1 when her ability to ignore and forget slips from her and she turns old before our eyes4 ,pavloff1 prince of impersonators of old men1 hobbling about the room2 a bent and shuffling figure eternally mumbling1 eternally nursing2 a watery-eyed kiss for madame's hand1 a pat for the twisted collar of the brother1 a touch to the turn of a curtain2 an old1 old1 devoted shape speaking its fullness of character in every movement4 ,other figures almost as fully felt and seen4 ,each one doing the least little thing with an arresting significance4 ,here for once are actors who realize the importance of crossing a stage1 as a display not of themselves but of their characters4 ,here1 equally1 are actors who have got by all the small egoisms of their kind4 ,it is said that ,stanislavsky found his players among artists1 writers1 students1 shopkeepers1 anywhere but in 8the profession40 ,at any rate in twenty years he has made them into selfless but distinguished parts of a new organism4 ,their intimacy as people must be as great as the intimacy which they give their characters on the stage4 ,they are an orchestra2 their playing is a music1 a harmony4 ,they seem to have lived into this play in the eighteen years that they have given it until now they are part one of another4 ,it does not matter that some may have had their rles only five years1 perhaps only five months4 ,they are enveloped in the mother-liquor of this mature1 well-aged performance4 ,you recall the stew that ,anatole ,france described3 8,to be good it must have been cooking lengthily upon a gentle fire4 ,clemence's stew has been cooking for twenty years4 ,she puts into the pot sometimes goose or bacon1 sometimes sausage or beans1 but it is always the same stew4 ,the foundation endures2 this ancient and precious foundation gives the stew the quality that in the pictures of old ,venetian masters you find in the women's flesh40 ,such ,realism as this of the ,moscow ,art ,theater compares most curiously with the best we know of realistic acting in the productions of ,david ,belasco and ,arthur ,hopkins4 ,it has the care and minuti of ,belasco sharpened by far greater ability on the part of players and director1 and mellowed by time4 ,it has the naturalness of ,hopkins2 but1 because it is secured by deliberate direction and not by the indirection of the ,american's method1 the naturalness fits into a general design and is never slipshod4 7,so far ,stanislavsky denies life and its accidents67 ,it is1 of course1 worse than futile to compare such acting with our own for any purpose but understanding4 ,we cannot achieve a performance of this kind so long as we have no permanent companies1 no repertory system4 ,it is not alone a matter of the leisurely method of production which ,stanislavsky can employ1--months spent in study of the script1 long readings and discussions over every character4 ,repertory keeps the actors playing a piece for years4 ,they are not repeating themselves evening after evening with mechanical devotion4 ,they come back to the play from other parts4 ,they see it anew4 ,if it is such a piece as ,the ,cherry ,orchard1 they plunge into its depths with a sense of refreshment4 ,they are the parts of a whole which they can never greatly alter1 but which they can enrich by new contributions4 ,we have1 then1 in this performance an almost perfect example of minute and thorough ,realism1 fused into something beyond ,realism through its union with a play distinctly expressionistic in certain qualities4 ,it would be easy to see how frank1 non-realistic acting could be applied to ,the ,cherry ,orchard4 ,it is1 in fact1 very hard to see how the players can act some of the speeches as they do1 notably the descriptions of themselves and their lives which the governess and ,madame ,ranevsky furnish to fellow-characters fully acquainted with all they say1 characters who very rightly pay not the slightest heed4 ,if ever a player had an opportunity to bridge directly the gap which has existed between stage and audience for the past fifty years1 and to present emotion as simply and honestly and theatrically as do the gravestones in ,spoon ,river1 it is the actress who plays the governess4 ,she begins the second act with the following speech1 virtually a soliloquy1 to which none of the others on the stage pay the least attention1 even the attention of boredom3 ,i have no proper passport4 ,i don't know how old ,i am2 ,i always feel ,i am still young4 ,when ,i was a little girl my father and mother used to go about from one country fair to another1 giving performances1 and very good ones1 too4 ,i used to do the salto mortale and all sorts of tricks4 ,when papa and mamma died1 an old ,german lady adopted me and educated me4 ,good6 ,when ,i grew up ,i became a governess4 ,but where ,i come from and who ,i am ,i haven't a notion4 ,who my parents were--very likely they weren't married--,i don't know4 ,i don't know anything about it4 ,i long to talk so1 and ,i have no one to talk to1 ,i have no friends or relations4 ,is this ,realism8 ,is it ,expressionism8 ,is it something between1 some ,realism of the ,spirit opposed to the ,realism of ,flesh which we know8 ,can we say that we know true ,realism of the ,flesh as yet8 ,even if we do know it in a few fugitive productions1 are we ready to give up not only such ,realism but also the possibility of deeply moving performances like this of ,the ,cherry ,orchard1 and to go seeking a fresh and debatable thing far on the other side of experience8 ,if we are1 it is because1 we see that such perfection as this of ,the ,cherry ,orchard is a very rare thing for which we pay with hours of the commonplace1 and because we recognize that when a play reaches such spiritual quality it has traveled so far from ,realism that the journey is almost over4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,living ,,stage ,there is something in the nature of the theater that makes ,realism a natural and a thoroughly unsatisfactory method of expression4 ,its principal material1 the actor1 is too near actuality4 ,it is no triumph of art to make a flesh-and-blood man named ,grant ,mitchell into a flesh-and-blood man named ,andrew ,lane4 ,especially when the heart of the whole business is an elaborate pretense that there really isn't any actor1 and there really isn't any theater1 and we are really looking through the fourth wall of a room in the next village4 ,obviously no other art is so close to life or so quick with life's vitality4 ,literature uses printed signs of a very arbitrary and formal nature1 which we translate into words forming ideas and mental pictures1 which1 in turn1 may suggest human beings and their emotions4 ,music employs sounds some of which faintly suggest bird-notes or the rumble of the heavens1 but none of which comes within shouting distance of the human voice4 ,painting has pieces of canvas and lumps of colored clays1 and these it arranges in patterns1 through which1 by custom and habit1 we are able to gain an impression of a curiously flattened life4 ,even sculpture1 literal as its rounded1 three-dimensional shapes ordinarily are1 must use the intermediary of clay or rock4 ,the theater is the one art that works in the materials of life itself4 ,it employs life to render life4 ,painting1 architecture1 and sculpture may supply a background to the actor1 but the actor is the center of the play1 and when he speaks the words of literature he speaks them as the actual human being from whom they are supposed to come4 ,the actor brings the theater far too close to life to please some of its great lovers4 ,the actuality of the actor affrights them4 ,gordon ,craig1 once an actor and always a true partizan of the theater1 has felt this4 ,he has found the actor too much a piece of life1 too much a creature of the emotions of existence1 and too little an impersonal and dependable tool of the artist4 8,the actions of the actor's body1 the expression of his face1 the sounds of his voice1 all are at the mercy of the winds of his emotions40 ,he is not clay1 he is not stone1 he is not curves of ink1 he is not arbitrary sounds produced from wood or brass4 ,he is life itself1 and a very irregular and undependable part of life4 ,therefore1 says ,craig1 the thing that the actor gives us is not a work of art2 8it is a series of accidental confessions40 ,now the contrast between the pliant and well-behaved clay and the intractable actor is interesting4 ,and there is a certain significance in the fact that when ,craig describes the work of the actor as a series of 8accidental confessions10 he uses a phrase which would delight the harshest of the realists--the writers who practised ,naturalism1 the literal transcription of the irregularities of life4 ,but the issue goes deeper4 ,the actor is essential to the theater4 ,he cannot be turned out for a glorified puppet1 an ,ubermarionette4 ,but perhaps he can be told that he is far too near life and its accidents to spend his time imitating them4 ,to give us life and its significance the dramatist1 like workers in the other arts1 needs an intermediary4 ,if the actor is not a true intermediary1 because he is a part of life1 the dramatist has only to see that he can go beyond the actuality of the physical actor to ,form4 ,with the creative vitality of the living actor to awaken us and make us sensitive and responsive1 the dramatist may strive to reach beyond outward truth to that inner truth which presents itself to us in deliberate and natural arrangements of life4 ,it is no easy thing to tell what is meant by the word ,form when we take it past the idea of the design of things in a literal sense1 and apply it to significance in the design of life4 ,but it is easy to say that ,form has nothing whatever to do with representation or illusion4 ,as ,clive ,bell points out in his book ,art1 in which he makes a brilliant plea for what he calls 8significant form0 as the test of visual art1 the fact that a thing is representative1 does not at all suggest either the presence or the absence of ,form4 ,it does not preclude its having ,form just as it does not in the least assure it4 ,the theater will always have the physical body of the actor1 and to that extent it will always be representational4 ,but that is certainly all it need have of illusion4 ,what the actor says and the atmosphere in which he appears may be absolutely non-representational4 ,even his physical body1 as he uses it1 may take on qualities outside and beyond illusion4 ,it remains the dramatist's special business to master the extremely difficult task of fighting through to ,form while retaining the realistic technique1 or else--which seems far better--frankly to desert ,realism1 representation1 illusion1 and write directly in significant terms1 no matter how unplausible they may be4 ,after all1 common sense sees that it is better to concentrate all of an artist's technical energies on the major thing he wishes to accomplish4 ,bell says of the men and women of the future3 8,when they think of the early twentieth-century painters they will think only of the artists who tried to create ,form--the artisans who tried to create illusions will be forgotten40 ,it is equally true that the artist who tries to create illusion is more than likely to forget to create ,form4 ,now creating ,form does not mean hiding the actuality of the actor under strange robes4 ,there seems to be a curious notion abroad that the alternative to ,realism is ,romance4 ,it is true that in trying to escape out of ,realism a number of playwrights have avoided reality and wandered into the never-never-land of ,thalanna and ,kongros4 ,it is also true that modern sciences1 history1 archeology1 and psychology1 have made the past new and real and alive again1 and that certain playwrights have seen in the rejuvenated ages a chance to escape the realistic and to attain more permanent values4 ,but it is not true that the present offers smaller opportunities4 ,expressionist playwrights have already shown this conclusively enough2 witness ,eugene ,o',neill's ,the ,hairy ,ape4 ,theatrical history has never been as popular with theatrical reformers as it should be4 ,it shows not only that the realistic technique is a matter of the last half century1 and that the greatest periods of the theater's history were non-realistic4 ,but it shows also that even when ,realism was an impossible idea1 and when expressive1 significant ,form was the only thing at which the playwright aimed1 the theater and its audiences usually lived frankly and healthfully in the present4 ,greek tragedy1 to be sure1 was not a thing of the present--except in the reality of its religious emotion4 ,its heroes came out of the past4 ,they did not talk or act like the ,athenians that watched them4 ,they even dressed according to a set convention of their own4 ,in every way the ,greek tragic theater embraced ,form1 directly and naturally4 ,it was in the temperament of the ,greeks4 ,their sculpture was realistic to a degree never before reached and not surpassed in physical truth to-day2 yet from these statues we gain a sense of ,form far more significant than the sense of life which they give us4 ,representation was not an end to the ,greek artist4 ,the dramatist of ,athens felt no desire to 8humanize0 his heroes or to make them like the people about him in any particular4 ,the drama was religious in origin and had not yet grown temporal4 ,so long as the ,greek mind had its fondness for ,form1 there could be no demand for the smallest actuality4 ,but man's natural fondness for 8humanness0 and 8recognition0 found plenty of opportunity for expression after the passing of the great ,greeks4 ,and it was satisfied in almost every case without breaking in too sharply on the heart of the drama1 expression of ,form4 ,the medieval religious drama was both religious and temporal4 ,the saints were very much of the times in clothes and in habits4 ,the ,bible characters lived the lives and wore the garments and exercised the minds of people of the ,middle ,ages4 ,shakespeare dipped back into history and into romance1 too1 but his ,italian nobles dressed like ,londoners1 his ,roman 8mechanicals0 were ,british workmen1 and his ,athenian yokels came out of the ,english countryside4 ,molire 8modernized0 the ,roman rascal ,phormio into the ,neapolitan rascal ,scapin1 and the ordinary ,parisian gentleman served him for ,alceste4 ,phdre and ,iphignie were not so very ,greek4 ,in ,england tragedians played ,shakespeare in the costumes of their own day down through ,garrick1 ,siddons1 and ,kemble4 ,and do you imagine that all this had the slightest effect on the plays1 any bearing on their expression of the inner ,form rather than the outward shape of life8 ,in spite of the flesh-and-blood actor1 clothed in the costumes of the time1 the playwright was saved from mere representation1 from all this peep-hole business of ,realism4 ,doubtless he was saved because the temper of his time was not corrupted and twisted and tortured by the unholy union of science and capitalism4 ,but it is rather interesting to remember that the actors appeared in theaters so utterly unreal1 so essentially theatrical1 that nobody could imagine for a moment that he was standing with his eye glued to a chink in the fourth wall4 ,the theaters of the past united the temporal and the eternal1 the passing moment and the permanent ,form partly in innocence1 and partly from a natural ability to understand things better in their own terms4 ,we1 too1 can grasp more of the ,form of life if we see it derived from the life we know4 ,but this does not mean that the ,elizabethans had the slightest interest in the thing that has absorbed our stage--plausibility1 representation1 resemblance4 ,to-day we are beginning again to desire reality of soul instead of mere reality of body4 ,we want to know about our own time and our own people1 but we don't give a hang to learn how imperfectly1 how haltingly1 a modern1 realistic ,hamlet would express his thoughts on suicide4 ,it is easy enough to see how much ,shakespeare's greatest tragedy would have lost if he had written like a ,galsworthy4 ,poetry of word is not the only thing that would have gone by the board4 ,poetry of idea would have disappeared1 too4 ,more than that1 the ability of a character to express himself would have been hideously confined within the formula of plausibility4 ,perhaps so great an artist could have written his tragedy without permitting a single person to speak an inner thought that time and circumstance could not bring out1 but ,i am a little inclined to doubt it4 ,and ,i am very much inclined to assert that the vitality and the effectiveness of such a work of unnatural and straining effort would have been nothing beside the vitality and effectiveness of the ,hamlet we know4 ,illustration3 ,george ,pitoff's arrangement of ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped in ,paris4 ,the stage is draped in black curtains4 ,narrow scarlet ribbons looped from the proscenium arch indicate a circus tent4 ,the actors make their entrances and exists from behind a huge circus poster1 which is changed from act to act4 ,for twenty years the ,european stage has struggled over the problem of plausibility and resemblance in setting4 ,the thing called the new movement in the theater has spent half the time devising mechanisms and technique for achieving genuine representation instead of the bastard thing that tried to make a dining room out of badly painted and flimsy canvas4 ,and it has spent about half the time trying to get rid of this machinery and this technique in order to escape the ,realism which demanded such things4 ,in ,stockholm you see the touring company of the ,moscow ,art ,theater playing realistic plays in just the sort of ugly1 cheap1 old setting that ,craig1 ,reinhardt and ,belasco equally set their faces against4 ,in ,dresden you see ,shaw's ,pygmalion played at the ,state ,schauspielhaus in settings as solid and illusive as stone and wood4 ,in ,paris you see the ,russian ,georges ,pitoff giving ,andreyeff's ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped in black curtains with four ribbons looped up to indicate the form of a circus tent1 and ,tchehoff's ,the ,seagull in settings which go back to the old flapping canvas flats again1 admitting that the theater is a place of pretense1 and which then attempt--not very successfully--to give these flats1 in color and outline1 the ,form of the play4 ,still further along the way from ,realism to an expressionist stage1 you find ,copeau's naked stage in ,paris that unites frankly with the auditorium1 and changes very little from ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity to ,les ,frres ,karamazov4 ,finally in ,vienna1 you find1 in the ,redoutensaal made from the ballroom of ,maria ,theresa's palace1 a theater without proscenium1 machinery or scenery1 a theater where the actor is frankly the actor4 ,here you have the culminating expression of the growing sense in ,europe that1 because the stage is so close to life in the presence of the living actor1 it need not and it must not attempt to create the illusion of reality4 ,through such a conception the theater is freed once more to seek the ,form of life4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,path ,,of ,,the ,,play ,the story of the attempt of the theater to escape from ,realism is a curious story4 ,as a deliberate effort of the playwrights to see life in the terms of ,form instead of accidental actuality it goes back only half a dozen years through the dramas of the ,germans who adopted the word ,expressionism to describe their aim and technique4 ,it has hung potential for ten or fifteen years in the work of the more advanced and philosophic designers and directors of the new stagecraft1 a waiting stimulus to the playwrights4 ,as an unconscious impulse to reach beyond the limits of ,realism its beginnings are to be traced back twenty1 thirty1 almost forty years in the work of some of ,europe's ablest realists4 ,the two greatest figures in the modern theater--which is the realistic theater--give the same demonstration of the limitations of ,realism1 and turn in the same fashion away from actuality and towards an intense spiritual vitality4 ,both ,ibsen and ,strindberg come out of ,romanticism into ,realism1 and pass on into a ,symbolism that is far on the way towards ,expressionism4 ,in ,ibsen the new tendency is clearly marked in ,the ,wild ,duck 7#ahhd7 and develops gradually through ,the ,master ,builder 7#ahib7 to completion in ,when ,we ,dead ,awaken 7#ahii74 ,strindberg's ,towards ,damascus 7#ahih7 carries strong hints of the spiritual intensity which threatened the outer reality of so many of ,strindberg's earlier plays2 and by #aijb1 in ,swanwhite and ,the ,dream ,play1 he is well embarked on a type of non-realistic drama which finds a bizarre culmination in ,the ,spook ,sonata in #aijg4 ,two other ,european playwrights of distinction--,tchehoff and ,wedekind--show a similar dissatisfaction with pure ,realism1 though neither passes through the three stages of development to be traced in ,ibsen and ,strindberg4 ,the work of ,tchehoff and the work of ,wedekind is all pretty much of a piece4 ,it is never wholly realistic in the narrowest sense4 ,each has a peculiar quality and method throughout4 ,tchehoff1 beginning in #ahif with ,the ,seagull1 keeps to a ,realism of such intense spiritual truth that1 in a performance of his ,the ,cherry ,orchard by the ,moscow ,art ,theater such as ,i have described1 its extraordinary virtues are the virtues of ,expressionism4 ,wedekind's first play1 the thesis-drama ,the ,awakening of ,spring1 written in #ahia1 is stamped with his curious and violent intensity1 and his sense of the spiritual overtones of life4 ,in #ahie and #aijc he produced in the two parts of ,lulu--,erdgeist and ,pandora's ,box--dramas horrifically actual in their pictures of sexual aberration and at the same time so intense psychologically and so sharply defined and apt in action that their ,realism treads close on the boundaries which ,expressionism has over-passed4 ,there is a curious distinction in end and means between such plays as these of ,ibsen1 ,strindberg1 ,tchehoff1 and ,wedekind1 and the newer expressionist dramas of ,germany and ,america4 ,the earlier plays indulge in symbolic1 fantastic1 deeply spiritual ideas1 but their language is almost always highly realistic4 ,they are still bound to the past of their authors and to the present of their theater4 ,the newer expressionist dramas1 on the other hand1 are as free in speech as they are in idea4 ,it is a freedom that often makes a harmonious wedding of end and means4 ,sometimes1 as in plays of ,der ,sturm group1 the language is so completely free from the bonds of actuality that it approaches the onomatopoetic verse of ,mallarm depending on sound for its sense4 ,in ,eugene ,o',neill's distinguished piece of ,expressionism1 ,the ,hairy ,ape1 the playwright strikes a happy medium with speech which is realistic and characteristic in idiom but which is developed in idea1 intensity and length of utterance clean past the possibilities of the people of the play4 ,occasionally you find a pseudo-expressionist piece like ,vatermord1 by ,arnold ,bronnen1 whose action is naturalistic--grossly naturalistic--but whose language is often far from natural4 ,this piece was first produced in ,berlin in the summer of #aibb when the mind of the ,german capital could safely be described as neurotic4 ,its subject matter--the incest and patricide of the dipus complex1 with a little adventitious homosexuality1 all circling about a boy in his 'teens--produced a stormy session between adherents and opponents1 a session finally ended by the ,schutzpolizei with rifles and the command3 8,sei ruhig1 meine ,herrschaften60 ,the run which followed at one of the theaters formerly directed by ,max ,reinhardt may be explained by the notorious subject matter1 but there were critics to assert that ,bronnen had a style of considerable power as well as novelty4 ,the boy's final speech1 as he staggers onto the stage from an inner room1 where he has killed his father1 and rebuffs the passionate entreaties of his mother1 is translated from the printed version1 retaining the one form of punctuation used1 the slanting dash to indicate the end of a line1 though not necessarily of a sentence3 ,i'm through with you _/ ,i'm through with everything _/ ,go bury your husband you are old _/ ,i am young _/ ,i don't know you _/ ,i am free _/ ,nobody in front of me nobody next to me nobody over me father's dead _/ ,heaven ,i spring up to you ,i fly _/ ,it pounds shakes groans complains must rise swells wells up springs up flies must rise must rise ,i ,i bloom ,before such an arrangement of words ,the ,spook ,sonata seems almost mid-,victorian4 ,the ,student speaks to the ghostly ,milkmaid in the most matter of fact fashion4 ,even the old ,mummy1 the mad woman who always sits in a closet1 talks like a most realistic parrot when she is not talking like a most realistic woman4 ,here it is the ideas that stagger and affright you1 the molding minds1 the walking ,dead1 the cook who draws all the nourishment out of the food before she serves it1 the terrible relations of young and old2 all of them are things having faint patterns in actuality and raised by ,strindberg to a horrible clarity4 ,to follow the banner of ,expressionism in playwriting--,i say nothing of stage setting1 for that is1 happily1 another matter--requires all three ,graces and a strong stomach4 ,the bizarre morbidity1 the nauseating sexuality1 the lack of any trace of joy or beauty1 which characterize the work of most of those who labeled themselves expressionists in ,germany during the past few years1 match ,strindberg at his unhappiest1 while the vigor with which they drive their ideas forth in speech far outdoes him4 ,expressionism1 in the narrow sense in which such plays define it1 is a violent storm of emotion beating up from the unconscious mind4 ,it is no more than the waves which shatter themselves on the shore of our conscious existence1 only a distorted hint of the deep and mysterious sea of the unconscious4 ,expressionism1 as we have so far known it1 is a meeting of the fringes of the conscious and the unconscious1 and the meeting is startling indeed4 ,germany's reception of the expressionist plays was open-minded1 as is ,germany's reception of almost all new effort4 ,the dramas of the best of the expressionists--,georg ,kaiser and ,walter ,hasenclever--were produced in leading theaters1 on the official stages of ,dresden and of ,frankfort1 and in ,reinhardt's playhouses1 for example4 ,but by the summer of #aibb they had disappeared from the very catholic and long-suffering repertories of these houses1 and while ,wedekind and ,strindberg were produced from ,stockholm to ,vienna1 the simon-pure expressionists1 the playwrights of what ,i think it is fair to call the lesser ,expressionism1 were hardly to be seen4 ,only the one-act opera1 ,mrder1 ,hoffnung der ,frauen1 a composition by ,paul ,hindemith on a playlet by the artist-author1 ,oskar ,kokoschka1 was being played4 ,this piece1 produced at the ,city ,opera ,house in ,frankfort1 points an interesting union and parallel between at least one sort of ,expressionism and music4 ,the action1 passing in some indefinite olden time1 is symbolically very difficult--quite as difficult as its title1 ,murderer1 ,hope of ,women4 ,the emotion of the scenes1 on the other hand1 is clear enough1 and it receives from the music a background of color1 a tonal reinforcement1 that is most welcome2 at the same time the composer finds in the vigorous and intense1 if somewhat arbitrary1 feeling of the playwright a provocative challenge4 ,illustration3 ,a setting by ,ludwig ,sievert for ,mrder1 ,hoffnung der ,frauen1 an expressionistic opera by ,kokoschka4 ,ramps lead from the center of the stage to raised platforms right and left4 ,dark walls rise at the back1 broken by triangular entrances at either side and by a grilled doorway in the center1 flanked by tall triangular pylons of red-orange4 ,kokoschka himself designed a setting for ,mrder1 ,hoffnung der ,frauen when it was first produced at the ,albert ,theater in ,dresden as a play4 ,a photograph of the production betrays an uneasy setting1 hardly stage-worthy in arrangement and composition1 and rather badly executed4 ,the pages of ,die ,neue ,schaubhne have shown several other expressionist stage designs as unsatisfactory1 but in the more widely known productions these pieces have been lucky enough to fall into the hands of first-rate men like ,adolf ,linnebach of ,dresden and ,ludwig ,sievert of ,frankfort4 ,sketches made from ,linnebach's production of ,hasenclever's ,jenseits in ,dresden show a simple and effective use of light and shadow and of little else1 with certain necessary elements of design projected by a sort of magic-lantern technique upon the background of dome or curtain4 ,in actual performance ,sievert's setting for the ,kokoschka opera is strong and arresting with dark surfaces massed in triangles symbolic of the feminine element dominant in the piece1 and with a successful1 if not very subtle1 use of red and red-orange on the pylon surfaces guarding the prison door4 ,the direction of the singers and chorus1 under the hand of ,dr4 ,ernst ,lert1 is a thoroughly expressive part of music and setting4 ,though the most celebrated plays of the expressionist pioneers have failed to make a place for themselves in the ,german repertory1 they have had their effect4 ,playwrights who might have written in the conventional mode have been turned towards a freer technique1 and they have succeeded in accomplishing interesting and promising things4 ,the most notable of the plays thus produced1 ,masse-,mensch1 deserves a chapter to itself4 ,i shall write here of two lesser works by ,karel ,capek1 one seen in the ,czech ,national ,theater1 where it was first produced1 the other read in a ,german translation4 ,in the first1 ,the ,insect ,comedy1 ,karel ,capek's brother1 a scenic artist1 has a share as collaborator4 ,it is a fantastic and picturesque piece of satire providing excellent opportunities for the newer methods in production4 ,it is a comment on post-war conditions as symbolized in the life of butterflies1 beetles1 and ants4 ,the prolog finds a young man wandering in the woods1 and puts him comfortably to sleep on a grassy bank after a little talk with an absurdly pedantical entomologist4 ,he sleeps through the three succeeding acts surrounded and occasionally disturbed by figures of insects grown life-size4 ,the first act passes with the brilliant butterflies1 who stand for the heedless1 unproductive men and women of the social and pseudo-artistic worlds with time for only chatter and flirtation while disaster rumbles beneath them4 ,in the production of this scene1 the rgisseur1 ,k4 ,h4 ,hilar1 keeps the players moving ceaselessly1 their hands and heads lightly undulating1 with the restlessness of the antenned world1 while high around the back of the scene various of the brightly costumed insects constantly dance behind the translucent curtain of the woods4 ,in the second scene the humble grubs crawl in and out of their burrows on busy errands of accumulation4 ,these are the assiduous profiteers and misers of war-time society4 ,the act ends in a broad touch of comedy4 ,a beetle has been murdering passing insects and dragging their bodies down below for his wife to hoard4 ,there enters ,the ,parasite1 a tramp bug4 ,he does not work4 ,why should he8 ,he has only to wait for the busy capitalists of his world to fill their larders4 ,then1 when the time comes1 he will rise--or more accurately descend--and the wealth of the world will be his4 ,he ducks into the beetle's hole1 and in a few moments he comes up1 a swollen and jovial ,communist1 dancing in glee4 ,the ever-present prompter's box serves conveniently for one of the holes1 and the background of green and black woods is projected instead of painted2 otherwise there is little of interest in the staging of this scene4 ,the third act carries us to the ants4 ,here are the eternal laborers1 tramping in an endless circle upon their work1 under the eye of superiors very like officers and to a rhythm beaten out by a more privileged one of their own number4 ,the ,capeks costume the army of ants in khaki1 puttees and all1 and provide a desolate hill for a background4 ,it might be blasted by either war or commerce4 ,into its surface descend shafts that might lead to either mines or dugouts4 ,a glowering background of crazy chimneys and telegraph poles and smoke--all projected on the cyclorama--completes the picture4 ,presently there come shouting and a courier4 ,more couriers4 ,war threatens4 ,the ants drop their burdens for rifles and continue their march4 ,the officer-ants assume a higher station and even loftier phrases of command2 from the back they philosophize and give orders in good old ,kaiser-fashion4 ,the act culminates with a conflict and the lordship of a new race of ants4 ,the epilog is divided between the appearance from her chrysalis of an ephemera of whom the sleeping man has been dimly and hopefully conscious in the last two scenes1 her death after a dance with other short-lived mayflies1 and the despairing end of the human visitor4 ,this end is commented upon in a half satiric and half aspiring vein through the introduction of a group of wanderers who come upon the dead body1 gaze at it in astonishment and sadness for a moment1 and then pass on1 singing1 upon the ever-creative way of the peasant4 ,r4 ,u4 ,r41 ,karel ,capek's other play 7in ,german1 ,w4 ,u4 ,r47 is a tale of a ,frankenstein such as ,h4 ,g4 ,wells might have written in his earlier days4 ,it seems both gruesomely effective and at times philosophic4 ,the letters 8,r4 ,u4 ,r40 are an abbreviation of the name of a firm engaged in manufacturing 8,roboters10 or workmen stamped out and given life by a machine4 ,after a not very skilful exposition of the nature of this new device for lightening the world's work1 the play passes on to show the degenerating effect upon mankind of ceasing to labor4 ,the 8,roboters0 are given pain in order to remind them not to be careless and break their legs and arms4 ,thereupon they acquire something not unlike a soul4 ,presently comes a consciousness of their station and their power4 ,they rise and kill all mankind--except one man4 ,later they find to their dismay that the secret formula of the materials from which they were stamped out has been destroyed4 ,they wear out in twenty years4 ,and there will be an end4 ,the last act shows their frantic appeal for a way to perpetuate themselves4 ,the one man finds it at last when he recognizes love awakening in a male and a female 8,roboter40 ,the process of mankind will begin once more4 ,rather the sort of end that ,anatole ,france would have put to the story--,frankenstein turned man4 ,none of this1 of course--either ,kaiser or ,capek--is ,expressionism very far on its way4 ,some of it is trivial4 ,some is interesting enough4 ,much is decadent or uncertain4 ,but it is not difficult to believe that there is something of the future in it4 ,it is a sign4 ,there is a starlike gleam in even the worst of the mire4 ,vitality1 though often a morbid vitality1 animates it4 ,when we see ,eugene ,o',neill saying ,nay to ,realism in the same fashion1 and turning out so strong and significant a play as ,the ,hairy ,ape--a play that grows greater in the perspective of ,europe--it is not very difficult to hope and to look forward4 ,in the artists who give ,expressionism a physical form and a pictorial atmosphere upon the stage we find still more of hope4 ,they have gone more quickly and more securely towards their goal4 ,they have had a disciplinary practice upon the plays of an earlier time1 a time before ,realism4 ,they are freed from the moral problems of the writer2 and where their work is distempered with the morbidity1 the unhealthiness1 of so much of our time1 the result is less obvious in color or design than it would be if it took the form of words4 ,and they have had behind them the history and the example of the movement in art which we once called ,post-,impressionism1 but which follows logically into ,expressionism1 the movement of ,czanne1 ,van ,gogh1 ,matisse1 ,picasso1 ,duchamp4 ,the problem for the expressionist play is the problem of music4 ,and yet not its problem2 for music1 being so markedly apart from actuality in its materials1 has made few and not very successful attempts at the ,realism which has swamped our stage4 ,music has been by very nature expressionistic4 ,it has failed whenever1 as program music1 it approached the suggestion of the actual4 ,for the rest1 it has soared1 soared easily1 surely1 towards direct expression of spiritual reality4 ,expressionism in the theater has to seek the way of music1 the way towards beauty and ecstasy4 ,the difficulty of the playwright is that he must always feel the pull of the actual life about him2 he must make his drama out of human beings and not out of pure vision or pure emotional response4 ,the world about him is corrupt and corrupting outwardly1 as well as beautiful and wonderful within4 ,he cannot1 like the musician1 leap away from its entanglements by putting his hands to an instrument of abstract art4 ,but he can gain a certain release by forswearing as much as possible the reproduction of the actual4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,black ,,curtains ,to-day we are thinking more and more of the future of the theater1 the future of the play and the playwright1 the future of production1 of direction and the actor4 ,if we are to think of the future to any effect1 we must think of the past as well as the present4 ,the path of to-morrow strikes off from the maze of to-day4 ,to guess at its direction with much chance of success1 we must look now and then at the map of the settled roads of yesterday4 ,if we want to estimate the chances of the non-realistic play to advance beyond its expressionist beginnings in ,germany1 we must try to understand the present state of the art of theatrical production1 and the past of play and players1 the theater and its stagecraft4 ,a share of the future--a very large share1 ,i believe--may lie with ,america2 but the past is ,continental4 ,and a surprising amount of the past is ,german4 ,the past of the play shows one interesting peculiarity4 ,the great plays of the romantic movement were developed where there were great theaters1 in ,france and in ,germany4 ,quite otherwise with ,realism4 ,its greatest works--the plays of ,ibsen and ,strindberg--were created in small countries almost outside the consciousness of the nineteenth century theater4 ,this was natural enough4 ,realistic plays were1 in the last analysis1 lonely literary rationalizations4 ,they were not theatrical4 ,they did not spring out of the theater4 ,instead they altered the theater to suit their needs4 ,the theater that they altered most was the ,german theater1 and there the dramas of the ,scandinavians found their best audience4 ,but the ,german theater1 being a healthy theater1 could not stop at the point where it became an almost perfect mechanism for presenting these plays4 ,its directors and its artists went on experimenting4 ,they had old plays to mount1 also1 plays out of the romantic and classic periods4 ,they put their brains and their machines at work upon these pieces1 as well as upon the realistic1 and soon they had developed methods of production for non-realistic plays quite as admirable for the purpose as any of their tricks for lifting the fourth wall before our very eyes4 ,the ,german theatrical organization became more and more restive under the realistic plays and the old 8classics40 ,it was preparing for something new4 ,the ,zeitgeist was working4 ,soon it began to work upon the playwrights4 ,there came abortive beginnings in the expressionist plays ,i have written about in the last chapter4 ,and the ,german theater went on--and goes on--experimenting4 ,let us look at this theater a little more closely4 ,for it is the ,continental theater to-day as it was yesterday2 ,france has only ,copeau1 ,england experiments in little theaters as ,america experimented ten years ago4 ,and where the ,continental theater is1 there we are very likely indeed to find the ,continental play of the future4 ,the expressionist drama1 like every school of drama except the realistic1 is a product of the theater in form and vitality1 quite as much as it is a product of society in its mind and materials4 ,the story of the artistic development of the ,german theater past the realistic stage is familiar enough4 ,it began in #aije1 it was fairly complete by #aiad4 ,it was founded upon ,gordon ,craig and ,adolphe ,appia1 and it is symbolized in the name of ,max ,reinhardt4 ,it made ,realism still for ,ibsen and ,strindberg2 but it plowed past the ,realism of ,otto ,brahm--which is the ,realism of ,belasco--and it achieved a pregnant actuality so direct and simple that it soon gave birth to a new imagination4 ,the new methods of production are fairly easy to grasp4 ,they rest on a few general principles4 ,the pretenses of the theater had to be successful pretenses4 ,to begin with1 certain tricks of the old theater were forsworn1 tricks in the main that failed to succeed4 ,such an obvious pretense as painted perspective had to go4 ,footlights had to be curbed2 for the illumination must be both more natural and more beautiful4 ,but1 beyond these negative things1 the directors sought to achieve positive effects for which they had to call into the theater artists of first-rate ability4 ,the business of these artists1 whether working on a realistic play or an imaginative one1 was to evoke the atmosphere of the piece in setting and in lights4 ,they fell back on three general principles to aid their sense of line and color in visually dramatizing the action4 ,in the first place they simplified the stage picture4 ,they subordinated or eliminated detail4 ,they put as little as possible on the stage that might distract the spectator from the meaning of the general design 7which was the meaning of the play71 or from the actions and speeches of the characters4 ,then1 by an adroit use of simple materials and forms1 they enriched the setting--along the lines of the play--through suggestion4 ,one detail suggested the nature of the whole4 ,the base of a huge column made the audience visualize for itself the size of the building4 ,half an arch springing off into darkness created the impression of a great vaulted structure4 ,finally came a synthesis of all the available and appropriate forces of the theater1 and of all the qualities of the play2 this implying for the director the establishment of a certain apt rhythm in the performance4 ,this pictorial reform1 backed by such direction and acting as the ,german theater alone was able to supply1 and utilizing all manner of mechanical devices for scene-shifting and lighting1 has stood to us for some ten years as the so-called new movement in the theater4 ,it has been familiar through the names of ,craig and ,appia as pioneer theorists1 of ,reinhardt1 and of artists like ,ernst ,stern and ,alfred ,roller2 through an occasional production from abroad1 like ,reinhardt's ,sumurn2 and1 at last1 through the exceptional work of our own artists in ,america and the men--from ,arthur ,hopkins to directors of little theaters--who have given them their opportunities or amplified their conceptions4 ,fringing the outside of all this in the past have been bastard minglings of old technique and new spirit1 such as ,bakst and the ,ballets ,russes displayed1 and the beginnings of theory and experiment leading towards a new--or a very old--sort of theater1 a theater cut off from the whole peep-hole convention of the proscenium and the fourth wall4 ,illustration3 ,the ,palace3 a setting by ,hans ,strohbach for ,der ,traum1 ein ,leben1 a fantasy by ,calderon4 ,columns of dull gold1 painted to suggest a spiral shape1 are spaced against a black curtain1 which is later drawn aside to reveal a blood-red sky4 ,in the foreground a group of plotting ,orientals4 ,the strength of this movement in ,germany lay partly in a very few talented directors like ,reinhardt and artists like ,stern1 but very greatly in the vigorous and healthy organization of the ,german theater4 ,because of the division of ,germany in small kingdoms and duchies1 there had always been many centers of artistic life1 each about a court in the capital4 ,in a score of cities1 enriched by industrial development1 there were theaters endowed by the state or the city1 and directed towards the highest artistic accomplishment4 ,in the larger cities privately owned theaters followed the lead of the public institutions4 ,the strength of these houses lay in their endowment1 their ideals1 and their system of organization4 ,this was the repertory system4 ,here1 as nowhere in ,england or ,america and only here or there in ,france1 were theaters directed by a single mind1 employing a permanent company of players1 maintaining a repertory of plays1 old and new1 given in recurring succession night after night1 theaters retaining therefore a permanent audience1 dependable both in pocketbook and in taste4 ,supplementing these theaters were organizations of playgoers among the middle and lower classes1 such as the ,freie ,volksbhne in ,berlin1 which widened the audience of subscribers to good work in the theater4 ,between endowment and the security of a permanent audience1 it was possible for these ,german theaters to give uncommonly fine performances at uncommonly low prices4 ,along with the development of new methods in production went a good deal of activity in theater building4 ,in practice1 as well as in theory1 ,max ,littmann and ,oskar ,kaufmann1 following ,schinkel and ,semper1 who had worked with ,goethe and ,wagner1 did much to improve the auditoriums of ,german theaters4 ,the result is not so marked as in the case of the scenic artists4 ,most of the theaters are old indeed and awkwardly shaped1 and too many of the new ones continue the tradition of a parquet surrounded and surmounted by three or four shallow1 horseshoe-shaped balconies4 ,these balconies are not so good to see or hear from as our own4 ,a realization of the awkwardness of these shelves or ,rangen1 as they are termed in ,german1 produced an opposition1 headed by ,littmann1 that called for their elimination and for the substitution of an amphitheater type of house with no balconies and with a steeper floor to allow of better sight-lines4 ,the fight of ,ring vs4 ,rang has resulted in several auditoriums designed by ,littmann1 the ,prinzregenten ,theater and the ,knstler1 for example1 in ,munich1 the slant of whose floors is far too sharp2 from the upper rows1 the players are seen as in some far-off pit4 ,the slant is greater than necessary1 and absolutely straight2 the practice of the ,american architect1 ,h4 ,c4 ,ingalls1 of grading the floor in a gradually increasing curve1 produces a far better effect4 ,a compromise between ,rang and ,ring might be found in a development of the ,american house with only one balcony2 a more steeply slanting floor than we ordinarily have would thus bring two amphitheaters or ,rings into a single auditorium4 ,germany possesses1 however1 some admirable playhouses in the ,kammerspielhaus formerly directed by ,reinhardt in ,berlin1 in the ,volksbhne designed by ,oskar ,kaufmann1 and in many features of the ,knstler ,theater4 ,the seating arrangements have formed one of the best features of the ,german houses4 ,the chairs are almost always too thinly padded2 but the elimination of aisles more than compensates4 ,the whole audience is united in a single responsive body4 ,and because each row is a little wider than ours and the side walls of the auditoriums are liberally supplied with doors1 the audience empties out more quickly than ours and in an orderly manner that puts ,american fire-regulations to shame4 ,i have seen the three thousand spectators of the ,volksbhne walk out in a single minute4 ,it takes from three to four for a small theater in ,new ,york1 seating only six hundred1 to clear itself4 ,a factor that has done a great deal for the progress of the ,german theater and the reputation of the new stagecraft1 is the liberal attitude of the ,german periodicals and publishing houses towards new things in the theater4 ,editors and writers have been so eager to present to the public every smallest reform in setting or theater that the world has gained rather an optimistic view of the extent of production progress in ,germany4 ,just as it is a fact that only in a few theaters will you find model auditoriums in ,central ,europe1 in a similar way you discover that the outstanding work of design before the war was done by two men1 ,stern and ,roller1 and that the other men whose names decorate the records of the new stagecraft were each responsible for only a few productions4 ,one thing further you may learn about the past of the ,german movement1 even in an investigation so late as the summer of #aibb4 ,and that is that the color in a great majority of the stage settings has been very far from good4 ,the ,german has an ear1 a very marvelous ear2 only the ,russian can approach him in music1 and it is not a near approach4 ,but his eye is bad4 ,germany has produced no first-rate artists except ,drer1 ,schongauer and perhaps ,cranach1 and ,drer and ,schongauer are celebrated as etchers rather than as painters4 ,that should have been caution enough for those of us who had to study the ,german stage at the distance of the half-tone4 ,the fact of the matter is that the ,german is a splendid theorist1 a man of large conceptions1 and that therefore in the theater he has been able to design settings of simple and excellent proportions1 which create a good effect in black-and-white4 ,it is his sense of color that is at fault4 ,stern1 with the mixture of the ,oriental in his blood which did so much for ,bakst1 and some of the artists from ,vienna and the ,south brought something to the stage besides dramatic imagination and sense of proportion4 ,the test of color downs the rest4 ,when we think of the future of the ,german theater we must naturally think of the present also1 and it is a black present4 ,germany has been shattered spiritually as well as economically4 ,it has fallen from dreams of world-dominion to bankruptcy and enslavement4 ,the effect of this upon the mind of the citizen who has come through four years of danger and privation1 is staggering4 ,one incident of the fall1 which you learn upon visiting ,germany1 is sharply significant4 ,until the soldiers from the broken ,german armies began to stream back into the ,rhine provinces in ,november1 #aiah1 the men and women behind the front believed that their forces were victorious4 ,it is possible for the theater to go on physically under almost any conditions of privation2 but you must reckon spiritually with an extraordinary state of the public mind when you prophesy the future of the ,german theater4 ,two things1 perhaps1 make optimism possible4 ,one3 ,germany and the ,german people have gone through terrible things before2 there was the ,thirty ,years ,war4 ,two3 ,germany still has the wonderfully trained audience of pre-war days2 it was a broad democratic audience1 and no shift in economic circumstances can destroy so large a part of the cultured playgoers as war-poverty has done in ,england1 in ,france1 and even to some extent in ,america4 ,war--backed by the movies--has done its worst in the ,berlin theater4 ,here we find another example of the exchange of ideals and personalities which has often been noted between victor and vanquished4 ,just as ,america has been ,prussianized in its attitude towards the foreigner and the liberal or radical minority1 ,berlin has adopted many of the most evil features of the ,american theatrical system4 ,within three years of the close of hostilities ,berlin was being rapidly ,broadway-ized4 ,repertory was practically dead at all but three or four theaters4 ,facing economic difficulties and the competition of the movies for the services of the actors1 ,berlin found it was a large enough city to support long runs for exceptionally great or exceptionally mediocre plays4 ,even the three theaters that ,reinhardt formerly directed broke from repertory1 and where they had once shown ten or a dozen productions in two weeks1 they showed only three or 7counting ,sunday matinees of some old favorites7 four4 ,outside ,berlin1 repertory continues in the ,state and ,city theaters and even in private ventures2 but many artistic playhouses are badly crippled by the economic troubles of the nation1 and some are forced to close down4 ,there are certain good signs4 ,the theaters were full in #aibb4 ,in fifty or sixty visits to the theater it was only at musical comedies that ,i saw more than one row of vacant seats2 in all but half a dozen cases every seat was sold and occupied4 ,the prices were not high4 ,in ,frankfort1 an average city of the larger size1 the highest prices ranged from sixty marks 7at that time twenty cents7 to one hundred and twenty marks1 depending on the expensiveness or the popularity of the production2 while the lowest prices for seats were twenty marks to seventy marks1 with standing room at six marks4 ,at such prices even full houses do not make budgets easy to balance4 ,the theater of post-war ,germany must be economical in its expenditures4 ,that is not1 however1 such an artistic hardship as much of the talk of elaborate machinery and handsome productions in pre-war days might suggest4 ,rigorous physical simplicity and a reliance on the genius of design instead of elaboration of mechanics are the vital needs in stage setting to-day4 ,germany has done fine things in the simplifying of production1 and it has done them in spite of the temptations of bulging pocketbooks4 ,what it may be forced to do now through poverty is a matter for real hope4 ,the danger--for there is a danger--is that smaller minds may find an excuse for a mean sort of simplicity1 a bareness and barrenness of spirit4 ,there has always been a tendency among the modern directors and designers to economize spiritually as well as economically4 ,the results have been seen in some of our dry1 meager 8little theater0 productions1 full of bare formalism--a sort of 8simplism0 that has no place in any art1 let alone in the live1 varied1 rich1 and vigorous theater4 ,occasionally a ,german artist of real talent falls into this thin manner2 ,ludwig ,sievert has mounted ,towards ,damascus at the ,frankfort ,schauspielhaus upon a scheme which is physically interesting1 but he has given his settings a mean1 arid1 spiritually poverty-stricken appearance which is never beautiful1 and does not express in the least the intense quality of ,strindberg's play4 ,the movies break up ensemble in ,germany1 and bear down on repertory4 ,they offer salaries that the actor1 impoverished quite as much as the worker1 cannot resist4 ,moreover they demand from him the daylight hours which must be given to rehearsals of old and new pieces if repertory is to exist4 ,the ,german actor cannot appear in a repertory theater in the evenings1 as our actor can appear upon ,broadway1 and put in his days in front of the camera1 as ours often does4 ,but--and this is highly important--the ,german actor has been trained in a school of ideals and self-expression which makes him demand more than the movies can give him4 ,he must have some sort of serious work in the theater1 and he is finding it more and more in special summer engagements or ,festspiele4 ,thus many of the greatest of the nation's players are often assembled at salaries which1 by comparison with their motion picture earnings1 are hardly salaries at all4 ,there remains the spirit of the ,german people4 ,the audiences are intact and intelligent1 but what about their spirit8 ,can these people live down their sufferings or lift them up to something great outside themselves8 ,the prospect is not so dark in the southern parts1 in ,bavaria1 perhaps2 it is certainly bright in ,austria1 where hunger and economic misery are the realest and where the divinity of the human spirit is asserted again and again in every happy gesture of this lovely people4 ,in ,berlin it is another matter4 ,spiritual dejection and gnawing misery are in the face of every one4 ,they are to be seen on the stage1 too4 ,berlin does not go to the theater to be taken out of itself2 it seems to neglect the prime use of art4 ,berlin demands an echoing misery from its playhouses4 ,it goes to see a blacker and more despicable ,richard ,,iii than ,shakespeare ever imagined4 ,it suffers the torments of disillusioned revolution in ,masse-,mensch at the working people's theater4 ,it throngs the glowering caverns of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus4 ,and everywhere the stage is hung in black curtains4 8,warum immer die schwarzen ,vorhnge80 we ask again and again4 ,perhaps they are only an accident of the attempt to get a background of emptiness2 but they become a yawning gulf of spiritual blackness4 ,the only colors to break the pall are the red of blood1 and the blue that strikes across the black a symbol of a sinister cruelty4 ,of course1 black curtains are no ,teuton monopoly4 ,when the ,russian ,pitoff uses them in ,paris1 when we see them on ,broadway and in our 8little theaters10 we do not look for the words 8,made in ,germany0 on the selvage4 ,but in ,germany they seem numerous and more significant4 ,if the curtains were sometimes dappled with gray or if they were opalescent with hidden lights1 they might be significant of nothing more than the ,germans' immensely active experiments with a formal stage4 ,perhaps bunte ,vorhnge are coming4 ,perhaps it is always a little dark before dawn4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,twilight ,,of ,,the ,,machines ,there are many things upon the ,german stage besides black dawn4 ,the twilight of the machines1 for instance1 and all the past of the new stagecraft lagging superfluous4 ,even the past of the old stagecraft4 ,in the same theater in ,frankfort where one of the three significant pairs of ,german directors and artists labors1 ,i have seen ,peer ,gynt given as incompetently as any patron of an ,american small-town stock company could demand4 ,the settings were hideous2 the same badly painted backdrop served for two or three scenes in different localities2 the revolving stage rumbled noisily and did nothing to shorten intermissions4 ,while the orchestra played ,grieg's introductory music in the wings and the stage was dark1 waiting actors1 who imagined that thereby ears as well as eyes were dimmed1 restlessly shifted from one foot to another in squeaky shoes4 ,at the beginning of each scene the lights came up like thunder4 ,through as many scenes as could be endured1 the same players who gave a sharp1 almost electric performance of ,maria ,stuart the next night1 acted ,peer ,gynt dully and sloppily to a running fire of assistance from the prompter's box4 ,it is worth remarking1 incidentally1 that the souffleur1 as he is euphemistically called1 is no necessity in the repertory theater4 ,he may give a complete and studied reading of the text one lap ahead of the actors in the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 the ,frankfort ,schauspielhaus1 the ,burgtheater in ,vienna1 the ,lessing ,theater in ,berlin1 and a dozen other first-class theaters2 but you don't hear his voice in the ,state ,schauspielhaus of ,berlin under ,jessner1 in ,copeau's ,vieux-,colombier in ,paris1 or during a performance of ,masse-,mensch at the ,volksbhne4 ,illustration3 ,the sleep-walking scene from ,macbeth as produced by ,harald ,andr at the ,royal ,opera in ,stockholm4 ,moonlight slants down through four tall windows making alternate bars of light and shadow1 through which moves the white-robed figure of ,lady ,macbeth4 ,the ,doctor and the ,gentlewoman are half-hidden at one side in the darkness of the foreground4 ,the past of the ,german stage is seldom slovenly1 but it is often disturbing4 ,to see in #aibb a setting by ,roller for ,die ,meistersinger is like encountering at a fashionable ,new ,york th dansant the girl you used to take to high school dances in ,st4 ,louis in #aijg4 ,the ,german stage is full of such disquieting reminders of juvenile infatuations2 ,sweden is not exempt4 ,the work of the pioneers and imitations of the work of the pioneers are still to be seen4 ,verdi's ,macbeth la ,craig at the ,stockholm ,opera2 ,the ,sunken ,bell at the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus with ,stern's hill from ,penthesilea2 ,reinhardt effects in ,maria ,stuart in ,frankfort2 good old ,russian painting in faked perspective in ,florian ,geyer in ,munich2 a wedding of ,heinrich ,leffler and ,maxfield ,parrish at ,dresden in the ,verdi opera which the ,germans so cheerfully translate as ,der ,troubadour2 the style1 if you can call it that1 of the ,washington ,square ,players in ,towards ,damascus in ,frankfort4 ,everywhere traces of ,reinhardt and ,craig and ,roller4 ,roller1 alone of the artists who were new fifteen years ago1 is still busy in the theater4 ,the mood he arouses is mixed4 ,it is thoroughly annoying to find him so unable to grasp the problem of setting in the remarkable new theater in the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna1 unable to see that the ,gobelins and the crystal1 the golden moldings and the rich baroque ornament of that marvelous room which is both stage and auditorium1 must set the style and color of the screens and formal set pieces of the stage4 ,it is a little sad to see ,roller trying in ,kain at the ,burgtheater to adopt the steps and black curtains and the one or two plastics of the newer and younger men4 ,when he is decking out some war-horse like ,die ,meistersinger in the good old style of the revolutionists of #aiaj1 you have to forgive him much1 even while you wonder at the limitations of so many of the stage designers outside ,russia4 ,take the first scene1 for example4 ,dramatically the thing is right in proportion and arrangement4 ,it is an interesting composition of wall spaces and doors1 which becomes all the more interesting when the director has arranged the many costumed characters in waves that ripple along the shore of the picture and roll up here and there about some promontory of the design4 ,but when you look away from composition to color1 you see a lack4 ,it is not the difficulty of bad color1 which besets most of the ,germans2 ,roller and ,stern generally escape that4 ,the fact of the matter is that there simply isn't any color--in spite of a furnace of dulled orange smoldering on the walls1 and some gray-greens damping it down for contrast4 ,this is not color in the sense that the ,russians know it4 ,roller does not think in color as does ,nicolas ,roerich4 ,what ,westerner does--or ever has8 ,roller thinks in line and mass and proportion4 ,then he goes to his paint-box1 and selects two nicely contrasting tones1 more or less appropriate to a large medieval building4 ,he never bothers his head over the dramatic problem of whether they mean anything in relation to the action1 or the artistic problem of whether he has made one of those subtle arrangements of many curiously harmonizing colors1 which1 in the alchemy of the eye1 take on a psychic significance4 ,illustration3 ,a setting by ,alfred ,roller for the first act of ,die ,meistersinger at the ,state ,opera in ,vienna4 ,an example of the purely decorative setting at its best4 ,such laggard things--the relics of ,craig-ideas and the work of various of the elder directors and artists--play a more or less normal part in the life of the ,german stage4 ,they would find a parallel in any age4 ,they know their place and keep to it4 ,something that is only just beginning to learn its proper and subordinate part in the advance of the theater is the far-famed stage machinery of ,germany4 ,it was the most natural thing in the world that the ,germans should turn their stage into a machine shop4 ,when they build one of their great five-story office buildings they begin by laying a railroad along two sides on the street level and another up in the air above it1 and putting in a traveling elevator1 dump-cart1 and crane that runs along on the tracks2 after they have this gigantic apparatus in order1 building the building is mere child's play4 ,der verrckte ,krieg was all that prevented the development of a most ingenious mechanism for erecting the erector that builds the building4 ,the ,german stage machine is a ,frankenstein stage-hand4 ,it is intended to do the work of scene shifting at great economy of effort and time4 ,actually the ,german theaters seem to employ more stage hands than the ,american theaters1 and the waits are no shorter on the whole than those we are able to manage if we want to4 ,there are two main divisions to the species4 ,lewis ,carroll1 listing the different varieties of ,snarks1 supplied a formula4 ,there are those1 it is said1 that are round and revolve1 and those that have rollers and slide4 ,the revolving stage--made famous by the cohorts of ,reinhardt--and the sliding stage--which includes a sinking variety4 ,the revolving stage has its furious adherents4 ,they include ,reinhardt1 ,stern1 who utilized its shortcomings quite as marvelously as its good points in his productions for ,reinhardt1 and the host of ,reinhardt disciples4 ,it came from ,japan in #ahif through ,lautenschlger of ,munich4 ,it is a great circle cut out of the stage floor and mounted on wheels so that it may be freely turned by hand or power4 ,the circle is from forty to sixty feet across1 and usually occupies the greater part of the stage space4 ,on it the different settings are placed back to back1 anywhere from two to ten fitting snugly together4 ,one after another of these settings is presented in the opening of the proscenium as the stage revolves4 ,it retains its reputation because it is the simplest and handiest scene-shifting machine to use with the great solid plaster dome which ,reinhardt and so many other directors found essential as a substitute for the flapping and wrinkling canvas sky4 ,the sliding stage pure and simple is just a couple of low platforms the size of that part of the stage usually acted on4 ,these carry the settings and slide out sideways into the wings4 ,while one platform is in front of the proscenium with the actors giving the play in its setting1 the other is being reset at the right or the left4 ,it is easy to see that these platforms cannot slide past either end of the plaster dome if it is far enough down front to be of any use4 ,the ,deutsches ,opernhaus in ,charlottenburg1 ,berlin1 gets around this by having the whole gigantic dome slide1 too2 hung from tracks and carrying its lights with it1 the dome is pushed back into the depths of the stage when the platforms at the front have to slide4 ,the amusing feature is that the present director of the theater has so little notion of what it is all for that in ,don ,giovanni he makes a number of changes by rigging his flats and drops on lines1 as we might do1 and hoisting them into the flies in full view of the audience on what is by a polite fiction called a dark stage4 ,all this whirling of palaces and scuttling of skies is child's play beside the sinking stage4 ,as developed by ,adolf ,linnebach1 technical director of the ,state ,schauspielhaus in ,dresden1 it almost defies understanding or description4 ,the simplest variety is to be found across the ,national ,gallery and the ,theaterplatz under the guiding and inventive hand of ,max ,hasait of the ,state ,opera ,house1 ,linnebach's great mechanical rival4 ,the stage of the ,opera is divided into seven sections from the proscenium opening to the spot a hundred feet back where the ,hinterbhne or auxiliary rear-stage begins4 ,these seven sections can rise some feet above the stage level or sink into the basement4 ,while the front sections are in the basement1 carrying a setting that has already been used1 the rear sections1 with another setting on them1 can1 by a complicated arrangement1 be rolled down on tracks to take the place of the front sections in the proscenium opening4 ,while the front sections are in the basement the setting upon them is changed2 the same thing happens to the rear sections when they are rolled back again4 ,the stage of the ,schauspielhaus is far more complicated4 ,it is divided in only three sections1 but when the two forward sections are in the basement1 sliding stages of the ordinary sort1 which rest upon them1 can be slid out to the sides for changes of scene4 ,on these sliding stages small 8wagon stages0 or mechanical stage hands operate1 carrying large pieces such as stairs and mantels into place4 ,under the orchestra pit at the front is another contrivance1 like a small stage on stilts1 which can be trundled onto the first sinking stage straddling the setting4 ,thus two stages are super-imposed1 and a sort of elevator stage produced1 such as ,steele ,mac,kaye once invented4 ,hasait is nursing a scheme for rearranging his sinking and sliding stages so that the seven stages may run forward1 sink to the basement1 slide back1 rise1 and run forward again in rapid succession like an endless chain4 ,the prospect is distinctly startling4 ,opponents of the new stagecraft have often claimed that the scenery ignores the actor4 ,with the sliding and sinking stage a little further advanced1 you can imagine the scenery taking a really furious interest in the actor1 pursuing him from floor to basement and back again4 ,you can imagine some new director working out a drama in which a cathedral chases an apostate priest about the stage1 or a phallic column pursues the heroine into the darkness of the cellar only to lose her as she rises triumphantly on the last of the seven mystic stages guided and blessed by that unique functionary of the ,german theater1 the ,obermaschineninspektor4 ,illustration3 ,der ,schatzgrber3 the cottage of the epilogue in ,schrecker's opera4 ,an extreme conventionalization of the old scenic materials4 ,the artist1 ,emil ,pirchan1 has indicated a cottage by the shape of the opening in the flat drop4 ,here1 design replaces machinery in securing a quick change of scene4 ,there are peculiar disadvantages to these expensive mechanisms4 ,the revolving stage simply can't handle certain scenes without ceasing to be a revolving stage4 ,it is impossible to use the entire width or depth of the stage for an exterior without shoving all the other scenes off the 8revolver10 and giving up its use4 ,all exterior scenes on the revolving stage have to go up over the rooms set at the back4 ,the western prairies and the ,north ,german sea coast are equally unpopular with the friends of the revolving stage4 ,the exceptionally fine production of ,masse-,mensch--with its various great steps the whole width and half the height of the stage1 alternating with flat open scenes--received almost no assistance from the 8revolver0 at the ,volksbhne in ,berlin4 ,the technical director1 putting this stage through its paces and exhibiting such amusing tricks as its ability to rise or sink some six feet at either end1 thus producing a slanting floor1 confessed that he much preferred some other type of stage4 ,the sliding and sinking stage has fewer disadvantages2 but it is an elaborate1 expensive1 and cumbersome machine to do the work that designers and stage hands might quite as well accomplish4 ,on the matter of expense1 it is disquieting to hear at a scene-rehearsal of ,das ,rheingold that one hundred and fifty men1 including electricians1 are busy with this labor-saving device4 ,it is still more disturbing to the machine-worshiper to time the intermissions in ,german theaters1 and to find that waits of from two to five minutes are quite as frequent as in ,america4 ,the explanation1 of course1 is the costumes4 8,the stage was all set in half a minute1 but we had to wait for the tenor to get into his blue tights40 ,it looks very much as if the ,maschineninspektoren should have introduced sliding wardrobes or adapted the harnessing devices of fire-houses before they put thousands of dollars into sliding stages4 ,the ,german technical men are beginning to chafe at the limitations of the machines1 to be content to push them into second place4 ,if you talk to ,linnebach1 at ,dresden1 once high priest of the sliding stage1 you will note with some surprise that the word einfach has a ,carolinian way of getting into the conversation4 ,things must be simpler4 ,no big solid sets2 instead1 some curtains and lights and a dome on which to project painted designs4 ,the word ,podium also crops out4 ,like almost all forward-looking artists and directors in ,germany1 ,linnebach wants to put the actor on a sort of tribune thrust out into the audience4 ,he wants to give him back the vital heritage of the ,greek and the medieval stages4 ,linnebach is content mechanically with the devices of the electrician2 when he mounted ,hasenclever's expressionist drama1 ,jenseits1 he made the setting out of light and shadow1 a few chairs and tables1 only one or two set pieces1 and some projected backgrounds4 ,machinery like the sinking stage has advantages apart from its ability to change heavy realistic sets4 ,it is difficult to see how the opening scene of ,shaw's ,pygmalion1 looking out to the street from under the portico of ,covent ,garden1 could be better created or more quickly shifted than in ,linnebach's production4 ,certainly without the ability to sink with ease the rear part of the stage three or four feet1 he could not have given us the natural effect of the street level below the eyes of the audience and the actors4 ,the great virtue of a mechanical stage of this kind is not to shift scenery1 so much as to supply economically and quickly different levels for the actors to play upon4 ,the use of levels is one of the important advances of the ,continental theater since the war1 and the sinking stage helps greatly with this4 ,with a few inner prosceniums and simple backgrounds1 it can supply1 as it were1 an infinite variety of formal stages such as the ,continental theater seems slowly to be tending toward4 ,illustration3 ,das ,rheingold3 ,alberich's ,cave4 ,a setting by ,linnebach and ,pasetti at the ,national ,theater in ,munich4 ,an atmospheric scene produced by lights playing across a frankly painted background which emphasizes the rocky converging lines of a cavern4 ,barring the realistic and the formal1 there is a middle ground in which the machine is of little value compared with the designer4 ,in ,linnebach's theater--though not from his designs--a ,hindu romance1 ,vasantasena1 was mounted frankly and freshly against flat settings in the style of ,indian miniatures4 ,this was accomplished1 without the aid of stage machinery1 by the use of a permanent setting or portal of ,indian design1 with steps and a platform1 on which1 framed within an inner proscenium1 drops and profiles were changed much as we would change them4 ,the artist1 ,otto ,hettner1 supplied a style1 as well as a formal stage1 which made the machine taboo4 ,working with ,pasetti at the ,national ,theater in ,munich1 ,linnebach accomplished the changes of ,das ,rheingold quite as easily4 ,in an older production at ,dresden1 under ,hasait1 the fields of the gods opposite ,valhalla were made of bulky platforms and plastic rocks1 which went rolling back behind the cyclorama while up from the basement came in one piece the cave of the ,nibelungen with its nooks and corners1 its overhanging ceiling1 and its whole equipment of plastic canvas rocks1 which might have come out of some cavern on a scenic railway4 ,in ,munich the simpler levels of the fields in the second scene served in the cave scene also4 ,they were lost in the shadows1 along with the side walls1 which were hardly more than masking curtains4 ,the rocky cave was suggested wholly by the backdrop4 ,this was painted in broken1 converging lines of rock formations4 ,because of the magic of light1 it did not seem like some conventional old backdrop4 ,the spirit of the theater as it has developed since the war seems to call upon the designer and rgisseur instead of the mechanician4 ,when artists were building heavy and cumbersome settings1 elaborate in physical proportions if not in design1 sliding and revolving stages were unquestionably necessary1 though we may well ask how much the presence of the mechanisms tempted the artists into such excess4 ,to-day1 however1 the setting is being stylized1 the stage itself made formal4 ,machinery becomes irrelevant4 ,copeau does not need it even for the realistic ,les ,frres ,karamazov2 the ,redoutensaal is almost too innocent to suspect its existence4 ,rgisseurs of the new sort want something more theatrical than a turntable that any round-house might boast4 ,the playwright works with the rgisseur and the artist to this same end4 ,while ,dorothy ,richardson1 ,waldo ,frank1 and ,james ,joyce are busy taking the machinery out of the novel1 the playwrights are making machinery unnecessary for drama4 ,they drop 8atmosphere10 and take up the soul4 ,they seek the subjective instead of the physical4 ,they want to thrill us with the mysteries and clarities of the unconscious1 instead of cozening us with photographic detail or romantic color4 ,for all this they need imagination in setting1 not actuality4 ,form carries the spirit up and out4 ,indications speak to it louder than actualities4 ,design1 which is of the spirit1 drives out mechanism1 which is of the brain4 ,the day of the machine is over in the theater1 the day of its domination at any rate4 ,for a time it looked as though the name of the old theater in the ,tuileries would have to be painted over every stage door in ,germany--,la ,salle des ,machines4 ,now the stage machine is sinking into its proper place--the cellar4 ,a new device is lording it in the theater1 but it cannot be called a machine4 ,the electric light is not a mechanical thing4 ,it is miraculously animated by something very like the ,life ,force1 and night by night its living rays are directed to new and unforeseen ends4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,light ,,as ,,setting ,in the 'eighties and the 'nineties1 when electricity came into the theater to take the place of gas1 light was only illumination4 ,by the first decade of the twentieth century it had become atmosphere4 ,to-day it is taking the place of setting in many ,continental theaters4 ,to-morrow it may be part of drama itself4 ,in #ahic a ,swiss doctor named ,adolphe ,appia published a little book in ,french on the production of ,wagner's music-dramas2 six years later he elaborated his ideas in a volume published in a ,german translation as ,die ,musik und die ,inscenierung1 the first and perhaps the greatest book of theory on the new art of the theater4 ,among other things1 he discussed lighting at great length4 ,he made a very important observation4 ,he noted that the lighting of the stage of his day was hardly more than mere illumination--something to make all objects equally bright and visible4 ,it was quite as necessary1 he believed1 to make certain objects more visible than others1 and to make them more living1 more dramatic4 ,at the time the lighting apparatus of the theater was crude1 because the electric light was in its infancy4 ,there were only small electric bulbs1 arranged in rows for footlights below and borderlights overhead1 to supply flat illumination1 and arc lights1 which were movable and could be made to 8spot0 out figures more brilliantly4 ,appia recognized in these last the means for making the figure of the actor brilliant and dynamic4 ,with his eye on these spotlights he made an unheard-of demand4 ,he asked for shadows4 ,he said that light and shade gave three dimensions to the player and three dimensions to the setting 7provided1 as he suggested1 the setting be made plastic instead of flat74 ,by means of light he wanted to link the living actor and the dead setting4 ,he went further than using shadows and animating the background4 ,he proposed that the play of light throughout an act should express the mood and action4 ,he wanted it to change with the development of the play4 ,he made elaborate analyses of the ,wagner music-dramas to show how the light could play a part--an active part--in the setting and the action4 ,during the next decade1 the beginning of the twentieth century1 an ,italian named ,fortuny began the first practical work of progress in stage lighting4 ,not very permanent work1 perhaps1 but certainly valuable because it struck out in new directions4 ,his devices have all but disappeared from the ,german theater2 but only because they have been replaced by improvements along the lines he indicated4 ,fortuny tried to improve the quality of the light by using indirect illumination4 ,he threw light from powerful arcs against colored bands of silk1 which reflected it onto the stage4 ,this had two advantages4 ,the light was diffused and broken up4 ,the color could be controlled at a distance by cords that moved the various silk bands past the light4 ,fortuny also tried to improve the surface on which the light fell4 ,he devised a domed silk sky or ,kuppelhorizont1 into which the greater part of his diffused light was thrown1 to be diffused still further4 ,incidentally he hoped to achieve a better sky-effect4 ,disadvantages hampered both his devices4 ,indirect lighting required far more current than direct and created a great deal of heat4 ,the dome was produced by exhausting air from between two curved surfaces of silk1 the outer one fastened to a folding frame of steel2 creases and joints showed in the silk and air was likely to leak in and collapse the sky4 ,in the course of another ten years engineering ingenuity supplied substitutes for both these elements of the ,fortuny ,system4 ,most important was the discovery of how to manufacture incandescent bulbs almost as powerful as arc lights4 ,such bulbs1 equipped with frosted glass and glass mediums or color screens1 could not only supply light sufficiently diffused in tone and under easy control1 but they also produced the shadows1 as well as the light1 which ,appia wanted4 ,the sky-dome became literally a fixture in the ,german theater when some one decided to make it out of plaster instead of silk4 ,to-day the high-powered bulb and the plaster sky are everywhere in the ,german theater4 ,schwabe in ,berlin and ,phillips in ,holland have succeeded in making bulbs of the enormous power of #c1jjj watts or #f1jjj candle-power1 bulbs about three times as strong as any incandescent lights used in ,america in #aibb4 ,the dome1 or some variety of it1 is found in practically every ,german theater4 ,linnebach estimates that there are twenty true ,kuppelhorizonts1 cupping the whole stage with a curving dome2 ten permanent ,rundhorizonts1 plaster cycloramas curving like a great semi-circular wall around the stage2 and thirty canvas cycloramas which are quite as large as the ,rundhorizont1 and some of which are so hung as to make a most convenient and efficient substitute for either variety of plaster sky4 ,the most interesting and significant departures in the use of light on the ,continental stage have to do with this substitute for the old backdrop4 ,it began as an imitation of the sky1 an attempt to put one more piece of ,realism into the theater4 ,it has got to the point now where its really interesting and important uses have nothing whatever to do with realistic fake-heavens4 ,it is being employed as a formal element in a stage design1 or else as a surface on which to paint scenery with light4 ,perhaps it was economy1 perhaps a flash of genius1 but it occurred to the ,germans that there was no particular necessity of lighting the dome or cyclorama4 ,in these huge stages it stands at least sixty or seventy feet back of the footlights4 ,it is possible1 therefore1 to make it a dim emptiness by merely turning off the lights that ordinarily shine upon it1 or to give it some vague neutral quality from the light upon the stage which is reflected onto the ,horizont4 ,in ,othello at the ,state ,schauspielhaus in ,berlin1 ,jessner uses his cyclorama1 an ordinary canvas one1 as a formal background bounding the space in which his strictly conventionalized indications of settings are placed4 ,thus it is in some scenes a pale neutral wall1 in some a curious violet emptiness1 in others a faintly salmon background1 in still another a yellow light against which figures move in tiny silhouettes4 ,at the ,volksbhne in ,masse-,mensch the dome becomes a misty void in one of the dream-scenes2 and then upon this void move vast1 mysterious shadows in circling procession4 ,shadows on the dome carry us to a final development of lighting in ,germany--the 8projection0 of scenery1 the substitution of light for paint as a means of expression4 ,many minds have worked and are working on devices to be used for this purpose1 but the most important mechanisms find their home in ,dresden at the theaters of ,linnebach and of ,hasait4 ,as might be expected1 ,linnebach's is the simpler4 ,he has a dome in his theater1 the ,state ,schauspielhaus1 and upon this dome or through varnished silk from the back1 he throws1 by means of a very simple lantern containing an arc light but no lenses1 the designs painted on glass4 ,this lantern and the transparent method of projection were used in ,america with much success by ,lee ,simonson when the ,new ,york ,theater ,guild mounted ,shaw's ,back to ,methuselah in the spring of #aibb4 ,linnebach has made the mountains of ,wilhelm ,tell with projection and the settings of ,grabbe's ,kaiser ,heinrich ,,vi1 and of the expressionist dramas ,das ,bist ,du1 ,gas1 and ,jenseits4 ,hasait's simplest method of projection brings you up sharp against the true origins of the thing1 and they are almost as old as drama4 ,the puppeteers of old ,java had shadow-marionettes centuries before the technical director of the ,dresden ,state ,opera made shadow-settings4 ,for ,weber's ,oberon and for ,mozart's ,zauberflte1 ,hasait provides a plastic arrangement of inner proscenium and steps1 with a translucent curtain at the back4 ,from one side of the curtain he projects a design in shadows by means of a frame hardly two feet wide across which are fastened various thicknesses of gauze4 ,the light that comes through the clearer portions of the gauze is one color1 while from a light on the other side of the translucent curtain he stains the shadows with a second color4 ,the hue of both these lights can be changed quickly or slowly as desired1 producing harmonies and contrasts of color4 ,the other devices used by ,hasait for projection are embodied in a scheme of stage equipment called the ,ars ,system by the ,swedish company that controls the patents for its exploitation abroad4 ,the basis of the system is a canvas cyclorama4 ,this cyclorama runs on a semi-circular track hung from the gridiron high above the stage4 ,at one end of the track is a great roller upon which the cyclorama may be wound up1 to get it out of the way during an elaborate change of scene4 ,it takes only half a minute for the cyclorama to be run out on the track ready for use4 ,the track itself may be swung downward from its two front corners to permit particularly large drops to be hoisted or lowered2 but it is wide enough and deep enough not to interfere with the ordinary use of the gridiron4 ,the cyclorama is made of common light canvas1 but it is so cut and joined1 and hung on a slight slant that it takes up of itself the bulges and wrinkles ordinarily produced in our cycloramas by a change in weather4 ,the invention of this cyclorama is in dispute between those ancient but courteous rivals1 ,hasait and ,linnebach4 ,with this cyclorama goes an elaborate system of lighting manufactured by ,schwabe4 ,there are floor lamps1 contained in wheeled chariots1 to illuminate the bottom of the cyclorama4 ,above the proscenium opening hangs a battery of different colored lights--seventy-two in the ,stockholm ,state ,opera--which play directly upon the cyclorama1 and three high-powered bulbs to light the stage floor4 ,besides these1 the ,ars ,system1 as installed at ,stockholm1 includes three special projection devices also hung above the proscenium1 all the adjustments of which are controlled electro-magnetically from the switchboard4 ,one of these is the large cloud-machine1 an arrangement of two tiers of eight lamps each1 raying out from a common axis4 ,these tiers can move at different speeds and in different directions1 while each lamp can be turned up and down and sideways at will4 ,these projectors each house a #f1jjj candle-power bulb and hold a photograph or drawing of a cloud4 ,the complex motion of these static clouds when projected on the cyclorama gives an effect of every-varying cloud formations4 ,almost absolute ,realism can thus be obtained4 ,a second and smaller and less flexible cloud-machine with a single central lamp and reflecting mirrors is1 for some reason1 included in the equipment4 ,besides these cloud-machines there is a battery of three high-powered bulbs and lenses1 by means of which designs painted on glass slides may be projected after the fashion of a magic lantern upon the cyclorama or any object on the stage4 ,this is the really important feature of the ,ars ,system from an artistic standpoint4 ,its possibilities are extraordinary4 ,harald ,andr1 chief rgisseur of the ,stockholm ,opera1 has experimented little as yet with this device1 utilizing it only in one ballet4 ,but he has speculated much on the opportunities that it presents for uniting a large group of theaters1 similarly equipped1 in the exchange of scenic designs for the productions in their repertory4 ,andr believes that the economy of projected scenery is important artistically1 as well as financially1 because it will permit of experiment with many new works at slight expense1 and of the rapid reproduction of the successful pieces in many cities at once4 ,from the absolute1 artistic viewpoint of the effect obtained1 projection is most satisfactory1 though as yet almost undeveloped4 ,americans who saw the translucent projections of ,simonson's designs in ,back to ,methuselah realized how little these drops had the visual disadvantages of the painted variety4 ,they enjoyed a certain incorporeal quality4 ,the landscapes were not defined like huge oil paintings in false perspective4 ,they went into some new category which1 for the moment1 defeated our analysis4 ,such projections may in time take on the shallow pretense of painted backdrops1 though ,i am inclined to doubt it4 ,illustration3 ,das ,rheingold3 ,valhalla4 ,a setting by ,linnebach and ,pasetti4 ,the gods are grouped in deep shadow on a conventionalized arrangement of rocky levels in the foreground4 ,the castle becomes slowly visible in the sky beyond1 built of beams of light1 hanging in the air like a great cumulus cloud4 ,at the ,national ,theater1 ,munich4 ,in the case of the ,valhalla of ,das ,rheingold1 as projected in ,linnebach's production at the ,national ,theater in ,munich1 the ethereal quality of this kind of 8painting0 again stands out4 ,the scene is most successful when the lighting is dimmest4 ,in the central portions of the second and fourth scenes1 when the stage is fully lighted1 the image of ,valhalla holds its own against the illumination of the foreground1 but the foreground itself fails dismally to match the beauty of the gods' castle4 ,when the plastic foreground is not to be seen1 ,valhalla hangs in the heavens like one of the shapes of ,wilfred's ,color ,organ1 a thing that seems to have three dimensions4 ,when the lights upon the stage floor bring out the rocks of the foreground1 ,valhalla loses the reality of three dimensions4 ,it still seems truer1 as well as more beautiful1 than the rocks in front4 ,in fact it shows up pitilessly the trivial canvas life of those boulders4 ,but it loses the impression of depth1 which it had at first created4 ,this was doubtless a false impression1 a foolish illusion4 ,the projected setting is certainly in another dimension spiritually from those two ordinarily employed in old-fashioned scene painting4 ,it is not in any of the planes of stage-rocks or houses4 ,it does not1 however1 war with the human figure1 curiously enough4 ,it seems likely that the artist or director using projected design must formalize his foreground1 as ,simonson did1 or else hide its commonplace actuality in shadow4 ,ordinary stage pretenses cannot stand beside the spiritual plastics produced by light4 ,as for the cloud-machine1 so long as it is trying merely to reproduce nature it is utterly unimportant4 ,something imaginative must be done with it before it can expect serious consideration4 ,in the productions of ,andr at the ,stockholm ,opera there are at least two hints that the cloud-machine can be used for the purposes of art4 ,one of these1 rather poorly managed1 is the use of designed clouds instead of natural clouds in one of the scenes of ,samson and ,delilah4 ,the other1 not perfectly executed by any means1 but most suggestive1 occurs in ,verdi's ,macbeth4 ,there in the first scene ,andr sets a wild storm sky in motion4 ,he uses negative or black photographs of clouds instead of positive or white1 and he starts them moving from on high and at the sides1 sweeping in and down upon the witches4 ,as these dark shapes descend in tumult1 it seems as though the black earth were drinking black clouds1 curious and evil portent of the powers of the infernal4 ,movement in projection has obviously great possibilities as part of the action of new drama4 ,in ,kaiser's expressionist play ,from ,morn to ,midnight1 produced by the ,theater ,guild1 ,simonson used ,linnebach's lantern to make the tree in the snow scene change into a skeleton1 an effect that ,kaiser was able to foresee only as a shifting of snowflakes upon naked boughs4 ,light itself seems destined to assume a larger and larger part in the drama4 ,it is a playing force1 quite as much as the actors4 ,it can be a motivator of action as well as an illuminator of it4 ,jessner at the ,state ,schauspielhaus in ,berlin uses it as an arbitrary accompaniment and interpreter of action4 ,lights flash on or off as some mood changes4 ,they create shadows to dramatize a relation of two men4 ,they seem to control or to be controlled by the action4 ,the extent to which a change of light may express the dramatist's conception is most interestingly suggested in the scene of ,macbeth's death in ,andr's production of the opera4 ,it is an uncommonly well handled scene in all respects1 perhaps the best example of this director's fine imagination4 ,the fight between the armies begins in a gray light before the walls of ,dunsinane4 ,there is no absurd effort of supers to look like death-crazed warriors4 ,the quality of pursuit and conflict is caught in the pose of the bands of the soldiers as they run past the walls bent down like dogs upon a blood-scent4 ,macbeth and ,macduff meet for a clear moment of conflict1 then they are surrounded and covered by the troops that rush to see their champions do battle4 ,at the moment when ,macbeth falls1 the crowd clears for a moment4 ,and then the grayness of morning breaks sharply into dawn as evil goes out of the play4 ,an obvious symbolism1 perhaps1 but obviousness is not so great a failing in the theater4 ,the fault of the scene is only in ,andr's over-emphasis upon the light1 or rather his under-emphasis upon the cause of the light--the death of ,macbeth4 ,at the moment when the light goes on1 there should come some supreme1 arresting gesture1 something to absorb every atom of our attention so that we may wonderingly discover the light as a thing caused by ,macbeth1 not by an electrician4 ,such a scene suggests wide possibilities4 ,light as the compelling force of a play2 light as a motivator of action2 light and setting1 not as a background to action1 but as part of it1 as something making characters exist and act2 light as an almost physical aura of human bodies2 light1 therefore1 in conflict4 ,physical contacts are not a necessity of the theater4 ,under ,jessner1 the murderer of ,clarence in ,richard ,,iii does not try to seem to stab him2 he simply plunges the dagger at him4 ,that is enough4 ,in ,francesca da ,rimini as ,duse sometimes gave it1 ,i have heard that when the husband killed ,paola with his sword the space of the whole room separated them4 ,it was as if the sword possessed an aura1 and as if the aura slew4 ,in ,masse-,mensch the crowd of revolutionaries go down to the mere rattle of machine guns before the curtains are drawn to show the soldiers4 ,if light can do such things1 even if it can do no more than signal the downfall of evil or set ,valhalla glowing in the heavens1 it will take a place in the theater that no other product of inventive ingenuity can reach4 ,light1 at the very least1 is machinery spiritualized4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,german ,,actor ,four years of war left the elaborate machinery of the ,german theaters intact4 ,four years of the purgatory called peace have even seen a sharp advance in electrical equipment4 ,critics and managers of the victorious nations and of the neutrals that enjoy a sound exchange may complain of the quantity and quality of theater-goers2 but the vanquished have suffered less4 ,at forty performances in ,germany and ,austria we saw hardly two rows of vacant seats all told in the dramatic theaters1 though one or two musical shows were no more than two-thirds full4 ,the ,german theater has suffered1 however1 in one spot4 ,the unfortunate truth is that it is a vital spot--acting4 ,only the richness of trained talent in its post-war companies enables it to suffer the drain of the past years and still give performances far better than we see in ,england or ,america4 ,war affected the ,german actor less than it did the actor in the allied countries2 ,germany kept her players on the home front fighting disheartenment4 ,peace and the movies1 however1 brought dispersal4 ,companies were scattered1 players exiled4 ,the spectacular collapse1 of course1 was the dissolution of ,max ,reinhardt's famous company that filled his two ,berlin theaters4 ,moissi1 ,bassermann1 ,pallenberg1 ,konstantin1 ,eibenschtz1 ,wegener1 ,dietrich1 ,arnold1 ,lehman1 ,eysoldt1 ,bertens1 ,diegelmann1 ,heims1 ,jannings1 ,schildkraut--not one of these names appears on the ,zettel outside the old ,reinhardt houses4 ,some are in the movies and some are stars1 but all are gone4 ,if ,american films could have entered ,germany in the face of the depreciated mark1 ,reinhardt's theaters might still be giving true repertory1 ,reinhardt himself might still be there1 and certainly many of the old company would be playing together in ,berlin4 ,other factors1 personal1 financial1 and artistic1 gradually drew ,reinhardt out of production1 but he himself declared with much truth that repertory was impossible when actors had to give their days to the movies1 instead of to rehearsals1 and that the theater was impossible for him without repertory and actors4 ,as for the players themselves1 with the mark at a cent and pomade at two hundred marks1 it had to be either the movies or stardom4 ,the star system of ,england and ,america1 imported into ,germany1 has done little to keep even the popular players in ,berlin4 ,the audience is exhausted sooner than in ,new ,york or ,london1 and then tours must come4 ,alexander ,moissi knocks about ,switzerland and ,austria4 ,leopoldine ,konstantin1 the flashing slave girl of ,sumurn1 is supposed to be starring in ,vienna1 but you find her one night at ,der ,blaue ,vogel1 the imitation ,chauve-,souris which one of ,balieff's assistants installed in ,berlin4 ,pallenberg goes up and down the country with ,der ,wauwau1 the ,german edition of ,grumpy4 ,even the younger stars are wanderers4 ,that fresh exotic1 ,maria ,orska1 competes with the traveling troupe of the ,moscow ,art ,theater for the patronage of ,stockholm4 ,she plays in the cosmopolitan ,german of a ,russian1 against the ,swedish of a resident company4 ,the play is ,wedekind's ,erdgeist1 first half of that staggering duology of sex which ends with ,pandora's ,box and ,jack the ,ripper1 and goes under the name of ,lulu4 ,in ,berlin ,mme4 ,orska is thought a little sensational4 ,her ,lulu is anything but that4 ,she does not dwell on the corporeality of this daughter of earth's joy4 ,her ,lulu is not a human being made hideous and fascinating with eternal lures4 ,she is a kind of mask1 a thin mask1 a shell of tinted and whitened silks over a face sucked dry of all but passion and the shrunken charms of decadence4 ,she is a sort of doll--a ,pritzelpuppe--with her long black legs and her pale face thrust out from either end of a pierrot's costume4 ,very much of a doll when the play is most bitterly cruel4 ,dr4 ,goll flops to the floor1 dead1 when he finds her with ,schwartz4 ,orska tiptoes stiffly towards him1 manuvers past his body like some marionette1 pokes him with a stiff toe and squeaks the squeak of a doll4 ,is it fear or pleasure or both8 ,a clever way to do ,wedekind4 ,but1 in the end1 night after night with only self-display to remember4 ,but ,berlin--or ,stockholm--is not ,germany4 ,there is ensemble left in some of the lesser cities--there is even ensemble in ,berlin at the ,state ,schauspielhaus1 if there is no great individual playing there4 ,the illustrious old ,burgtheater in ,vienna still has a company1 if it lacks a distinguished director4 ,they manage portions of ,tolstoi's ,the ,living ,corpse very well4 ,they give the episode of the gypsies' singing to ,fedya and ,mascha as it was never given in our own ,redemption4 ,in the ,burgtheater it is no discreet cabaret turn4 ,the women and the men hang over the lovers4 ,their song is a frank and touching celebration of the love that their ,mascha has won4 ,it is an open display of sentimental interest in love-making1 which people only admit when wine or perhaps gypsy blood have stilled inhibitions4 ,but all this is doubtless more a matter of direction than of acting4 ,it is in the old mother of ,frau ,senders1 the aristocrats of ,frau ,wilbrand and ,herr ,herterich1 not quite so much so in the ,fedya of ,herr ,treszler that you find real playing4 ,it is hardly possible that the performance of ,vildrac's ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity is the best that the ,burgtheater gives2 but it is a most excellent performance4 ,it is peculiarly excellent1 because1 while it is not ,french1 it seems so little ,german in a racial sense4 ,artistically1 of course1 it is most decidedly ,teuton4 ,it has the hard1 firm quality of ,german acting4 ,copeau's production in ,paris is a rational thing2 it is almost like a reading1 a very intelligent1 sensitive reading4 ,in ,new ,york we played it in flashes of misgiving and determination2 it was unctuous in ,augustin ,duncan's roustabout and in ,claude ,cooper's ,english sailor1 and fine and sensitive in ,marguerite ,forrest's rather ladylike barmaid2 but the rest dropped in and out of illusion4 ,the ,viennese actors play for a bright and firm actuality1 which they imagine is ,french4 ,it isn't precisely ,german1 but technically it is as ,teuton in thorough-going emotionalism as the passionate kiss with which the ,viennese players replaced the salute on the nape of the neck with which the ,french ,bastien begins his wooing4 ,individual acting as well as ensemble flourishes in the large company that serves the four ,state theaters of ,munich4 ,it is a piece of good fortune that both opera and drama are under a single management1 and that pieces may be given in any one of four houses--the small modernist ,knstler ,theater of ,max ,littmann in the ,ausstellungspark1 the tiny1 wickedly cheerful old ,residenz ,theater1 the reformist 8amphitheater0 which ,littmann created in the ,prinzregenten ,theater1 or the ,national ,theater1 just as much the conventional old-fashioned ,german opera house as when it was called the ,hoftheater4 ,the large company and the breadth of repertory which these theaters permit to be given efficiently and properly1 provides some exceptional players exceptionally well-trained and in an interesting variety of parts4 ,the ,munich group can give that shock of virtuosity which the ,german repertory theaters provide1 and give it to you at highest voltage4 ,on one evening1 for example1 you discover in ,the ,taming of the ,shrew a most exceptional ,grumio4 ,his name is ,richard ,kellerhals1 and he is the sort of clown that happens once in ten years in ,america4 ,he is not a ,charlie ,chaplin1 because that is a little too much to ask4 ,but he outdoes any other movie-comic that ,i can recall4 ,he is not a ,jim ,barton1 because he does not drive ahead at just one thing--,gargantuan burlesque4 ,kellerhals plays ,grumio with his face and his legs and his brain4 ,his odd1 wizened little face1 inordinately simple1 just a bit loony2 his acrobatic legs1 quick and comic1 getting him into all manner of strange places2 his brain1 always alert behind the mask of the loon1 working out a dozen amusing twists of business4 ,it seems a highly original performance1 though perhaps it is merely tradition in ,germany that ,grumio should sniff the clothes of ,biondello1 and be sniffed at1 all within the bounds of decency1 but very like two dogs of their masters4 ,at any rate1 original or not1 it is the sort of sharp1 brilliant fooling that would make ,kellerhals a musical comedy specialist in ,america1 perhaps a star4 ,an evening or two later1 out at the ,ausstellungspark you see ,hauptmann's play of the ,peasants' ,rebellion1 ,florian ,geyer4 ,almost the first figure you notice among the peasants who are trying desperately to make themselves far-seeing leaders in the fight against the trained nobles1 is a gaunt fellow with his head in a bloody bandage1 and with fever in his eyes4 ,this is ,geyer's brother-in-law and secretary in the field1 a boy almost on the point of death who looks like a sickened man of thirty4 ,the desperate impatience of the worn is mingled in his face with the fanatical devotion of the men who win lost causes4 ,the cause is lost in the end1 and after he has watched this disillusion pile upon quarrels and jealousies and treasons1 he crumples up and dies4 ,every word of his tragedy you can read in his face4 ,when you look at your program you find that the name of the actor is ,richard ,kellerhals4 ,in ,america--if ,kellerhals had acted this part before ,grumio--he would be competing with ,william ,b4 ,mack in the playing of tortured gunmen the rest of his life4 ,quite as good acting and almost as varied impersonations are to be seen in the work of ,friedrich ,ulmer as ,petruchio and as ,geyer4 ,his ,geyer--strong1 simple1 desperate in anger--is easy to imagine on our stage2 ,lionel ,barrymore could do it4 ,but his ,petruchio--a coarse1 bull-necked1 and most amusing devil--is another matter4 ,it sins against the pretty romance of our ,van ,dyked ,shakespeare4 ,and it is famously good fun1 along with the whole riotous show4 ,dresden has a company that makes no difficulty over playing ,shaw's ,pygmalion one night1 in ,german provincial accents that are supposed to approximate the ,english dialects pursued and recorded by ,professor ,higgins under the portico of ,covent ,garden1 and over playing the next night a comic and poetic romance of ,india called ,vasantasena by a king called ,sudraka4 ,here the women come out rather more sharply than most of the men1 two fine performances in particular by ,melitta ,leithner as ,eliza1 the flower girl1 and ,alice ,verden as ,vasantasena4 ,the company cannot escape1 however1 a beefy ,german tenor-hero1 one of the sort that seems in danger any moment of turning into a leading woman with a heavy beard4 ,frankfort has perhaps less real acting talent than is to be found in any of the ,state theaters of the larger cities4 ,it shows an atrocious performance of ,peer ,gynt4 ,yet1 given direction such as ,richard ,weichert furnishes in ,schiller's ,maria ,stuart1 and it seems a company of genius4 ,carl ,ebert1 a bad ,peer ,gynt1 manages a ,leicester of real subtlety2 the ,elizabeth of ,gerda ,mller seems a tempestuous horror1 and the whole thing is lighted by many excellent small bits of acting4 ,there seems to be a certain hard1 uncompromising insistence in all ,german acting4 ,it is a thing1 perhaps1 of narrow spirit and deep intensity4 ,it has unquestioned vitality4 ,in ,grabbe's old drama1 ,napoleon1 which ,jessner gives at the ,state ,schauspielhaus in ,berlin1 this vitality leaps to union most happily with the intoxication that ,bonaparte spread about him always1 and never more extraordinarily than in the ,hundred ,days which this play chronicles4 ,it is all vitality1 the impatient vitality of the soldiers of ,wolfgang ,heinz and ,lothar ,mthel1 who await ,napoleon's return1 the besotted and sinister vitality of the new mob of the carmagnole1 the energizing vitality of ,rudolf ,forster's ,wellington1 the sober1 slow but potent vitality of ,arthur ,krauszneck's ,blcher1 and that font of indomitable self-assertion ,napoleon himself1 played by ,ludwig ,hartau4 ,even the old ,humpty-,dumpty ,louis of ,leopold von ,ledebur1 and the courtiers who prop him up on his throne take on a certain fixity of purpose--perhaps a deathly fixity--from the vitality flowing round them4 ,in other performances of ,jessner's company this vitality flows over into mere vigor1 even into violence4 ,that is the besetting sin of the ,german actor4 ,fritz ,kortner1 celebrated for his ,richard ,,iii and his ,othello1 ranges from unnatural suppression of feeling1 from studied and almost whispered restraint1 to mad screechings4 ,an almost neurotic violence crops up somewhere in every other performance in ,germany4 ,even the women fall into it4 ,gerda ,mller's ,elizabeth1 after an evening of excellent1 mastered power1 breaks out into the hoarse-voiced raving that seems more a mark of the male players4 ,sudden spurts of laying it on too thick appear in some of the secondary players of ,florian ,geyer4 ,the comic villain of ,vasantasena plays the whole thing in a knot of petty passion4 ,it is ranting1 this sort of thing1 no matter how far it may be from the orotund mouthings of our old-school players1 no matter how much sharp characterization and genuine passion may be forced into it4 ,the performance of ,masse-,mensch at the ,volksbhne in ,berlin stands out because it manages to carry intensity of feeling to a point just short of violence1 and then1 with every excuse provided in this desperate story of thwarted revolution1 to bring it up short at the right moment into high-pitched but beautiful vehemence4 ,the outstanding impression must be the astounding diction of the mob that speaks clearly1 rhythmically1 and most movingly with a single common voice2 it gives you a sudden vision of what the ,greek chorus may have been1 and why thirty thousand people listened4 ,but the power of ,mary ,dietrich as the ,christ-figured1 ,christ-tortured woman is almost as unforgettable4 ,looking back across these forty-odd performances1 ,i find that a very simple and very brief bit of acting stands out as sharply as any4 ,it is the quiet1 sadly amusing1 little ,buddhist priest in ,vasantasena as played by ,erich ,ponto4 ,it is not a thing the ,german stage often discloses1 this delicate mingling of humor and reverence4 ,if it were1 the people from ,moscow who played ,the ,cherry ,orchard would not have seemed to come from the one land where acting is a rounded and tempered perfection4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,new ,,acting ,,for ,,old ,acting is the oldest thing in the theater4 ,it comes before the play1 because in the beginning the actor and the playwright are one4 ,drama originates when two or three people are seized with a desire to give an old legend or an old ritual a living form4 ,they want to act4 ,as they act they make up their play4 ,the theater becomes the spot that seems a good place--either spiritually1 physically1 or by force of tradition--in which to give the play4 ,in time comes a division of labor4 ,one of the actors begins to specialize on the play4 ,this actor studies how he can develop the form of the play to make better use of the theater2 and then1 with some leader among the actors1 he begins to speculate on how to change the theater in order to give more scope to the playwright and to the player who interprets him4 ,that is the history of the theater through twenty-five centuries4 ,it begins with the actor1 and it comes very close to ending with him4 ,it is rather a good thing to understand about the history of the theater4 ,it gives you a certain respect for the actor which actors do not always inspire4 ,it makes you patient with the difficulties of writing anything intelligible on this most ancient and most complex and most unsubstantial of all the things of the theater4 ,it makes you realize the dangers of dogmatizing on the subject4 ,and1 if you can look back with imagination to the day of ,garrick and his great apron stage and his ,hamlet in knickerbockers1 back to the day of ,burbage and his sunlit platform in the midst of an ,elizabethan mob1 back to schylus answering the chorus of the ,furies in the half circle of ,athenians that piled up the hillside of the ,acropolis2 perhaps1 then1 you will see that the actor was not always a fellow with a false beard or the manners of a soda water clerk1 who expects you to believe that he is no actor at all1 but a family doctor or an employee of ,mr4 ,liggett who has taken to living in a room with one side gone4 ,at any rate a little hint of theatrical history1 full of amazing surprises1 might make you tolerant of such speculations as the following on the four types of acting to be seen in the theater to-day and on what is to come of them4 ,the art of acting is a miscellaneous sort of art4 ,i imagine that types of acting which we think very new and modern were to be found in every age except the first4 ,probably some famous ,greek comedian made his entrance in ,the ,frogs looking so amazingly like the statue of ,herakles on the ,acropolis that for half a minute nobody could be sure that this was really the actor whom they had expected to see4 ,in ,shakespeare's day it is not unlikely that the man who played ,caliban got together a collection of false hair and wooden tusks which made every one wonder who the new member of the company could be4 ,and probably among the ,greeks and the ,elizabethans there were players so amazingly like servants or kings in face and carriage that they never played anything else4 ,yet it is safe to say1 nevertheless1 that the actor's trick of trying to look like a different human being in each new play and never at all like himself1 and his other trick of never looking like anything but himself and always playing exactly the same kind of part1 are histrionic symptoms of the disease called ,realism4 ,there was never so much literal and deliberate impersonation as in ,europe to-day1 and so much 8type casting0 as along ,broadway4 ,these are two very different methods of work1 but they both reach the same end--absolute resemblance--and neither has necessarily anything to do with art4 ,the first--for which the word 8impersonation0 is commonly and very loosely used--is pretty generally esteemed to-day4 ,it is considered to mark off the actor1 even the artist1 from the crowd of clever mummers4 ,it is hard to deny an instant and hearty interest in any player who can look like and act like a tramp one night1 and like a barbaric king the next4 ,the emotion he creates as a king1 or the artist's vision he displays in selecting his material and making ,form out of it1 may be great or small4 ,but his ingenuity in masquerade will always win admiration4 ,in fact we are pretty sure to spend our time praising such an actor as ,ben-,ami for looking like a neurotic artist in ,samson and ,delilah1 and like a husky young horse-thief in ,the ,idle ,inn1 instead of recognizing the artistic distinction these impersonations show4 ,examined in cold blood1 the virtue of this sort of acting is the virtue of the wig-maker4 ,the difference between a ,van ,dyke and a pair of mutton chops2 the difference between ,flesh ,color ,no4 #a and ,flesh ,color ,no4 #c2 the difference between a waiter's dress suit bought on the ,bowery1 and a doublet designed by ,james ,reynolds and made by ,mme4 ,freisinger--that is the secret of this kind of acting4 ,not the whole secret1 of course1 for the pose of the actor's body1 the grace or awkwardness of his carriage1 the lift of an eyebrow1 or the droop of a lip is quite as important4 ,such things1 however1 have no more of art or emotion in them than the tricks of make-up4 ,they can give us recollections of real persons or figures in literature1 in painting1 or in other plays1 about whom we have felt emotion4 ,but it is not until the actor puts ,form of his own into this lay figure1 by the movement of his body1 and the emotion of his voice1 that anything approaching art can be said to exist4 ,stanislavsky may look like a colonel in ,the ,three ,sisters1 and like a spineless gentleman in ,the ,cherry ,orchard2 but that is not the measure of his art4 ,stanislavsky might even be a colonel on leave who took a fancy to acting1 or a spineless gentleman who lost his patrimony and fell back on his university reputation as an amateur actor2 and he would still have to prove himself an artist4 ,there is an amusing similarity and contrast between the two varieties of realistic actors4 ,the first impersonates a different character in every play1 and never himself4 ,the second impersonates the same character in every play and always himself4 ,the first impersonates by changing2 the second by remaining the same4 ,provided that there is a large and varied supply of types--military men1 bar-keeps1 politicians1 artist-neurotics1 criminal-neurotics1 he-men1 she-men1 rabbit-men1 not to mention all sorts of women--the result on a play should not be so very different whichever system of acting is adopted4 ,if a play-goer were to see only one play1 he couldn't detect any difference4 ,if he were to see two1 he would be likely to get some added pleasure out of the knowledge that the same people were acting both1 and he would probably use up on the business of spying out the tricks of it all a good deal of the energy and attention that he ought to give to the play4 ,there is one practical difference1 however1 in these two ways of casting a play4 ,you cannot make a repertory company out of types4 ,in spite of the old jargon about ,leading ,man1 ,leading ,woman1 ,juvenile1 ,old ,man1 ,ingenue1 ,heavy1 ,character ,man1 and so forth1 no permanent company giving realistic plays can get along without actors who can achieve some sort of differentiation4 ,since the ,german theater and most of the ,european theater is run on the repertory system1 the ,continental actor is generally a man adept in masquerade4 ,because ,america has no repertory theater1 because producers in ,new ,york pick new actors out of the apple barrel for every new play1 and because almost all the legitimate actors of ,america make ,new ,york their headquarters1 the system of casting by type is the natural1 workable system for us4 ,type acting need not mean that the type the actor plays is absolutely identical with his own personality in private life4 ,it usually isn't4 ,but it does mean that1 because of his own personality1 his physical and mental equipment1 the actor is able to play a very similar type to his own4 ,two excellent examples of this are ,frank ,craven and ,ernest ,truex4 ,in real life they are never ,tommy ,tucker of ,the ,first ,year or the hero of ,six ,cylinder ,love1 but on the stage they are never anything else4 ,it is just possible that they could be something else1 but they began this way1 and this way the managers and the public will probably make them continue4 ,all of which brings up a single artistic point upon which varied impersonations and the repertory theater defeat type casting4 ,type casting is apt to tie a man to the kind of part he first acts with any ability1 and not the kind he can act best4 ,he may be able to play ten different sorts of characters1 and one or two of these may release something in him that permits him to be a true artist in his impersonation4 ,but if he happens to play some other of the ten characters first1 and play it reasonably well1 our casting system may keep him from ever reaching those characters in which he might excel4 ,for another thing1 the constant change of parts in a repertory theater gives an actor practice that he cannot get if he repeats type parts in fewer plays1 as he must do in ,america4 ,through this practice with varying parts1 he may come to add something of artistic significance to his work4 ,a nice esthetic point arises if you find a type-actor--say ,craven--giving an extraordinarily good performance4 ,he is playing himself1 we will say2 yet within that familiar personality1 he is achieving just as interesting emotion as some other actor of a different personality1 but possessing the knack of varied impersonation1 could achieve2 he is even reaching a sense of ,form1 selecting out of his own personality1 experience1 and emotion1 and combining these into a shape that moves us esthetically--whether to laughter or to tears4 ,is this art8 ,would it be art if the actor were ,georgie ,price imitating ,craven1 or somebody from the ,moscow ,art ,theater impersonating ,craven8 ,would it be art if ,craven played a character so different from himself as the savant in ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped1 and played it as successfully as he has played ,tommy ,tucker8 ,unquestionably the answer to the last question would be ,yes4 ,as for the others1 there is legitimate room for argument4 ,this business of varied impersonation versus self-impersonation arouses a great deal of dispute4 ,the most interesting feature of the squabble is that usually the opponent of self-impersonation or type-acting points back with mournful pride to some of the great actors of the past like ,booth or ,forrest4 ,when he does this1 he passes clean outside of realistic acting4 ,moreover1 he brings into the argument actors1 who1 while they played a wide variety of parts1 never took the trouble to hide behind the wig-maker or to pretend to be anybody else physically than the great ,edwin ,booth or the celebrated ,edwin ,forrest4 ,to-day we have this same kind of acting1 ,i imagine--and this is the third kind that ,i want to list--in the work of ,sarah ,bernhardt1 ,giovanni ,grasso1 ,margaret ,anglin1 or ,clare ,eames4 ,if you started out to list the players who use their own mask frankly for every part1 achieving impersonation and emotion by their use of features and voice as instruments1 you would find many more names of women than of men2 for the actress has far fewer opportunities than the actor to employ the ingenuities of make-up4 ,you would also find1 ,i think1 that your list was not so very long1 and that it contained the names of most of the players of great distinction from ,eleanora ,duse to ,charlie ,chaplin4 ,there is magic in the soul of such players1 not in their make-up boxes4 ,they create their impersonations before your eyes1 not in their dressing rooms4 ,you may1 perhaps1 be tempted to say that their art lies in the voice1 that the face is a mask4 ,but the face is obviously not a permanent mask2 it changes not only from character to character in many subtle ways1 but from scene to scene1 and emotion to emotion4 ,also1 there is ,chaplin1 the voiceless2 his face speaks4 ,it seems a mask1 too1 but it is articulate4 ,such acting may be given--and usually is given--to the interpretation of realistic drama4 ,it belongs at heart to another thing1 to almost another age1 past or to come4 ,it achieves the necessary resemblance through the inner truth of its art4 ,but it never submits to submergence4 ,it reaches out towards a kind of acting that we used to have and that we will have again1 while it meets the necessities of ,realism4 ,this fourth kind of acting may be called presentational--a word that derives its present use from a distinction set up by ,alexander ,bakshy in his ,the ,path of the ,russian ,stage4 ,presentational acting1 like presentational production1 stands in opposition to representational4 ,the distinction is clear enough in painting1 where a piece of work that aims to report an anecdote1 or to photograph objects1 is representational1 and a piece of work striving to show the relation of forms which may or may not be of the everyday world1 is presentational4 ,in the theater ,bakshy makes a parallel distinction between a scenic background that attempts to represent with canvas and paint actual objects of wood or rock or whatnot1 and a background that presents itself frankly as what it is--curtains1 for instance1 or an architectural wall4 ,the distinction applies to acting as well4 ,a ,broadway actor in a bald wig or an actor naturally bald1 who is trying to pretend that he is in a room off in ,budapest1 and who refuses to admit that he knows it is all a sham1 and that a thousand people are watching him1 is a representational actor1 or a realist4 ,an actor who admits that he is an actor1 and that he has an audience before him1 and that it is his business to charm and move this audience by the brilliance of his art1 is a presentational actor4 ,the difference deserves better terms1 but they do not yet exist4 ,it is obvious enough that the first actors were presentational4 ,the ,greek men who shouted village gossip from the wains1 and made plays of it1 were villagers known to every one4 ,the actors in the first dramatic rituals may have worn masks1 but they were frankly actors or priests1 not the gods and heroes themselves4 ,roscius was ,roscius1 ,molire was ,molire2 even the ,baconians cannot deny that ,shakespeare was ,shakespeare when he appeared as old ,adam4 ,i would maintain that ,garrick and ,siddons1 ,talma and ,rachel were frankly actors2 did they not see the audience out there under the light of the same chandeliers that lit their stage8 ,to-day our greatest players restablish to some extent the bond with the audience when they abandon any attempt to represent their characters through wigs and make-up1 and present their own faces frankly as vehicles of expression4 ,in comedy and in tragedy presentational acting comes out most easily4 ,there is something in really great sorrow--not the emotions of the thwarted defectives of our realistic tragedies--that leaps out to an audience4 ,hecuba must speak her sorrow to the chorus and over the chorus to the people who have come to the theater for the single purpose of hearing it4 ,there can be no fitting communion with the characters who have caused the tragedy or been stricken by it4 ,the sufferer must carry her cup of sorrow to the gods2 they alone can drink of it and make it less4 ,and the great fact of the theater is that the audience are gods4 ,it is a healthy instinct that causes many an actress in a modern tragedy to turn her back on the other characters of the play1 and make her lamentation to the audience as though it were a soliloquy or an aside4 ,there are gods and gods1 of course1 and it is to ,dionysus and ,pan that the comedian turns when he shouts his jokes out across the footlights4 ,in fact he takes good care1 if he is a wise clown1 that the footlights shan't be there to interfere4 ,if he is ,al ,jolson1 he insists on a runway or a little platform that will bring him out over the footlights and into the lap of the audience4 ,if he is a comedian in burlesque like ,bobbie ,clark1 he has the house lights turned up as soon as he begins a comedy scene4 ,he must make contact somehow with his audience4 ,if the fun-maker is ,fanny ,brice1 the method is a little less obvious1 and it draws us closer to the sort of presentational acting which will dominate many theaters in the future1 the sort of acting that presents an impersonation1 and at the same time stands off with the audience1 and watches it4 ,if the player is ,ruth ,draper or ,beatrice ,herford1 you have something that seems to me almost identical with the kind of acting ,i am trying to define4 ,i present these four categories of acting for what they are worth4 ,they are frankly two-dimensional4 ,they are divisions in a single plane4 ,other planes cut across them1 and the categories in these planes intersect the ones ,i have defined4 ,consider almost any player1 and you will find a confusion of methods and results which will need more explanation than ,i have provided4 ,there is ,richard ,kellerhals1 for instance1 the ,munich player whose strikingly different work in ,the ,taming of the ,shrew and ,florian ,geyer ,i have described4 ,this is not impersonation achieved with make-up4 ,it is a thing of expression1 a spiritual thing4 ,take the actors of the ,moscow ,art ,theater4 ,they use make-up to the last degree1 but there is always a spiritual differentiation far more significant than the physical1 and there is always a sense of the ,form of life more important than either4 ,harry ,lauder has one impersonation--,the ,saftest of the ,family--which is so different from his others in almost every way that for the moment he might be a different player4 ,here is a presentational actor indulging in the tricks of the realistic impersonator1 and showing that1 while the fields of realistic impersonation and presentational acting are not absolutely exclusive1 at least they are somewhat incongruous or at any rate mutually hampering4 ,louis ,jouvet of the ,thtre du ,vieux-,colombier presents an opposite phenomenon when he appears in the realistic drama ,les ,frres ,karamazov as the horrific old father1 ,feodor1 and in ,twelfth ,night as ,aguecheek4 ,these are absolutely contradictory impersonations4 ,in each case ,jouvet completely disguises his own personality4 ,the interesting point is that the physical impersonation which he brings to the ,russian play is essentially unrealistic4 ,it is all very carefully designed in costume1 make-up1 and gesture as a broad and striking expression1 but not as a representation1 of rough dominance4 ,the red face and the green coat mix in the olive-bronze hat4 ,his hair and his hat1 his coat and his elbows flare out in lines of almost comic violence4 ,he is very close to caricature in a thoroughly realistic play4 ,here is a curious mixture of methods and ends--planes and categories cutting across one another and creating new figures4 ,copeau's ,vieux-,colombier is to-day the most interesting forcing bed of the new acting in ,europe--unless the ,kamerny ,theater of the ,russian expressionists is nourishing more than scenery4 ,copeau's theater1 with its naked stage and almost permanent architectural setting1 its lack of proscenium and footlights1 and its steps and forestage leading down to the audience1 makes unquestionably for presentational acting4 ,the illusion of ,realism and representation is extremely difficult to attain4 ,in four plays1 ,les ,frres ,karamazov1 ,twelfth ,night1 ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity1 and ,le ,carrosse du ,st4-,sacrement1 varied as they are1 we see no great amount of the sort of masquerading which ,jouvet does so well in the first two4 ,in the main1 the actors keep their own normal appearance throughout2 but they are not1 of course1 playing types4 ,to some extent1 therefore1 they are working in the vein of ,bernhardt and ,grasso1 striving for impersonation in emotion rather than in physique4 ,except for a gouty foot and a simple change in costume1 ,copeau's ,peruvian governor in the comedy ,le ,carrosse du ,st4-,sacrement1 and his impersonation of the intellectual brother of the house of ,karamazov are outwardly very much alike4 ,it is in the mood alone that he registers the difference4 ,in both1 but particularly in the comic governor1 there is a touch of the presentational attitude which fills the rest of the company in varying degrees and informs most of ,twelfth ,night4 ,the difference between this acting and what we are accustomed to1 is particularly plain in a comparison of the ,english sailor as played in the ,new ,york production of ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity1 and in the ,paris production--the oily reality of ,claude ,cooper's impersonation against the rather brash1 certainly very dry version of ,robert ,allard4 ,allard's performance has the stamp of almost all the acting at the ,vieux-,colombier4 ,it is something intellectually settled upon as an expression of an emotion1 and then conveyed to the audience almost as if read and explained4 ,in the school of ,copeau1 who was once journalist and critic1 there is ever something of the expounder4 ,it is a reading1 an explanation1 in the terms of a theatrical performance4 ,it is1 to a certain degree1 presentational1 because in every reading1 in every explanation1 there must be an awareness of the existence of the audience4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,reinhardt ,,tradition ,plays of a new expressionist quality--profound1 grave1 ecstatic1 and as far from the neurotic as from the realistic--may be written in the next few years without the stimulus of a great expressionist theater or a great expressionist director4 ,how they are going to get themselves properly produced is another matter4 ,they may be conceived out of the spirit of the time1 under the stimulus of the expressionist settings of the scene designers2 but the accouchement will demand a rather expert midwife4 ,expressionist acting1 on the contrary1 will never achieve more than a hint of existence without a director to call it forth4 ,a ,copeau is necessary to bring out the freshness of the company of the ,vieux-,colombier1 and the hints it gives of the new acting4 ,a rather extraordinary director will be needed to banish representational acting1 and to put in its place a presentational ensemble1 and to fuse it with the new play4 ,is there such a man in ,europe to-day8 ,is there already an indication of his coming in the modifications that other men have wrought in acting1 in setting1 and even in theater8 ,we may as well begin with ,reinhardt4 ,he has been the greatest man of the theater of this century4 ,he fled from his ,berlin theaters in #aibj1 to find in ,salzburg a retreat from disillusion and a place of new beginnings4 ,we found him there in the summer of #aibb preparing to issue forth from the baroque beauty of the loveliest palace of this lovely city to the conquest of ,america1 and to an experiment in ,vienna which may make him again the one figure of the theater--the director we seek4 ,and here and there about ,europe we came on spasmodic signs of his continued activity--extraordinary plans for a ,festspielhaus in ,salzburg or in ,geneva1 and productions of ,orpheus in the ,underworld and ,strindberg's ,the ,dream ,play in ,stockholm4 ,it would be better1 perhaps1 to call ,orpheus and ,the ,dream ,play efficient pot-boilers1 and to let them go at that4 ,they give no true measure of the man whose strength and vision grew from art-cabarets to which ,balieff owes the inspiration for his ,chauve-,souris1 and naturalistic beginnings with ,gorky and ,wedekind1 until he had assembled the most striking company and repertory west of ,moscow1 and centered about himself the whole theatrical movement which ,craig and ,appia began4 ,the ,swedish productions are worth a moment's attention only1 for they show some of ,reinhardt's faults1 and hint at a virtue4 ,i write of ,orpheus alone1 because the qualities of the ,strindberg drama were only to be guessed at from photographs and reports1 all uniting in dispraise4 ,there were lovely things in this performance of ,offenbach's operetta for which neither director nor composer could claim credit--the light1 clear1 nightingale voices of the women of the ,swedish ,opera1 their superb figures1 and the icy beauty of blue eyes and ashen hair4 ,but the things ,i remember from ,orpheus in which ,reinhardt had a share are often disappointing things1 scenes slighted1 episodes badly lit1 above all carelessness of detail4 ,it has been ,reinhardt's major fault1 this failure to bring every feature of a production to the highest point of perfection within his grasp4 ,he has always been satisfied to slight one part if the whole could be 8put over0 by emphasis on another part4 ,those who remember ,sumurn will recall things in this brilliantly exciting pantomime that struck them as impossibly slack--bad painting on the canvas flats1 a bald contrast between the flimsy front scenes and the solid structure of the court of the harem behind4 ,in ,orpheus his negligence seems to have begun in the choice of a designer4 ,a ,dane1 ,max ,re1 makes a mess of the scene on ,olympus1 and gets to nothing better elsewhere than a golden gate from a chapel in ,nancy set against a blue night2 ,cupid against a gray sky1 and1 for the descent into ,hades1 white rays from out a great cloud1 down one of which the company dances against the velvet black of the back drop4 ,before now1 ,reinhardt has let himself wander from his first instincts and desires--which are usually the instincts of ,ernst ,stern1 his notable designer2 there are the horrors of ,poelzig's decoration of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus to testify to this4 ,illustration3 ,the ,cathedral ,scene from ,faust4 ,a ,reinhardt production of #aiab1 designed by ,ernst ,stern4 ,two huge columns tower up against black emptiness4 ,crimson light from the unseen altar at one side streams on the congregation and throws quivering shadows of a cross on the nearer column4 ,the three moments of ,orpheus which electrified ,swedish audiences are common enough in conception1 but they have something of the simple directness and smash which characterized ,reinhardt's earlier work4 ,the three episodes are closely linked and make the climax of the piece4 ,there again you can see ,reinhardt's method--the expenditure of so much of his care and energy upon the most important action of the play4 ,in ,orpheus the place for such emphasis is the revolt on ,mt4 ,olympus1 and the descent of ,jupiter and the gods to ,hades4 ,reinhardt begins with the carmagnole of the revolutionists1 with their red banners upon long poles rioting about in the light blue of the celestial regions4 ,for the beginning of the descent into ,hades1 ,reinhardt sees to it that there shall be a high point at the very back of the stage1 and from here1 clear down to the footlights and over them on a runway beside the boxes1 he sends his gods and goddesses cakewalking two at a time down into the depths of the orchestra pit4 ,after a very brief darkness1 while the cloud and its rays of light are installed down stage1 ,reinhardt sets the gods prancing down this white and black path into the flaming silk mouth of hell4 ,by recognizing an opportunity for an effect at the crucial point of the piece1 and concentrating upon it whatever energies he has for ,orpheus1 he makes the descent of the gods far more memorable than it can have been in any other production4 ,yet it all seems a trivial and half-hearted effort for the man who made ,shakespeare so tremendously vital at the ,deutsches ,theater1 and lifted ,sophocles' dipus into crashing popularity at the ,circus ,schumann4 ,in his day ,reinhardt was all things to all men4 ,he began with the great naturalist director ,brahm of the ,freie ,volksbhne4 ,he made a ,night ,lodging of utter ,realism4 ,he put on ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream in a forest of papier-mch4 ,he brought an austere symbolic quality to ,hamlet1 closing the play with those tall1 tall spears that shepherded the body of the ,dane upon its shield4 ,he made the story of ,sister ,beatrice into a gigantic and glorious spectacle in ,the ,miracle4 ,he championed intimacy in the theater1 took the actor out upon a runway over the heads of the audience in ,sumurn and finally1 at the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 he put the spectators half around the players1 and thrust the players in among the spectators in the last scene of ,rolland's ,danton4 ,instinct led him to the heart of plays1 as it led him from ,realism and the proscenium frame back to the ,greek orchestra and the actor as a theatrical figure4 ,he grasped the emotional heart of a drama with almost unerring judgment1 and he bent a tremendous energy to the task of making the heart of the audience beat with it4 ,occasionally he ignored or could not animate some secondary but important phase of a play4 ,in ,the ,merchant of ,venice1 though he made ,shylock rightly the center of the play and built up a court scene of intolerable excitement1 his ,portia and his ,nerissa were tawdry figures4 ,but his successes were far greater and far more significant than his failures4 ,romeo and ,juliet he made into a thing of youthful passion that was almost too deep1 too intimate for the eyes of strangers4 ,hamlet with ,moissi was an experience of life itself1 asserting again the emotional quality of ,reinhardt as against the esthetic quality of ,craig4 ,it is hardly necessary to speak of the part that ,reinhardt played in establishing the vogue of the designer in the theater1 of his attempt to bring ,craig to his stage1 of his experiments with stage machinery and lighting equipment1 or of the extraordinary personal energy which made so much work possible4 ,the ,german theater testifies continually to his influence4 ,dozens of younger men must be working in his vein to-day4 ,as far north as ,gothenburg1 the commercial city of ,sweden1 and as far south as ,vienna his influence spreads4 ,in ,gothenburg works a young director1 ,per ,lindberg1 who is as patently a disciple as he was once a student of ,reinhardt4 ,there in the ,lorensberg ,theater is the revolving stage1 with settings by a young ,swede1 ,knut ,strm1 which might have been seen at the ,deutsches ,theater ten years ago4 ,a large repertory brings forth scenery often in the heavily simplified fashion of ten years ago1 but sometimes fresh and ambitious4 ,romeo and ,juliet appears against scenes like early ,italian paintings1 with one permanent background of hill and cypresses and a number of nave arrangements of arched arcades from some ,fra ,angelico4 ,the artist turns rgisseur also in ,everyman1 and manages a performance fresh in its arrangement of setting1 platforms1 and steps1 if a little reminiscent in costumes and poses and movements4 ,in ,richard ,weichert1 of the ,state ,schauspielhaus in ,frankfort1 you find a rgisseur who suggests the influence of ,reinhardt without losing distinction as one of the three really significant directors of ,germany to-day4 ,it is not so much an influence in an imitative sense1 as a resemblance in effectiveness along rather similar lines4 ,illustration3 ,maria ,stuart3 the throne-room at ,westminster4 ,tall screens of blue and gold are ranged behind a dais surmounted by a high1 pointed throne of dull gold4 ,at either side curtains of silvery blue4 ,queen ,elizabeth wears a gown of gleaming gold4 ,a ,weichert production in ,frankfort designed by ,sievert4 ,weichert1 like so many of the outstanding directors of ,germany1 has a single artist with whom he works on terms of the closest coperation--,ludwig ,sievert4 ,it is a little hard1 therefore1 to divide the credit in ,maria ,stuart for many of the dramatic effects of people against settings and in light4 ,you might put down the scenic ideas wholly to ,sievert1 since ,weichert has permitted the use of a particularly poor setting for the scene of ,queen ,mary's tirade against ,elizabeth2 a setting which is a sloppy attempt at lyricism in keeping with ,mary's speech at the beginning of the scene1 but quite out of touch with the dramatic end4 ,if ,weichert could dictate the fine prison scene reproduced in this book1 he would hardly allow ,sievert to include the greenery-yallery exterior to which ,i have taken exception4 ,on the other hand1 can it be only an accidental use that ,weichert makes of the curtains in the throne room scene8 ,the act begins with a curious arrangement of square blue columns in an angle of which the throne is set4 ,when the audience is over1 pages draw blue curtains from each side of the proscenium diagonally backward to the columns by the throne4 ,this cuts down the room to terms of intimacy for the council scene4 ,the point at which ,weichert must enter definitely as rgisseur comes when ,elizabeth steps to one side of the room away from her group of councilors to read some document2 then the down-stage edge of the curtain at the side by the councilors is drawn back far enough for a flood of amber light to strike across in front of the men1 and catch the white figure of the queen4 ,here in this light she dominates the room2 and ,leicester1 when he steps into it for a scene with ,mortimer1 does the same4 ,it is a device of great use to the actor in building up the power and atmosphere of the moment4 ,the dramatic vigor of ,weichert never goes so high in ,maria ,stuart as ,reinhardt's1 but he is never so careless of detail or of subordinate scenes4 ,almost every inch of the play seems painstakingly perfected4 ,not only are the actors who give so sloppy a performance in ,peer ,gynt under another director1 strung up constantly to their best effort2 but every detail1 from contrasts in costuming and the arrangement of costumed figures1 to the motion of hands and bodies1 seems calculated to heighten the play's emotion4 ,take the first scene1 for example1 the prison in which ,queen ,mary is confined with her few retainers4 ,the drawing shows the interesting arrangement of the scene with bars to indicate a prison but not to obstruct action4 ,it pictures the final scene in a later act1 when the queen receives her friends and says good-by before going to her death4 ,the contrast of the queen in white and the others in black is excellent4 ,in the first act1 even the queen is in black2 the only note of color1 a deep red1 is given to the heroic boy1 ,mortimer1 who is to bring something like hope to ,mary4 ,the long scene between ,mortimer and the queen is handled with great dignity1 and at the same time intensity4 ,it is studied out to the last details4 ,the hands alone are worth all your attention4 ,weichert's direction passes on from atmosphere and movement to the expression that the players themselves give of their characters4 ,it is here perhaps that the resemblance to ,reinhardt is closest4 ,you catch it in many places3 the contrast between ,mortimer's tense young fervor1 and the masterful1 play-acting nonchalance of ,leicester2 this red and green horror of an ,elizabeth1 looking somehow as bald beneath her wig as history says she was1 and bursting with pent energies and passions2 towards the end of the play1 ,leicester1 the deliberate fop1 leaning against the wall like some wilted violet1 ,mortimer exhausted but still strong beside him2 then the death of the boy1 the quick stabbing1 and the spears of the soldiers raying towards his body on the floor4 ,it is all sharp1 firm1 poised--and very1 very careful4 ,illustration3 ,maria ,stuart3 a room in the castle where ,queen ,mary is imprisoned4 ,high black grills fill the proscenium arch on either side4 ,behind1 a flat wall of silvery gray4 ,the sketch shows the moment when ,mary1 gowned and veiled in white1 bids farewell to her attendants4 ,a ,weichert production in ,frankfort designed by ,sievert4 ,this is the past of ,reinhardt--continued into the present and the future by other men4 ,what of his own continuation of it8 ,some have thought him finished4 ,fifteen1 twenty years of such accomplishment in the theater are likely to drain any man4 ,and indeed ,reinhardt does seem to have run through his work in ,berlin1 and finished with it4 ,no one will know just how much was personal1 how much professional1 how much philosophic1 in the force that drove him to give up the leadership of his great organization1 and see it destroyed4 ,the difficulties of management1 with increasing costs and actors lost to the movies1 undoubtedly weighed heavily4 ,but it is certain that he felt the failure of his big1 pet venture1 the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus4 ,it was to have been the crown of his efforts and beliefs--the 8theater of the five thousand10 as he had called it from the days when he astounded the world with dipus4 ,in structure and design it was badly handled2 it proved a bastard thing and won the severe condemnation of the critics4 ,added to this was a desire1 unquestionably1 to shake loose1 to get a fresh prospect on the theater1 to strike out again if possible towards a final1 sure goal4 ,germans spoke of ,reinhardt as vacillating and uncertain in his first years in ,salzburg4 ,but is anything but uncertainty to be expected when a man has given up a long line of effort1 and is seeking a new one8 ,it is a virtue then to be unsure1 to be testing and trying the mind1 to be seeking some sort of truth and repeatedly rejecting error4 ,certainty began to creep in with ,reinhardt's plan for a ,festspielhaus in ,salzburg--a ,grosses ,schauspielhaus of simpler and more conservative pattern built truer on a knowledge of the mistakes of the first4 ,it was to unite ,reinhardt1 ,richard ,strauss1 the composer1 and ,hugo von ,hofmannsthal1 the playwright4 ,it reached some sort of tentative plan at the hands of ,poelzig1 who mis-designed the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 and ,adolf ,linnebach1 then passed on to ,max ,hasait1 who laid out a stage scheme for some new architect to build his plans around4 ,this scheme called for a semi-circular forestage1 with a revolving stage in its center1 a traveling cyclorama of the ,ars pattern behind this revolving stage1 a larger cyclorama taking in still a deeper stage1 and another and a larger cyclorama behind that4 ,the proscenium was to be narrowed or widened to suit the size of production and cyclorama4 ,the house itself was to be as adjustable1 with a ceiling that let down in such a way as to cut the seating capacity from three or four thousand to fifteen hundred4 ,while this project waited on capital1 an almost hopeless condition in ,austria1 and hints began to come that the ,festspielhaus would have to be built in ,geneva instead1 a new opportunity came to ,reinhardt's hands through ,president ,vetter1 head of the ,austrian ,state theaters1 an opportunity of working in a playhouse that agreed with much that ,reinhardt had felt about the relations of audience and actor4 ,he was invited to produce five or six plays in the fall of #aibb in the new theater in the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna4 ,here1 upon a stage practically without setting1 and within a room that holds actors and audience in a matrix of baroque richness1 ,reinhardt will have produced1 by the time this book appears1 the following plays3 ,turandot1 ,gozzi's ,italian comedy1 ,clavigor and ,stella by ,goethe1 ,molire's ,le ,misanthrope1 and ,dame ,cobalt by ,calderon4 ,here he will have to work in an absolutely non-realistic vein1 he will have to explore to the fullest the possibilities of the new and curious sort of acting which ,i have called presentational4 ,this adventure in ,maria ,theresa's ballroom will measure ,reinhardt against the future4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,artist ,,as ,,director ,the director of the future may not be a director of to-day4 ,he may not be a director at all4 ,he may be one of those artists whose appearance has been such a distinctive and interesting phenomenon of the twentieth century theater4 ,while we examine ,max ,reinhardt to discover if he is likely to be the flux which will fuse the expressionist play and the presentational actor1 it may be that the man we seek is his former designer of settings1 ,ernst ,stern4 ,the relation of artist and director in the modern theater has been a curious one1 quite as intimate as that of pilot-fish and shark1 and not so dissimilar4 ,attached to the shark1 the pilot-fish has his way through life made easy and secure2 he is carried comfortably from one hunting ground to another4 ,often1 however1 when the time comes to find food1 it is the pilot-fish that seeks out the provender1 and prepares the ground1 as it were1 for the attack of the shark4 ,then they both feast1 and the pilot-fish resumes his subordinate position4 ,we may shift the figure to pleasanter ground by grace of ,samuel ,butler1 the ,erewhonian4 ,this brilliant1 odd old gentleman1 a bit of a scientist as well as a literary man1 had a passion for transferring the terms and conceptions of biology to machinery and to man's social relationships4 ,departing from the crustaceans1 which grow new legs or tails as fast as the old are cut off1 he said3 8,what 444 can be more distinct from a man than his banker or his solicitor8 ,yet these are commonly so much parts of him that he can no more cut them off and grow new ones than he can grow new legs or arms2 neither must he wound his solicitor2 a wound in the solicitor is a very serious thing4 ,as for his bank1--failure of his bank's action may be as fatal to a man as failure of his heart4444 ,we can1 indeed1 grow butchers1 bakers1 and greengrocers1 almost ad libitum1 but these are low developments and correspond to skin1 hair1 or finger nails40 ,i do not know whether it would be right to say that directors have grown artists with great assiduity in the past twenty years1 or that the greatest of the directors have become as closely associated with particular artists as a well-to-do ,englishman is with his banker or his solicitor4 ,at any rate the name of ,reinhardt is intimately associated with the name of ,stern2 ,jessner has his ,pirchan1 ,fehling his ,strohbach2 ,i have spoken of the close relationship of ,weichert and ,sievert1 and ,i could point out similar identifications in ,america4 ,an artist of a certain type has come into a very definite1 creative connection with the art of production1 and he has usually brought his contribution to the theater of a particular director4 ,the designer is a modern product4 ,he was unknown to ,molire or ,shakespeare2 the tailor was their only artist4 ,except for incidental music1 costume is the one field in which another talent than that of actor or director invaded the theater from ,greek days until the last years of the seventeenth century4 ,there were designers of scenery in the ,renaissance1 but they kept to the court masques4 ,inigo ,jones would have been as astonished and as shocked as ,shakespeare if anybody had suggested that he try to work upon the stage of the ,globe ,theater4 ,the advent of ,italian opera--a development easy to trace from the court masques--and the building of elaborate theaters to house its scenery1 brought the painter upon the stage4 ,the names of the flamboyant brothers ,galli-,bibiena are the first great names to be met with in the annals of scene painting4 ,and they were the last great names until ,schinkel1 the ,german architect1 began in the early nineteenth century to seek a way of ridding the stage of the dull devices of the current scene painters4 ,scenery was not an invention of ,realism2 it was a much older thing4 ,i doubt if any one more talented than a good carpenter or an interior decorator was needed to achieve the actuality which the realists demanded4 ,when artists of distinction1 or designers with a flair for the theater appeared at the stage door1 it was because they saw ,shakespeare or ,goethe1 von ,hofmannsthal or ,maeterlinck sending in their cards to ,irving or ,reinhardt or ,stanislavsky4 ,illustration3 ,the ,desert3 a setting by ,isaac ,grnewald from the opera1 ,samson and ,delilah4 ,a vista of hills and sky1 painted and lit in tones of burning orange1 is broken at either side by high1 leaning walls of harsh gray rock4 ,the director1 ,harald ,andr1 has grouped his players so as to continue the triangular form of the opening through which they are seen4 ,at the ,royal ,opera in ,stockholm4 ,now what are the relations that this modern phenomenon has established with the theater through the medium of the director8 ,ordinarily they differ very much from the attitude that existed between the old-fashioned scenic artist and the director1 and the attitude that still exists in the case of most scenic studios4 ,this is the relation of shopkeeper and buyer4 ,the director orders so many settings from the studio4 ,perhaps he specifies that they are to be arranged in this or that fashion1 though usually1 if the director hasn't the intelligence to employ a thoroughly creative designer1 he hasn't the interest to care what the setting is like so long as it has enough doors and windows to satisfy the dramatist4 ,occasionally you find a keen1 modern director who1 for one reason or another1 has to employ an artist of inferior quality4 ,then it is the director's ideas and conceptions and even his rough sketches and plans that are executed1 not the artist's4 ,in ,stockholm1 for example1 ,harald ,andr so dominates the official scene painter of the ,opera that the settings for ,macbeth are largely ,andr's in design though they are ,thorolf ,jansson's in execution4 ,even in the case of the exceptionally talented artist1 ,isaac ,grnewald1 with whom ,andr associated himself for the production of ,samson and ,delilah1 the director's ideas could dominate in certain scenes4 ,for example1 in the beautiful and effective episode of the ,jews in the desert which ,andr injected into the first act--a scene for which the director required a symbolic picture of the fall of the walls of ,philistia to accompany the orchestral music which he used for this interlude4 ,the brilliance with which ,grnewald executed the conception may be judged from the accompanying illustration4 ,the commonest relationship of the director and the designer has been coperative4 ,the artist has brought a scheme of production to the director as often1 perhaps1 as the director has brought such a scheme to the artist4 ,the director has then criticized1 revised1 even amplified the artist's designs1 and has brought them to realization on the stage4 ,and the artist and the director1 arranging lights at the final rehearsals1 have come to a last coperation which may be more important to the play than any that has gone before4 ,illustration3 ,samson and ,delilah3 the mill4 ,a remarkable example of an essentially ornamental theatrical setting1 designed by ,isaac ,grnewald for the ,royal ,opera in ,stockholm4 ,black emptiness4 ,a slanting shaft of light strikes the millstone in a vivid crescent4 ,as the wheel travels in its track this crescent widens to a disk of blinding light1 and then shrinks again4 ,the actual forms of this setting are sublimated into an arresting composition of shifting abstract shapes of light4 ,you find1 however1 constant evidence of the artist running ahead of the director in the creation of details of production which have a large bearing on the action as well as on the atmosphere of the play4 ,grnewald brought a setting to the mill scene in ,samson and ,delilah which was not only strikingly original and dramatic1 but which forced the direction into a single course4 ,the usual arrangement is the flat millstone with a long pole1 against which ,samson pushes1 treading out a large circle as the stone revolves4 ,the actor is always more or less visible1 and there is no particular impression of a cruel machine dominating a human being4 ,grnewald changed all this by using a primitive type of vertical millstone4 ,the sketch shows the stage in darkness except for one shaft of light striking sideways across4 ,the great wheel is set well down front within a low circular wall4 ,along the wall ,samson walks1 pushing against a short pole that sticks out from the center of one face of the high narrow1 millstone4 ,as he pushes1 the stone swings about and also revolves4 ,this allows the beam of light to catch first a thin crescent at the top of the curving edge of the wheel1 then a wider and wider curve1 until suddenly1 as ,samson comes into view1 the light brings out the flat face of the wheel like a full moon4 ,against this the actor is outlined for his aria4 ,then1 while the orchestra plays1 he pushes the wheel once more around4 ,this arrangement is extraordinarily fine as a living picture and as an expression of the mood of the scene4 ,moreover1 it is a triumph for the artist1 because it is an idea in direction as well as setting4 ,it dictates the movement of the player and manages it in the best possible way4 ,no other action for ,samson is possible in this set1 and no other action could be so appropriate and effective4 ,examples of similar dictation by the artist--though none so striking--come to mind4 ,in ,frankfort ,sievert arranged the settings for ,strindberg's ,towards ,damascus in a way that contributed dramatic significance to the movement of the players4 ,the piece is in seventeen scenes2 it proceeds through eight different settings to reach the ninth1 a church1 and from the ninth the hero passes back through the eight in reverse order until he arrives at the spot where the action began4 ,sievert saw an opportunity to use the revolving stage1 as well as elements of design1 in a way interpreting and unifying the play4 ,he placed all nine scenes on the 8revolver10 and he made the acting floor of each successive setting a little higher than the last4 ,this results in rather narrow rooms and a sea shore bounded by formal yellow walls1 but it permits an obvious unity1 it shows visually the path that the hero has to follow1 and it symbolizes his progress as a steady upward movement towards the church4 ,the artist dictating a particular kind of direction is obvious enough in ,chout 7,le ,bouffon71 the fantastic comic ballet by ,prokofieff which ,gontcharova designed for the ,ballets ,russes4 ,gontcharova's settings are not particularly good1 but at least they have a definite and individual character4 ,they are expressionist after a fashion related more or less to ,cubism4 ,they present ,russian scenes in wildly distorted perspective4 ,log houses and wooden fences shatter the backdrop in a war of serried timbers4 ,a table is painted on a wing1 the top tipping up at an alarming angle1 one plate drawn securely upon it1 and another1 of papier-mch1 pinned to it4 ,all this sort of thing enjoined upon the rgisseur a kind of direction quite as bizarre1 mannered1 and comic4 ,chout seems to have had no direction at all in any creative sense4 ,the rgisseur failed to meet the challenge of the artist4 ,illustration3 ,the first scene of ,tchehoff's ,uncle ,vanya4 ,here ,pitoff indicates a ,russian country side by a rustic bench and slender birch trees formally spaced against a flat gray curtain4 ,it is ordinarily very hard to say what share the artist or the director has had in the scheme of a setting1 or whether the director has bothered his head at all about the setting after confiding it to what he considers competent hands4 ,it is an interesting speculation just how much the physical shape of ,reinhardt's productions has been the sole creation of his artist1 ,stern4 ,certainly ,stern delighted in the problems which the use of the revolving stage presented1 and only in a single mind could the complexities of these sets1 nesting together like some cut-out puzzle1 be organized to a definite end4 ,it is entirely possible that1 except for a conference on the general tone of the production1 and criticisms of the scheme devised by ,stern1 ,reinhardt may have given no thought at all to the scenery4 ,stern was a master in his own line1 and for ,reinhardt there was always the thing he delighted most in1 the emotional mood produced by the voices and movements of the actors4 ,his carelessness of detail even in the acting1 suggests that for him there were only the biggest moments1 the important elements and climaxes1 that put over the emotion of the play4 ,sometimes artist and director are the same1 as with ,pitoff in ,geneva and ,paris1 or with ,knut ,strm in ,gothenburg4 ,in such a case setting1 direction1 and acting are one4 ,but ordinarily there is a division of responsibility1 and an opportunity for the artist to play a part in the production of a drama far more important than ,bibiena's4 ,just how important it may prove to be is bound up1 ,i think1 with the future of the theater as a physical thing1 and with the temperament of the artist4 ,working as a designer of picture-settings1 the artist can only suggest action1 but not dictate it1 through the shapes and atmospheres he creates4 ,the important thing is that almost all the designers of real distinction in ,europe are tending steadily away from the picture-setting4 ,they are constantly at work upon plans for breaking down the proscenium-frame type of production1 and for reaching a simple platform stage or podium upon which the actor shall present himself frankly as an actor4 ,this means1 curiously enough1 that the designers of scenery are trying to eliminate scenery1 to abolish their vocation4 ,and this in turn should indicate that the artist has his eye on something else besides being an artist4 ,the director who works in such a new theater as the artists desire--in the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna1 for example1--requires an artist to work with him who sees art in terms of the arrangement of action upon steps1 and against properties or screens4 ,this is ordinarily the business of the director in our picture-frame theater2 with the work of the artist enchantingly visible in the setting behind the actors1 the director can get away reasonably well with the esthetic problems of the relations of actors and furniture and of actors and actors4 ,nobody notes his shortcomings in this regard4 ,put him upon an almost naked stage1 and he must not only make his actors far more expressive in voice and feature1 but he must also do fine things with their bodies and their meager surroundings4 ,this is far easier for a pictorial artist than for the director1 who is usually an actor without a well-trained eye4 ,the director must therefore employ an artist even in the sceneryless theater1 and employ him to do what is really a work of direction4 ,the two must try to fuse their individualities and abilities1 and bring out a composite director-artist1 a double man possessing the talents that appear together in ,pitoff4 ,illustration3 ,a scene from ,grabbe's ,napoleon4 ,the ,place de ,grve in ,paris is indicated by a great street lamp set boldly on a raised platform in the center of the stage4 ,a ,jessner production designed by ,cesar ,klein4 ,the immediate question is obviously this3 ,if the director cannot acquire the talents of the artist1 why cannot the artist acquire the talents of the director8 ,if the knack of visual design1 and the keen appreciation of physical relationships cannot be cultivated in a man who does not possess them by birth1 is it likewise impossible for the man who possesses them to acquire the faculty of understanding and of drawing forth emotion in the actor8 ,the problem narrows down to the temperament of the artist versus the temperament of the director4 ,there is a difference2 it is no use denying it4 ,the director is ordinarily a man sensitive enough to understand human emotion deeply and to be able to recognize it1 summon it1 and guide it in actors4 ,but he must also be callous enough to meet the contacts of direction--often very difficult contacts--and to organize not only the performance of the players1 but also a great deal of bothersome detail involving men and women who must be managed and cajoled1 commanded1 and worn down1 and generally treated as no artist cares to treat others1 or to treat himself in the process of treating others4 ,the director must be an executive1 and this implies a cold ability to dominate other human beings1 which the artist does not ordinarily have4 ,the artist is essentially a lonely worker4 ,he is not gregarious in his labor4 ,so far as the future goes1 the hope for the artist is that he will be able to reverse the ,butlerian process which held in the relations of director and designer4 ,he must be able to 8grow a director40 ,this may not be so very difficult4 ,it may very well happen that an artist will employ a stage manager1 as an astute director now employs an artist1 to do a part of his work for him4 ,he will explain to the stage manager the general scheme of production that he wants1 much as a director explains to an artist the sort of settings he desires4 ,the stage manager will rehearse the movements of the actors towards this end4 ,when the artist sees opportunities for further development of action and business1 he will explain this to the stage manager1 and perhaps to the players involved1 and the stage manager will again see that the ideas of his superior are carried out4 ,something of the kind occurs even now where a director employs a subdirector to 8break in0 the company4 ,both ,reinhardt and ,arthur ,hopkins1 though thoroughly capable of 8wading into0 a group of players1 and enforcing action by minute direction and imitation1 generally use the quiet method of consulting with players1 and suggesting changes to them1 not during the actual rehearsal1 but afterwards in the protection of a wing or the privacy of a dressing room4 ,illustration3 ,the first scene from ,othello as staged by ,leopold ,jessner in ,berlin4 ,on long curved steps which remain throughout1 and against the neutral background of the cyclorama1 the artist1 ,emil ,pirchan1 puts the barest indications of place4 ,here1 ,brabantio's house gleams like a moonstone against a background of neutral-tinted distance4 ,the presence of the artist as director in some future theater without scenery1 implies a decided influence on the type of acting4 ,such a stage itself1 thrust boldly at the spectators1 if not actually placed in the midst of them1 tends to dictate a frank1 direct contact between players and audience4 ,in such a house an actor will be all but forced to desert the purely representational style of to-day1 and to present himself and his emotions in an open1 assertive1 masculine manner as objects of art and of emotion4 ,the tendency of the artist towards this kind of theater implies1 ,i think1 a tendency towards presentational acting4 ,certainly ,i have talked with few who were not receptive to it4 ,put together a stage that tends towards presentational acting and an artist whose instincts run to the same ends1 and the outcome is not difficult to foresee4 ,the problem at present is1 what artist8 ,and where8 ,and how soon8 ,,chapter ,,xi ,a ,,new ,,adventure ,,in ,,direction ,the outstanding director in the ,german theater to-day is also the most radical director4 ,and the most radical director is at the head of the ,prussian ,state ,theater1 the ,schauspielhaus1 in ,berlin4 ,his name is ,leopold ,jessner1 and he is the only man who has threatened to fill the place made vacant by ,reinhardt's retirement4 ,some say that he has already filled it1 and--with disarming logic--that ,reinhardt was only a mountebank anyhow4 ,some think ,jessner a clever eccentric4 ,certainly he is the most discussed personality in the ,german theater1 and his methods are the most debated4 ,one word crops up whenever his name is mentioned--,jessnertreppen4 ,the ,german language has boiled down into a single word an idea that we would have to phrase as 8those crazy steps of ,leopold ,jessner40 ,it makes a handy stone for the anti-,jessnerites to throw at the director's friends4 ,jessner's friends are beginning to have the good sense to pick up the stone and throw it back4 ,for the word ,jessnertreppen hits off a virtue--perhaps1 the main virtue of the man4 ,illustration3 ,othello3 act ,,iii1 scene #c4 ,a towering column1 with its lower end sharpened like the point of a lead pencil1 is seemingly driven into one end of the central platform4 ,othello and ,iago stand at the base4 ,,iago3 ,have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief ,spotted with strawberries in your wife's hands8 ,jessner fills his stage with steps4 ,he seems unable to get along without them4 ,he must have platforms1 levels1 walls1 terraces4 ,they are to him what screens1 towering shapes1 great curtains are to ,gordon ,craig4 ,in every production ,jessner1 through his artist1 ,emil ,pirchan1 provides some permanent foundation besides the stage-floor for the actor to play upon1 some arrangement of different levels4 ,in his ,richard ,,iii it is a wall all across the stage1 with a platform along the top at the base of another wall1 and for certain scenes a flight of steps like a pyramid placed against the lower wall4 ,in ,othello ,jessner uses two platforms1 one on top of the other1 each reached by two or three steps1 the lower a long ellipse almost as large as the stage1 the upper one smaller and proportionately broader2 upon the upper platform ,jessner places certain indications of setting4 ,for ,grabbe's ,napoleon he uses four or five steps rising sharply to a platform perhaps four feet high4 ,sometimes this platform is supplemented by a high one pulled apart in the middle to make opposing hills1 redoubts1 vantage points in the battle scenes4 ,the ,jessnertreppen are the key to the physical things in this director's productions4 ,they give the stage one general shape for each play4 ,they establish a formal quality4 ,they tend to banish representation in scenery1 since only indications of setting harmonize with their frank artificiality4 ,and--their main purpose--they provide the director with most interesting opportunities for manuvering his actors4 ,one of the simplest and most obvious of these is a new way of making entrances4 ,such steps as are used in ,othello and ,napoleon go down at the back as far as they rise in the front1 and below that the director opens a trap or two in the floor4 ,thus he is able to have an actor walk straight up out of the back of the stage1 and appear in a dominating position in the middle of the action4 ,jessner uses this novel means of entrance again and again in ,othello1 and it is always fresh and effective4 ,for the return to ,cyprus the ,moor marches triumphantly up these steps1 to the welcome of his wife4 ,far more important1 however1 is what ,jessner does with the front of the steps4 ,they may be there to help a formal stage with very little scenery to seem steadily interesting even to audiences that expect the conventional gauds of the theater4 ,but their true office is to make possible a sort of three-dimensional direction for which ,jessner has become renowned4 ,ordinarily the actor moves in only two directions upon the stage--right and left1 and towards the footlights and away from them4 ,as a matter of fact1 the latter movement is so unsatisfactory from the point of view of any spectators except those in the balconies1 that the actor really has only one plane in which he can move visibly and expressively4 ,jessner does more than add a third dimension when he sends his actors up and down the steps4 ,he also gives a great deal more significance to the movement towards and away from the audience4 ,illustration3 ,othello3 act #d1 scene #b4 ,cyprus4 ,the castle4 ,on the central platform are set two curved screens of dull salmon pink4 ,behind1 the quivering darkness of the unlighted cyclorama4 ,emilia1 dressed in deep crimson1 stands in the foreground4 ,beside the sense of movement--always an intriguing thing in the theater--,jessner provides in his steps a mechanism for solving many dramatic problems4 ,his actors do not spend their time getting out of the way of the actors behind them4 ,they are not shuttling back and forth in an effort to let the audience see all the players at the same time4 ,one actor cannot 8cover0 another if he stands on steps4 ,even a very large crowd can appear on such a stage without the individual speakers being lost4 ,as ,lee ,simonson showed in his use of different levels for the ,theater ,guild's production of ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped1 with the proper sort of elevations on the stage a large number of actors can play a very complicated scene without confusing their relationships or assuming awkward positions4 ,but a great deal more important than this negative virtue is the positive contribution of steps in permitting many more and much finer compositions than the flat floor permits4 ,jessner composes freely in three dimensions4 ,he composes both for esthetic and for dramatic effect4 ,there are times when you can see him arranging his actors with nothing but the esthetic aim in mind4 ,take the first scene in which ,napoleon himself appears in ,grabbe's drama4 ,it is not a particularly good setting in some ways2 it is a rather obvious and ugly silhouette of a bastion and a slanting parapet leading up to it4 ,the scene shows ,napoleon receiving reports from an officer and giving orders4 ,jessner deliberately places ,napoleon on top of the bastion against the sky and stands the officer stiffly on the parapet below2 the relation of the two men as characters in the play is thus established visually as well as through the text4 ,the relation of the two men as a composition--not as characters--has to be disturbed by the entrance of a second officer4 ,it is obviously impossible for ,napoleon and the first officer both to retain their positions if the second officer is to fit into a composition4 ,accordingly the first moves just enough to establish a new esthetic relation embracing all three4 ,jessner is free with his dramatic compositions and occasionally altogether too obvious4 ,he keeps his dominant people at the top of the ,jessnertreppen1 or brings them down as they lose command4 ,he handles the accession of ,richard ,,iii as ,shakespeare did1 and as very few directors have since done4 ,when the burghers come to ask ,richard to be king1 they find him 8aloft1 between two bishops10 in compliance with ,buckingham's advice3 8,go1 go up to the leads40 ,jessner has ,richard walk upon the platform above the wall2 it is his first appearance on high and he maintains his place until the battle at the end4 ,at the close of ,napoleon1 the emperor1 who has appeared hitherto only at the top of the steps1 is seen seated1 broken and disconsolate1 on the lowest step of all1 with a sinking sun behind him1 and the soldiers above4 ,illustration3 ,othello3 act #d1 scene #b4 ,iago lurks in the shadow of a great black shape distorted like the trunk of some fantastic tree4 ,cassio pursues ,roderigo along a narrow path which skirts the base of the cyclorama2 you see their running figures1 far away and small4 ,it would seem safe to infer from all this that ,jessner is not a realistic producer4 ,he might1 of course1 have achieved many of these effects within a natural setting1 but only at the cost of a great deal of laborious planning and manuvering4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,jessner doesn't use one ounce of energy trying to be either natural or plausible4 ,his method is openly expressionistic4 ,jessner distorts the natural in a hundred ways to achieve something expressive of the drama4 ,the first scene in ,napoleon1 as he gives it1 is supposed according to the text to pass in the arcades of the ,palais ,royal1 lined with booths4 ,various episodes1 dialogues1 and harangues take place between different speakers and different knots of the crowd4 ,the usual method of handling such a scene is to turn on and off the speech of the different groups of actors at will1 making certain speakers and parts of the crowd obligingly inaudible to the audience4 ,there is little enough of nature in such a business1 but ,jessner banishes even that4 ,he keeps the stage empty except for small crowds that rush out1 along with the speakers or show-barkers1 for particular episodes4 ,jessner handles crowds even more arbitrarily at times4 ,later in ,napoleon1 during a riot preceding the news of ,napoleon's return from exile1 a revolutionist kills a tailor4 ,as his body sinks to the steps1 the crowd of red-clothed men and women falls upon him1 almost as if to devour the corpse1 and covers the steps as with a great blood-red stain4 ,in ,richard ,,iii1 when ,gloucester appears as king in a red cloak upon the top of the red steps1 which are placed for this purpose against the wall1 his eight retainers1 also in red1 sink down in a heap below him like a pile of bloody skulls4 ,in ,othello1 when the ,moor returns in triumph to ,cyprus a cheering crowd comes with him up the steps from the back4 ,when he has reached the top and can go no higher1 the crowd sinks prostrate4 ,for a moment he seems to grow in stature1 and his triumph to tower upward4 ,illustration3 ,the prison scene from ,richard ,,iii4 ,a triangular patch of light discloses a low arched opening in the nearer wall of the permanent setting where ,clarence sits in chains4 ,,clarence3 ,wedges of gold1 great anchors1 heaps of pearl1 ,inestimable stones1 unvalued jewels4444 ,these are all compositions in three dimensions1 as well as violations of ordinary human conduct4 ,jessner can also create symbolic action out of unnatural action without any particular aid from the steps4 ,the scene of ,napoleon's entrance into the throne room of ,louis ,,xviii is an interesting example4 ,the steps give prominence to the throne1 and enable the audience to see better2 but ,jessner's symbolism has nothing to do with the steps4 ,the scene is made up of some curtains masking each side1 two wings cut in rococo curves and ornamented with lilies in rococo patterns4 ,a flat backdrop of the same design and colors--not a very good design or very ,french colors--completes the room4 ,in this room in an earlier scene ,louis has held audience1 a fat1 yellow-and-white egg of a man1 like some ,humpty-,dumpty caught in a flood of the fierce white light that is supposed to beat about a throne1 and all too seldom does anything of the kind4 ,but now ,louis is gone1 and the lilies of the wall are shadowed by curtains of ,napoleonic blue1 which have1 for some unaccountable reason1 got themselves hung in the room4 ,napoleon enters through the gap in the curtains1 reaches up1 seizes the edge of one of them1 and pulls it down over the glory that was ,bourbon4 ,then he turns and faces the audience while two files of soldiers march stiffly past him to the opposite side from which each entered4 ,the gesture to the curtains1 and the staccato march of the soldiers back of ,napoleon1 set out the drama of his returning power4 ,naturally ,shakespeare1 even more than ,grabbe1 gives ,jessner exceptional opportunities to symbolize and formalize in direction4 ,he is quick to seize them--particularly in the soliloquies4 ,he begins ,richard ,,iii with ,gloucester speaking to the audience as ,prologue2 he ends it with ,richmond as ,epilogue4 ,jessner always flings asides directly at the spectators4 ,when he comes upon soliloquies--as in ,brakenbury's musings after ,clarence has fallen asleep in his cell--he cuts them off sharply from the previous action by altering the lighting1 and bringing the actor down-stage to speak full at the audience4 ,he places the murderers squatting on the prompter's box for much of their chatter4 ,he has the scrivener read ,hastings' condemnation to the audience from the same vantage point1 and upon this relic1 in poses fashioned a little after ,rodin's ,burghers of ,calais1 he places the three citizens who discourse of the old king's death and the sorry state of the realm4 ,jessner is quite as arbitrary in his handling of light as in his handling of people4 ,he does not use light merely to illumine the stage1 as directors did thirty years ago4 ,he does not use light and shadow merely to define action by making faces and figures more dynamic1 as ,appia set modern producers doing4 ,he uses light and shadow as a parallel expression to the play4 ,light and shadow act the drama almost as much as do the players4 ,the light is not in the least 8natural40 ,it suits the mood of the scene4 ,it waxes and wanes with the progress or the action4 ,when the little princes enter in ,richard ,,iii the light shines out more brightly4 ,when ,othello dies1 it grows dim1 then a sharp shaft of light shoots out from the prompter's box1 and throws the shadow of ,iago over the tragedy he has caused1 and the shadow of the great canopied bed spreads out over the cyclorama1 which has stood as a sort of limit of space about the play4 ,jessner is particularly fond of shadows4 ,when one rival meets another and vanquishes him1 ,jessner will have him literally 8throw him into the shade40 ,spotlights1 flashing on1 create meaningful shadows4 ,an amusing example occurs in the soliloquy of ,richard ending3 ,shine out1 fair sun1 till ,i have bought a glass1 ,that ,i may see my shadow as ,i pass4 ,as ,richard says this1 the lights on the stage go down1 and a spotlight from the prompter's box throws his humped shadow on the wall4 ,illustration3 ,richard ,,iii3 ,gloucester and his shadow4 ,a high green-gray wall extends straight across the stage2 in front1 a lower wall4 ,as ,gloucester speaks1 ,shine out1 fair sun1 till ,i have bought a glass1 ,that ,i may see my shadow as ,i pass1 a spotlight concealed in the prompter's box is suddenly turned on and his shadow looms up1 huge and sinister4 ,jessner has his players under unusual control1 and he permits very little of the accidental expression of feeling which ,gordon ,craig inveighs against in the actor4 ,he even forbids the little shiftings and motions of the hands which are natural to anybody1 actor or layman1 while listening to a long speech from another4 ,jessner's actors1 if they are not speaking1 and if their emotions are not being very markedly played upon1 are held motionless4 ,they do not move a limb4 ,i have heard that1 in a ball room scene1 ,jessner kept dozens of players absolutely immobile in the poses of the dance while the two principals talked4 ,jessner's company1 as it appears in ,richard ,,iii1 ,napoleon1 and ,othello1 displays no extraordinary talent4 ,the director has instilled a vitality as sharp as the silence and immobility which he frequently demands2 and they play with that drive and that sharpness of accent which are inherently ,german4 ,but there is no genius here1 no ,moissi4 ,fritz ,kortner1 who plays ,richard and ,othello1 is the outstanding figure1 but he seems a player of limited vision and not very great technical range4 ,he plays both parts on the same two notes3 a soft1 precise1 and almost whispering voice1 and another that rasps and all but squalls4 ,both are a little monotonous in tempo and accent4 ,he uses the voice of the dove a great deal in ,othello1 both to establish the ,moor's kind and noble nature1 and also as a base upon which to rear the contrast of his anger4 ,the dove is a serpent in ,richard4 ,physically1 ,kortner's ,richard is odd and striking4 ,the actor is not very tall1 and he is decidedly thick in figure4 ,his attitudes1 the apelike swing of his arms1 his pudgy face1 twisted by an evil grin1 give him an odd appearance that constantly suggests other images than ,richard himself4 ,a humped toad1 a fat1 cross monkey1 a grinning ,japanese mask1 the mask of a ,greek comedian--finally the truth strikes home3 it is the ,balzac of ,rodin4 ,illustration3 ,richard ,,iii3 ,gloucester becomes ,king4 ,robed in scarlet1 he stands at the head of a flight of blood-red steps4 ,below him1 a double row of kneeling1 scarlet-clad courtiers4 ,behind1 a high gray wall4 ,above1 a blood-red sky4 ,there is a moment in ,richard when this curious figure is forgotten4 ,it is the dream of the king the night before the battle of ,bosworth ,field4 7,why is it1 by the way1 that no producer seems to have the genius and navet to produce this scene as ,shakespeare wrote it1 to place the tents of ,richard and of ,richmond on either side of the stage1 and to let the ghosts bless ,richmond and curse ,richard alternately as they do in the text87 ,jessner shears away the blessings1 and lets the ghosts curse in the wings4 ,upon the slant of the blood-red steps lies ,richard sleeping4 ,as the voices call1 he writhes and twists upon his uneasy couch4 ,the voices rise and race1 his agitation grows more and more horrible1 until at the end his humped body is beating a fearsome tattoo to the rhythm of the cursing ghostly voices4 ,immediately after this really effective and fine scene1 comes the extraordinary1 much talked of and quite ludicrous end of ,richard4 ,he has his scene with the generals1 then goes off to battle--or is it merely to tear off his coat of mail and his shirt8 ,at any rate he is on the stage a few moments later1 staggering along the top of the wall1 naked to the waist4 ,he cries3 8,a horse6 a horse6 my kingdom for a horse60 ,then he mounts his sword and1 as if on a hobby horse1 hops down the steps until exhaustion overcomes him and he falls4 ,perhaps this indicates the fault that at present keeps ,jessner from being a great director4 ,his judgment and his taste--which mean the soul with which he interprets and animates his work--are very1 very faulty4 ,there is no austerity and almost no true beauty in his ,othello1 only strength4 ,there is no dignity in his ,richard ,,iii1 only horror4 ,he has made ,richard terrible1 but only with the terror of wormy graveyards4 ,there is nothing of #aeth century ,england in it1 none of the beauty and flash of the time to make the hideousness of ,gloucester the darker4 ,the play is drowned in black--dirty1 mean black4 ,far worse1 it is stripped of the qualities that are ,shakespeare4 ,worst of all1 there is no shred of poetry in the whole length of the production1 unless it is the final moment4 ,if you can forget the question of taste--if you do not care what interpretation a man puts on a great work of art--you must admit ,jessner to a very high place as a director4 ,he has originality1 ingenuity1 bravery1 an uncommon technical ability4 ,he is industrious1 and indefatigably careful4 ,his sins are not the sins of ,reinhardt4 ,no detail escapes him2 so small a thing as off-stage noise he handles with the greatest skill4 ,but ,jessner is no poet4 ,with the question of taste goes also another fault1 not so grave1 yet important and perhaps significant4 ,jessner appears to worship the obvious1 to believe that the theater is a place of ,a4 ,b4 ,c4 impressions and reactions4 ,he is daring enough in his technique but not in his ideas4 ,he flings out symbols right and left1 but they are the symbols of the primer4 ,he directs in words of one syllable4 ,richard ,,iii is an explanation in black and white1 which occasionally ventures to lisp in white and red4 ,richard begins the play in black against a black curtain1 speaking the soliloquy of 8,now is the winter of our discontent40 ,richmond ends it in white against a white curtain with his speech to ,stanley and his soldiers converted into a soliloquy to the audience4 ,the troops of ,richard are red-clothed figures crossing the red steps4 ,the troops of ,richmond cross it in white4 ,this is symbolism in baby-talk1 presentational production in kindergarten terms4 ,it is not impossible that an audience is up to more than that4 ,illustration3 ,richard ,,iii3 on the blood-red steps of ,richard's coronation stands ,richmond1 a white-robed general at the head of an army all in white4 ,it may be1 of course1 that ,jessner is feeling his way and that to-morrow he will venture upon subtlety--if it is in him4 ,at any rate1 here is a presentational director1 a man who forswears resemblance and the picture frame1 and who sets actors and their movements1 the setting and its lights1 talking directly to the audience4 ,this is an advance in the methods of production which makes the new movement of twenty years ago look like an afternoon stroll1 a revolt which makes that much-hailed revolution seem a pleasant little excursion4 ,it is an advance and a revolt1 however1 still looking for a leader4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,masse-,,mensch--,,mob-,,man ,prophecy is a risky business in the theater1 especially when prophecy concerns itself with personalities rather than tendencies4 ,i find it very difficult to bring myself to say that the man who will become the leader of the new forces in the ,continental theater is ,jrgen ,fehling1 director of ,masse-,mensch4 ,and yet--on the basis of a single production--the temptation to believe something of the kind is strong indeed4 ,fehling's work is closely associated with two striking phenomena4 ,one is the ,volksbhne1 the workingman's theatrical organization of ,berlin1 which maintains the handsomest and best devised theater in the ,german capital2 and the other is the play which has been given there with such uncommon success1 ,masse-,mensch1 a strange and powerful tragedy of the 8social revolution of the twentieth century0 written by a communist leader1 ,ernst ,toller4 ,illustration3 ,the first moment of ,jessner's ,richard ,,iii4 ,gloucester1 a grotesque1 twisted figure in black1 stands silhouetted against a black curtain4 ,in contrast to this ,richmond speaks the final lines of the play dressed in white against a white curtain4 ,,gloucester3 ,now is the winter of our discontent ,made glorious summer4444 ,between these two extremes of black on black and white on white the play takes its course4 ,the ,berlin ,volksbhne is interesting enough in itself4 ,as the only organization that has been able to produce successfully this expressionist tragedy of communism1 its power and position seem highly significant4 ,this society of proletarian playgoers was founded more than thirty years ago as a sprouting bed for naturalistic drama and the social thesis-play4 ,to-day it still cultivates the best in ,realism and in the social drama1 but it looks condescendingly on the thesis-play1 and it gives the most completely artistic and successful example to be seen in ,germany of an expressionist play and an expressionist production4 ,the ,volksbhne has always had a double policy--that of buying out performances of good plays and retailing the seats to its members for much less than the box office prices1 and that of producing plays itself4 ,it began with a few ,sunday performances of both kinds1 and steadily grew in membership to the point where it buys all the ,sunday matinees at a number of theaters1 has two playhouses of its own1 the ,volksbhne and the ,neues ,volkstheater1 and is organizing an opera house1 the ,volksoper4 ,one hundred and eighty thousand men and women of the lower and lower-middle classes subscribed in #aibb for eight productions1 either at the society's theaters or at the playhouses with which it deals4 ,the ,volksbhne itself is rather an extraordinary theater4 ,its striking front1 with the words ,die ,kunst dem ,volke upon its pediment1 rises across a street that cuts through the workingmen's quarter of ,berlin1 and1 after a slight bend1 crosses the ,spree and becomes ,unter den ,linden4 ,from above its little triangle of park1 the ,volksbhne stares ironically and1 doubtless1 a little proudly down the long street that passes the hideous art galleries of the ,prussian government1 the palaces once occupied by the ,hohenzollerns1 the ,state ,opera1 where royalty turned its back upon ,richard ,strauss1 and runs on to the ,brandenburger ,tor of ,imperial memories4 ,the theater has the grimly noble air of the best of ,german architecture4 ,in its auditorium ,oskar ,kaufmann has turned from the austerity of gray stone to the richness of red mahogany4 ,the working class audiences of the ,volksbhne find themselves seated1 therefore1 in the handsomest and doubtless the most costly auditorium of ,berlin when they come to see the play which might almost be the story of their own defeat in the communist risings of #aiai4 ,masse-,mensch itself is a play1 half dream and half reality1 in which is pictured the conflict of ,masse1 the masses1 against ,mensch1 the individual1 of violent revolution against passive strike4 ,its drama pleads piteously for the sacredness of human life and the equal guilt of the ,state or the revolution that takes it4 ,because it was written by ,ernst ,toller1 who1 as he wrote it1 lay in a ,munich jail serving a twenty-year sentence for his part as ,minister of ,justice in the red rebellion which followed the assassination of ,kurt ,eisner by the reactionaries1 ,masse-,mensch is pretty generally taboo in ,german theaters4 ,in the first six months after its premire at the ,volksbhne 7#bith ,september1 #aiba7 it was played about seventy times1 a very great number of performances in repertory4 ,but upon its production in ,nuremberg riots interrupted the first performance1 and it was never repeated4 ,illustration3 ,richard ,,iii3 the final moment4 ,white virtue triumphs4 ,,richmond3 ,now civil wounds are stopp'd1 ,peace lives again3 ,that she may long live here1 ,god say ,amen6 ,to the significance of the play itself and the proletarian organization which flings it in the face of a ,germany where monarchists and republicans1 socialists and communists1 ,state and cabals1 murder with almost equal recklessness1 must be added a truly remarkable type and quality of production4 ,it bears a certain relation to the work of ,jessner at the ,state ,schauspielhaus1 where1 by the way1 ,fehling is now to be employed4 ,it is absolutely free of ,realism and representation--as all expressionist production must be4 ,it reduces setting to less than symbol1 to what is hardly more than a convenient platform for the actor4 ,it uses light arbitrarily4 ,masse-,mensch is a piece in seven scenes4 ,the first1 third1 fifth and seventh are actual2 the others are dream-pictures4 ,in the first scene ,toller's stage directions call for 8,the rear room of a workingman's meeting hall4 ,on the white-washed walls1 portraits of leaders of the people and photographs of union delegates4 ,in the center a heavy table1 at which a woman and two workmen are seated40 ,the stage directions for the second scene1 or first dream-picture1 read3 8,indicated3 ,the hall of a stock exchange4 ,at the desk1 a clerk2 about him1 bankers and brokers40 ,the playwright felt keenly the possibilities of the modern1 subjective methods of productions1 or he would not have used the word1 8indicated40 ,he did not feel them clearly enough1 however1 to risk more than their application to the dream-pictures4 ,but1 taking 8,indicated0 as a key-word1 ,fehling has boldly ventured to apply abstract and expressionist methods to the whole of this thoroughly expressionist play4 ,in the first scene1 for instance1 as you see it at the ,volksbhne1 there is no hall1 there is no desk1 there are no portraits4 ,there is nothing but a deep box of high black curtains1 and in the center a very low1 broad platform4 ,upon this platform1 spotted out with three shafts of light1 are the two men and the woman in the taut attitudes of wrestlers as they clasp hands1 the woman in the middle4 ,for the dream scene1 the stage is again in black curtains1 but those at the rear are occasionally opened to show a clerk on an impossibly high stool1 writing on an impossibly high desk1 almost in silhouette against the yellow-lighted dome4 ,a few steps lead down into the darkness of the front stage4 ,fehling and his stage designer1 ,hans ,strohbach1 pursue the same general method in the succeeding scenes4 ,the 8real0 episodes are set in black curtains and with steps of one sort or another2 they are lit by obvious beams of light1 and they are given no more color than shows in the woman's severe blue dress and one glimpse of the yellow dome4 ,the dream-pictures are more elaborately staged1 though they seem quite bare by the standard of our productions4 ,the curious part is that the scenes of reality are more expressionistic1 considering their purpose1 than the dream-pictures4 ,reality is made of nothing but abstract plastic shapes1 harsh1 and harshly lit4 ,dreamland is sometimes painted and shaped in the slightly decorative spirit of ,expressionism1 and it is lit with beauty and atmosphere4 ,illustration3 ,masse-,mensch3 dream-picture4 ,a courtyard4 ,towering dark walls lean inward2 a green night sky2 guards with lanterns seated on the floor at either side4 ,a man stands in the center playing a concertina4 ,the effective arrangement of ,strohbach's scenes1 and the powerful use which ,fehling makes of them stamp the physical side of this production with distinction4 ,spiritually it is even more distinguished because of the rightness of vision with which ,fehling interprets the play1 and the brilliance with which he handles1 not only the individual acting1 but a chorus of united voices1 which speaks through many scenes with an extraordinary clarity and emotion4 ,from the beginning of the first scene the actors strike the note of intensity and conviction1 both as players and as characters1 which they are to carry through the whole performance4 ,mary ,dietrich1 once of ,reinhardt's company1 plays superbly the woman protagonist of the strike and of humanity4 ,from the moment when her husband comes to her in the name of love to ask her to give up the leadership of the strike1 which will begin next day1 ,dietrich drives with such furious precision at the meaning of this woman that she stands out immediately as a sort of ,christ-figure4 ,in the beginning she must give up all2 she must leave home and love1 to follow her call4 ,in the end she must go to the scaffold rejecting all means of escape4 ,it is one of the distinctions of this play1 as well as of ,dietrich's playing1 that this reference to ,christ is so beautiful and so sure1 yet so reticent4 ,the second scene1 the dream-picture of a stock exchange1 is a foreboding and dread satire4 ,the bankers and brokers bid up human souls in the war that is under way1 and make plans for an international corporation1 which1 posing as a founder of homes for convalescent soldiers1 will open brothels for the troops4 ,the woman appears in her dream1 and makes a vain appeal to the humanity of these men4 ,the bankers hear only the announcement of a mine accident and plan a benefit dance1 beginning with a fox-trot by the brokers around the stage4 ,the third scene is the labor meeting at which a decision is to be taken on action to stop the making of munitions and end the war4 ,here again1 ,fehling throws the author's realistic stage directions overboard 7much1 be it said1 to the author's pleasure74 ,instead of a hall1 there is again blackness1 emptiness4 ,out of the emptiness speaks a marvelous choral voice1 the voice of the masses1 measured1 vibrant1 intense3 ,wir ewig eingekeilt ,in ,schluchten steiler ,huser4 ,wir preisgegeben ,der ,mechanik hhnischer ,systeme4 ,wir antlitzlos in ,nacht der ,trnen4 ,wir ewig losgelst von ,mttern1 ,aus ,tiefen der ,fabriken rufen wir3 ,wann werden ,liebe wir leben8 ,wann werden ,werk wir wirken8 ,wann wird ,erlsung uns8 ,illustration3 ,masse-,mensch3 the revolutionists' meeting4 ,on a broad flight of steps rising steeply from the footlights1 men and women are grouped in an irregular lozenge1 arbitrarily lit by sharp beams of light from the top and sides of the proscenium arch4 ,a ,fehling production designed by ,strohbach4 ,nothing like this voice1 coming out of a darkness in which faces vaguely begin to hover1 has been imagined1 much less attempted1 in our theater4 ,the lights rise--or it would be more accurate to say1 shoot down--upon the men and women workers standing in an irregular lozenge shape upon steep steps1 which spread to the curtains at each side4 ,out of this crowd1 in chorus and singly1 come pleas for action1 and visions of suffering which sweep the audience with emotion4 ,the woman cries for a strike against war and against capital4 ,behind her rises ,the ,nameless ,one1 the bastard of ,war1 to cry for armed revolt4 ,his passion sweeps the masses1 and the woman submits4 ,the fourth scene1 another dream-picture1 envisages her fears for the course of the revolution1 her intuition that it will only breed a new violence1 the violence of the proletariat4 ,below great1 crooked1 towering walls1 guards hang over green lanterns4 ,they sing ribald songs of their miseries4 ,the ,nameless ,one enters1 and1 standing in the middle1 plays wildly on a concertina1 while the guards and the condemned dance the dance of death about him4 ,the sky lights up on a sudden in crimson1 then pulses in and out2 colors flood down over the moving figures in waves that throb with the music4 ,among the condemned is the husband of the woman4 ,she tries to save him1 as she would save all men from violence4 ,her pleas are useless4 ,she stands with him before the firing squad as the curtain falls4 ,the fifth scene1 the tremendous scene of the play and the production1 is the rally at the workers' headquarters in the face of defeat4 ,the stage is again boxed in black4 ,there are steps like the corner of a pyramid rising up to the right of the audience4 ,upon these steps gather the working people4 ,you see a host1 affrighted and cowering1 in the twenty-four men and women who stagger upon the steps singing ,the ,marseillaise4 ,as they sway1 locked together hand in hand1 like men on a sinking ship1 and the old song mounts up against the distant rattle of machine guns1 the scene brings the cold sweat of desperate excitement to the audience that fills the ,volksbhne1 and to comfortable1 purse-proud ,americans as much as to men who have fought in the streets of ,berlin4 ,suddenly there is a louder rattle of arms4 ,the noise sweeps through the air4 ,it drives into the souls of the huddling men and women4 ,they collapse1 go down1 fall in a tangled heap4 ,the curtains at the left loop up suddenly4 ,there in the gap against the yellow sky stand the soldiers4 ,they arrest the woman1 the woman whom the rebels were about to condemn for her opposition to their slaughter4 ,illustration3 ,masse-,mensch3 the rallying4 ,a pyramid of steps slanting to the right of the stage4 ,at its apex1 a group of tense revolutionists sing ,the ,marseillaise1 the woman-heroine opposite them in the center4 ,suddenly machine-guns attack the meeting4 ,the sixth scene is a dream-picture of the woman in prison4 ,there is a void1 a misty1 swimming emptiness4 ,upon a platform is the woman's cell1 a scarlet cage in which she can only kneel4 ,about her stand guards1 bankers1 the ghosts of dead enemies4 ,they accuse her4 ,she answers4 ,at last1 out of the void rise the shapes of the masses1 the imprisoned masses who have been betrayed by violence and by the woman who deserted them and cast her lot with violence4 ,they move in a great circle of towering shadows that seem to hang in the emptiness of the sky1 as they pass across the dome at the back of the stage4 ,the guilt of the masses1 the guilt of the individual1 the guilt of the woman--they have filled the air with recrimination4 ,the figures of the imprisoned masses stop suddenly in their round4 ,they raise their arms4 ,they cry3 8,we accuse60 ,there is only the final scene left4 ,it is in her cell4 ,again the black curtains2 some narrow steps4 ,the husband comes to bring her freedom4 ,the ,nameless ,one also1 with a plan of escape through murdering the guards4 ,she rejects both4 ,she rejects the priest1 accusing men of primeval sin4 ,she goes to her death4 ,and as she goes1 two women prisoners sneak out into the light--to divide the clothes of this new ,christ4 ,schuldig6 ,guilty6 ,guilty6 ,the word echoes through the play1 echoes in the auditorium of the ,volksbhne4 ,all are guilty4 ,all are sick with guilt4 ,and none more than these sufferers in the slums of ,berlin who must go to the theater to see in black curtains the picture of their guilt4 ,the world goes through capitalism1 debasing itself1 driving terror1 greed1 cruelty into the place of love and understanding4 ,it comes out in revolution1 a corruption of the thing it cures4 ,the ,germans have been through capitalism with a vengeance1 through materialism1 through war1 and through a revolution that blasted half the people and did not satisfy the rest4 ,here is the misery of capitalism1 the misery of abortive revolution1 the misery of defeat and black hunger4 ,berlin is in purgatory4 ,and ,berlin goes to ,masse-,mensch4 ,before this play sit hundreds of quite ordinary men1 who have only to hear some word shouted at them with the passion of this play1 and they will leave the slow and loved routine of homes1 and lie again behind sandbags on ,unter den ,linden4 ,all this is a strange1 terrible1 and sweet thing to feel as you sit looking at the purgatory of those black curtains4 ,toller and ,fehling have made possible the realization of this intense situation between play and audience2 ,toller by writing straight at the heart of his public4 ,his dialogue makes no pretense to the accidental rhythms of life4 ,it speaks out plainly and simply and beautifully the passion of each character1 the passions of the world4 ,fehling has driven ,toller's speeches just as directly at the public4 ,he has made no pretense at actuality4 ,he has put his actors forward as actors on an abstract stage2 and you think of them only as living1 intimate presences4 ,illustration3 ,masse-,mensch3 the machine-guns4 ,the black curtains at the back are thrown open4 ,soldiers and officers are seen enveloped in a thin haze of smoke4 ,the group shrinks back and falls together4 ,comparison between ,fehling and ,jessner is inevitable4 ,they are both working upon the newest problem of production1 the problem of escaping from ,realism to reality and to the theater4 ,they both throw overboard every shred of actuality that stands in the way of inner emotional truth4 ,technically1 ,fehling is as insistent as ,jessner on the abstract1 the formal production as the means of giving the actor and his emotion vividly and completely to the audience4 ,fehling realizes as keenly as ,jessner does how different playing-levels can help him in deploying and emphasizing his actors4 ,he does not1 like ,jessner1 use the same levels throughout a play4 ,he creates new plastics as he needs them4 ,his production is formal in principle1 but he does not rely upon a stage of certain permanent forms4 ,his lighting is abstract1 like ,jessner's1 paying no attention at all to actuality2 but it is not so free or so wilful in changes4 ,the lights make a definite pattern in each scene and stick to it throughout4 ,the only sharp exception is the scene of the dance of the condemned4 ,fehling does not try to make his lighting a running gloss to the words of the play4 ,fehling may be much over-praised by the emotion of ,masse-,mensch2 perhaps there is a something in the passion of the play which lights up these players and these playgoers of the ,volksbhne1 and brings forth a unique and unwilled emotion4 ,but there seem to be certain qualities in this production which stamp the director as a man of imagination and power4 ,certainly ,fehling has a large and healthful simpleness4 ,he isn't finicking over rudimentary explanations with lights and shadows and primary colors4 ,he isn't missing the quality of the play in an endeavor to create a thing of a single startling or novel tone4 ,he is certainly winning from his actors a spiritual coperation finer than any that we saw in ,germany4 ,he is unmistakably one of the leaders along new paths--a sure and challenging force4 ,illustration3 ,masse-,mensch3 ,a woman dressed in blue in a dream-prison of twisted scarlet bars1 surrounded by motionless dark figures4 ,behind1 gigantic spectral shadow-shapes march across a faintly luminous void4 ,,chapter ,,xiii 8,,the ,,theater ,,of ,,the ,,five ,,thousand0 ,over some fifteen years a growing number of minds have been more or less actively seeking a way towards a new type of theater4 ,they have been abusing the picture-frame stage1 stamping on the footlights1 pulling out the front of the apron1 pushing the actors into the loges1 down the orchestra pit1 onto the prompter's box1 out upon runways or up the aisles4 ,they have even gone clear out of the playhouse and into circuses1 open air theaters1 and public parks4 ,all to set up a new and mutual relationship between the actor and the audience4 ,you might almost say to set up any mutual relationship at all2 for the players of the peep-hole theater of ,realism1 the picture-frame theater1 the fourth wall theater1 can hardly be said to have anything resembling a relationship to the spectator4 ,the thing peeped at can't be aware of the peeper4 ,a picture does not know that it has an audience4 ,walls may have ears1 but the fourth wall has no eyes4 ,it is the essence of ,realism and of realistic acting that they have their justification in the thing they resemble1 not in the people who may or may not be able to recognize the resemblance4 ,a perfect realistic performance is a thing so close to life that it cannot permit itself to be aware of even its own existence4 ,its perfection is so much more related to the thing it imitates than to the audience which looks at it1 that it would be no less perfect if there were no one at all to look4 ,the fourth wall is a fourth wall4 ,it might just as well be as real as the other three4 ,alexander ,bakshy wrote of ,stanislavsky's company3 8,it would have made scarcely an atom of difference to the adequacy and completeness of the ,art ,theater's performance if the audience had been entirely removed40 ,such performances can be very interesting in their way1 extraordinarily interesting1 in fact1 when such players as ,stanislavsky's bring spiritual distinction to their ,realism4 ,but there is another sort of thing that can be interesting1 too4 ,some think it can be more interesting2 at any rate they want to find out what it was that kept the theater contented for the twenty-five centuries before it knew ,realism4 ,they want to draw out the actor and the spectator2 the actor out of the picture frame and the spectator--if the actor is good enough--out of his seat4 ,they want to make the actor an actor once more4 ,and they think that a new sort of theater--or a very old sort--might have something to do with it4 ,directors have thought about it1 and playwrights1 dancing teachers1 architects1 scenic artists1 actors1 and critics4 ,max ,reinhardt put a runway over the audience in ,sumurn more than a dozen years ago and staged ,sophocles in a circus4 ,percy ,mac,kaye developed the community masque as a new form of outdoor theatrical performance through ,the ,masque of ,st4 ,louis and ,caliban1 and brought it indoors with ,the ,evergreen ,tree and ,the ,will of ,song4 ,jaques-,dalcroze1 deviser of the eurythmic system of dance-education1 created in ,hellerau-bei-,dresden1 before the war1 a hall holding the stage and the spectators within translucent walls lit by ten thousand lights1 and there1 with the aid of ,adolphe ,appia1 he gave ,paul ,claudel's drama ,l',annonce faite ,marie4 ,frank ,lloyd ,wright1 designing a theater for ,aline ,barnsdall of ,los ,angeles1 created a model showing an adjustable proscenium1 which was hardly a proscenium1 a domed stage which curved into the lines of the auditorium1 and a permanent architectural setting consisting of a wall twelve feet high running across the stage4 ,herman ,rosse1 the scenic artist1 took to sketching theaters with all manner of odd forestages and portals4 ,norman-,bel ,geddes threw off in #aiad a plan for a theater with stage and audience housed under a single dome1 and in #aiba designed a magnificent project for the production of ,dante's ,the ,divine ,comedy in ,madison ,square ,garden in a permanent setting of ringed steps1 towering plinths1 and light4 ,gmier1 the ,french actor1 introduced the ,reinhardt circus-theater to ,paris4 ,jacques ,copeau left his reviewing of plays to create in the ,vieux-,colombier a theater without a proscenium1 and with a forestage and a permanent setting1 in order to give his troupe of actors a fresh and truly theatrical relation to their audience4 ,the first attempts to escape from the realistic theater were ,gargantuan4 ,it seems as if there were something so essentially small about our theater that a huge thing was the natural alternative4 ,max ,reinhardt and ,percy ,mac,kaye1 the two men who began the break with the realistic theater1 and who carried their conceptions furthest1 plunged immediately to the huge1 the magnificent4 ,they could have found inspiration in ,gordon ,craig1 as practically every innovator in our playhouse has done4 ,for ,gordon ,craig1 too1 saw a gigantic vision of the break between this peepshow of ours and the next theater3 8,i see a great building to seat many thousands of people4 ,at one end rises a platform of heroic size on which figures of a heroic mold shall move4 ,the scene shall be such as the world shows us1 not as our own particular little street shows us4 ,the movements of these scenes shall be noble and great3 all shall be illuminated by a light such as the spheres give us1 not such as the footlights give us1 but such as we dream of40 ,mac,kaye had a family tradition to urge him towards large experiments4 ,his father1 ,steele ,mac,kaye1 irritated no doubt by the limitations of the nineteenth century theater as we are irritated by the limitations of the theater of the twentieth century1 conceived and all but launched a grandiose and extraordinary scheme for a playhouse at the ,chicago ,world's ,fair4 ,the ,spectatorium1 which was to seat ten thousand people and give a spectacle of music and drama1 movement and light1 dancing and action1 on land and on water1 was burned1 however1 before it could be completed4 ,the dominating idea in the younger ,mac,kaye was to create a dramatic form of and for the people4 ,it was to celebrate the works of humanity2 ,the ,masque of ,st4 ,louis commemorated the founding of the western city1 and ,caliban the tercentenary of ,shakespeare's death4 ,the ,mac,kaye masque was to be acted and danced by the community with the assistance of a few trained players1 and it was to be seen by as many as possible2 in ,st4 ,louis #g1jjj took part and #bjj1jjj looked on4 ,the experience of these community masques led ,mac,kaye to want the active participation of the citizens as audience as well as of the citizens as actors1 and in ,the ,evergreen ,tree he arranged a ,christmas festival1 to be given either out of doors or within1 in which the spectators sang with the chorus and the actors1 who passed through the midst of them4 ,another desire of ,mac,kaye's was the enlarging of the characters of his masques to gigantic size4 ,he did this literally in ,the ,masque of ,st4 ,louis with the huge figure which stood for ,cahokia4 ,in ,the ,will of ,song1 given its first production indoors1 he began to work upon the idea of the 8group being10 a single dramatic entity visualized through a mass of players4 ,whether or not ,reinhardt began his first great circus-production1 ,sophocles' dipus ,rex1 with an esthetic philosophy1 he had one before he was finished with ,orestes1 ,hauptmann's ,festspiel1 and ,everyman1 the productions which followed4 ,this was visible in his works as well as in the outgivings of his ,bltter des ,deutschen ,theaters4 ,like ,mac,kaye1 ,reinhardt found a tremendous fascination in the relationship of this sort of production to man in the mass4 ,in the 8theater of the five thousand10 as he called it1 audiences are no longer audiences4 ,they are the people4 8,their emotions are simple and primitive1 but great and powerful1 as becomes the eternal human race40 ,this follows from the nature of the theater and the relation of the actors to the audience4 ,monumentality is the key note of such great spaces4 ,it is only the strongest and deepest feelings--the eternal elements--that can move these great gatherings4 ,the small and the petty disappear4 ,yet the emotion is direct and poignant1 according to ,reinhardt1 because of a spiritual intimacy established by the new relation of actors and audience4 ,in the ,circus ,schumann in ,berlin ,reinhardt revived the ,greek orchestra4 ,at one end of the building was the front of a temple4 ,the actors came out in great mobs before the temple1 upon an acting floor surrounded on three sides by banks of spectators4 ,in the theory and the practice of ,reinhardt there should be no curtain to conceal the setting4 ,when the spectator enters he finds himself in the midst of great spaces1 confronted by the whole scene1 and himself a part of it4 ,when he is seated and the play begins he finds that 8the chorus rises and moves in the midst of the audience2 the characters meet each other amid the spectators2 from all sides the hearer is being impressed1 so that gradually he becomes part of the whole1 and is rapidly absorbed in the action1 a member of the chorus1 so to speak40 ,this is a point that ,reinhardt has always stressed in his big productions4 ,this desire to make the spectators feel themselves participants is the same desire that ,mac,kaye has carried to the point of actually making them so4 ,reinhardt stressed the importance of the actors being made one with the audience through appearing in their midst4 ,this maintained the intimacy which1 he felt1 was the most valuable contribution of the realistic movement in the theater--an intimacy produced in the main by the small auditoriums required if conversational acting were to be audible4 ,gigantic conceptions and tremendous emotional emphasis could thus be brought home to the spectator4 ,technically the circus-theater made interesting demands4 ,from the rgisseur and the scene designer it required the utmost simplicity4 ,only the biggest and severest forms could be used4 ,light was the main source of decoration2 it emphasized the important and hid the unessential4 ,acting1 too1 underwent the same test4 ,the player had to develop a simple and tremendous power4 ,he had to dominate by intensity and by dignity1 by the vital and the great4 ,there had to be music in him1 as there had to be music in the action itself4 ,the war prevented ,reinhardt from continuing his experiments in mass-production1 and bringing them to fruition in a theater built especially for the purpose4 ,with the coming of peace he was able to remodel and re-open the old ,circus ,schumann as the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus4 ,but in less than two years ,reinhardt had left it in discouragement1 his great dream shattered4 ,by the summer of #aibb it could definitely be stamped an artistic failure--crowded to the doors every night4 ,illustration3 ,an impression of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus in ,berlin4 ,in the center rises the great dome1 dimly lit4 ,at the left of the picture the looming shadow of the hood above the forestage4 ,a shaft of light from the dome strikes across the space to the figure of ,judith1 standing lonely and brave4 ,beyond1 row after row of faces just visible in the darkness4 ,it is not easy to trace the cause of failure1 but it seems to lie in the curious fact that here ,reinhardt was both careless and too careful4 ,physically the theater was wrong1 if the theory was right1 and its physical mistakes can be traced to ,reinhardt4 ,he was too careful in planning it and not courageous enough4 ,because he feared for its future as a financial undertaking1 he seems to have compromised it in form1 in order that it could be used as an ordinary1 though huge playhouse if it failed as a new kind of theater4 ,he put in the ,greek orchestra surrounded on three sides by spectators4 ,he made the floor flexible in its levels1 and led it up by adjustable platforms to a stage at one side of the house4 ,this much was right enough4 ,but then he made the thing a compromise between the ,greek theater1 a circus1 and the modern playhouse1 by slapping a proscenium arch into the side wall and installing behind it a huge stage with all the mechanical folderols of the day--great dome1 cloud-machine1 revolving stage4 ,it was beyond human nature to resist the temptation of playing with the whole gigantic toy4 ,neither ,reinhardt nor the directors who succeeded him could be content1 as they should have been1 to lower the curtain across the proscenium1 to plaster up the fourth wall4 ,perhaps there were not enough great dramas like dipus to draw for months the gigantic audiences needed to support the venture2 but this only meant that such a theater must be maintained for festival performances1 not that it must be filled with bastard productions requiring a picture stage and largely inaudible across the spaces of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus4 ,reinhardt was as careless in his selection of an architect as he was careful in compromise4 ,his original conception of the place was excellent4 ,he wanted it primitive and grand4 ,he wanted it to soar4 ,and he thought of early ,gothic4 ,between the pillars that had to be there to support the roof of the old circus1 he wanted a dark blue background1 a background of emptiness4 ,the dome over the middle was to vanish into a deep presence1 lit sometimes by dim stars4 ,some one got to ,reinhardt1 and persuaded him that he must be 8modern20 he must assume a leadership in architecture2 he must give a chance to the greatest of the new architects1 ,hans ,poelzig4 ,reinhardt consented4 ,and ,poelzig produced a very strange affair4 ,some of the mistakes of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus may be laid to the old building4 ,the banks of seats are rather close against the roof1 while the middle of the house is bridged by a gigantic dome4 ,these conditions might have been minimized by giving the low portion lines that seemed to mount1 and perhaps by closing in a large part of the dome or darkening it4 ,instead ,poelzig has made the dome the only lovely and aspiring part of the architecture4 ,it is a dream of soaring circles4 ,if the building could only be turned upside down1 and the actors could play in this flashing bowl1 while the audience looked down upon them--6 ,the whole house1 its innumerable corridors1 its foyers and promenades1 the walls of the auditorium1 the ceiling1 the capitals of the columns that support the dome1 the dome itself--every inch of the whole is dominated by a single decorative motif1 a very shoddy1 cheap motif4 ,this is a pendant1 stalactite arch1 borrowed from the ,moorish architecture of ,spain1 and reduced to the lowest terms of mechanical rudeness4 ,the theater is of concrete and stucco1 and this dull shape is repeated endlessly and tediously1 as if it had been scalloped out by a machine4 ,only in the dome1 or when it is no more than hinted at in certain wall surfaces1 does this shape do anything but bore and depress4 ,on top of this1 ,poelzig had stained the walls of many corridors and rooms in a yawping red1 and turned the main foyer into a ghastly sea-green cavern4 ,the theater is nervous1 horrific1 clangorous1 glowering4 ,there is nothing fountain-like4 ,no spirit wells up in beauty4 ,there is no dignity and no glory4 ,the fault may not be ,poelzig's1 but the lighting of the stage and orchestra seems unfortunately handled4 ,some of the lights for the inner stage are placed in front of the arch of the proscenium instead of behind it1 and thus they illuminate it1 and emphasize something that ought not to be there at all1 let alone pointed out4 ,the lights for the orchestra originally came wholly from the lower edge of the dome4 ,it was necessary1 however1 to supply more1 and they have been placed in an ugly red hood1 which sticks out from the proscenium with no relation to the rest of the house4 ,the lights in the dome stab with a glorious brilliance2 the great beams seem to descend unendingly before they reach the tiny figures of the actors1 and spot them out of the darkness4 ,but these lights make the first mistake of trying to hide themselves1 and the second mistake of not succeeding in doing so4 ,how much better it would be if they were treated frankly as part of the theater2 if their source were admitted2 if these lamps were hung in great formal chandeliers made a part of the decorative design of the production4 ,for ,romain ,rolland's ,danton the astute ,ernst ,stern hung huge lanterns over the scene of the revolutionary tribunal2 it was a method that should have been perpetuated4 ,the productions that ,reinhardt made are no longer to be seen in the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 for repertory vanished from his theaters along with ,reinhardt4 ,you hear1 however1 of many interesting and beautiful things in ,danton1 in dipus1 in ,hamlet1 in ,julius ,csar1 in ,hauptmann's ,florian ,geyer4 ,but you see no such things now1 or at least we did not see them when we were in ,berlin4 ,we saw the orchestra filled with seats--perhaps to swell the meager seating capacity of three thousand which was all ,poelzig could include after he had wasted front space on rows of boxes and wide-spaced chairs1 and perhaps because the new directors feared to use that glorious and terrible playing floor4 ,we saw the forestage shrunk to a platform jutting out perhaps twenty feet4 ,we saw a tedious performance of ,die ,versunkene ,glocke1 with the action shoved into the realistic proscenium1 with the scenic artist fooling about with sloppily expressionist forms1 and with the mountain spirit hopping down the hillside with a resounding wooden thump4 ,we saw ,hebbel's ,judith done with much more effectiveness1 though without real daring or vision4 ,illustration3 ,the ,inner ,stage of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus as set for the gates of ,holofernes' palace4 ,designed by ,ernst ,schtte4 ,judith1 however1 shows some of the possibilities of such a theater4 ,the beginning strikes in on the imagination with the impact of the shaft of light that beats down on ,holofernes1 sitting like some idol on his throne4 ,though he is almost back to the curtain line1 instead of out in the midst of the people1 he drives home the effect of seeing life in the round which such a theater can give4 ,here is talking sculpture4 ,the costumer1 as well as the actor1 is given a new problem3 the problem of clothes and the body that1 like a statue1 must mean something from every angle1 must have beauty and significance from the back as much as from the front4 ,the costume of ,holofernes1 at least1 achieved this4 ,the actor has another problem1 the problem of a different movement and a different speech1 movement slower and grander1 or else long and swift1 speech that is more sonorous1 more elaborately spaced4 ,the actor's part--in spite of rather second-rate players--is the part best done at the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus4 ,there is a natural aptitude in the ,german player for the grand1 slow speech1 the roaring tempest4 ,it is like the aptitude of the ,german people for the grand slow play4 ,they like drive1 rather than speed4 ,they want to hear dull sonorous platitudes driven out by sheer belly-muscle4 ,there is one thing very beautiful in ,judith and in this theater4 ,it is the way a player can come forward to the edge of the forestage1 and stand there alone1 stabbed at by a great white light1 surrounded first by emptiness1 and beyond that by crowds1 a brave figure alone in a great dim space4 ,that is something you cannot feel in the chummy confines of a picture-frame4 ,the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus is a gigantic failure if you look at it with vision--and also a great portent4 ,the place is ugly1 and its purpose now debased1 yet it hints at how beautiful a great1 formal theater could be1 how moving and inspiring its drama4 ,even in the wreckage1 the idea still lives4 ,and if you try to bring a little of that same vision to the spectacle of the man who made this failure1 and who ran away1 you cannot deny an admiration for the courage to give up1 to admit defeat1 and then to go to the church1 and to try to do there1 in the sanctified birthplace of the modern theater1 something to lift the spirit as high as the theater of the five thousand was to have lifted it4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,theater ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,hundred ,size is no mania with the ,french4 ,they do not insist on buildings that are taller than those of any other nation1 an empire that is larger1 ambitions and dreams mightier and more terrible4 ,so perhaps it was only natural that when a ,frenchman wanted to present actors in a new relationship to their audience1 he should choose for his theater a little hall in the ,street of the ,old ,dovecot instead of a circus or a park4 ,doubtless there were many reasons why ,jacques ,copeau's theater had to be small4 ,a potent one may have been economy1 a thing that accounts for the little theater movement far more than any theories of intimacy4 ,the question of repertory also may have had weight4 ,there are many sizes of drama1 and there are special repertories for special theaters2 but many more plays are possible for a theater of five hundred seats than for a theater of five thousand4 ,the ,trojan ,women can be played to one hundred and twenty-nine people in the ,toy ,theater of ,boston1 as ,maurice ,browne proved2 but ,le ,misanthrope is impossible in the ,yale ,bowl4 ,copeau's theater had to be small1 not only because he had little money and a great love of all sorts of plays1 but also because--and this counted more than even the ,french liking for the moderate and the exact--the thing he was interested in was the actor and not a grandiose idea4 ,he ended by creating the first presentational playhouse in the modern world1 by maintaining for a long time the most radical1 and by achieving after some years the most successful4 ,but he began by looking for some place for his actors to act4 ,they were to be a company of fresh1 sensitive1 intelligent spirits bringing an intense and honest art to those who might care for it4 ,copeau had found his actors in all manner of places besides the routine theaters4 ,he had talked to them about everything but make-up1 curtain calls1 and how to be natural on the stage4 ,he had played with them and worked with them in the country1 rehearsing the first pieces of the repertory in a barn4 ,he did not intend to dump them down into one of the ordinary theaters of ,paris4 ,copeau proposed to take the hall that his resources permitted1 and to make it over to suit the spirit of his company4 ,he could build no ideal theater1 but he could make one in which his actors would escape the realisms and the pretenses of the modern theater1 and would play to and with the audience as their spirit demanded4 ,and so we have the ,thter du ,vieux-,colombier4 ,it is not at all like the hideous theater-hall that was there before4 ,it is not quite as it was when ,copeau closed his first season before the war4 ,it is not in the least like the ,garrick ,theater1 which he remade in ,new ,york in #aiag2 as a matter of fact it is not so good4 ,it is not very charming in its shape or its decorations1 and ,copeau is as careless as ,reinhardt about things like good painting and clean walls4 ,but this ,vieux-,colombier is a distinguished and a jolly place all the same1 the happiest and the healthiest theater west of ,vienna4 ,it is hard to know where to begin a description of this curious playhouse4 ,suppose you had never been to the ,vieux-,colombier1 but suppose you knew that this was a theater without the illusion of ,realism1 and suppose you sought for the thing that would tell you this the quickest4 ,what would you see8 ,probably the steps that lead from the stage to the forestage1 and even from the forestage to the seats of the audience4 ,there are no footlights1 and so you have the pleasure of seeing the square1 firm edge where the stage floor ends4 ,this edge bends into a large curve in the middle1 with three curved steps below1 and it angles out at the sides to where smaller steps join those of the middle on an ample forestage4 ,these steps and the edge of the stage do more than any one thing in the theater to signal that you are not looking into a picture-frame4 ,even when they are not used1 as in ,les ,frres ,karamazov1 these steps keep you warily alive to that fact4 ,when you examine the theater more closely you discover that there is no proscenium4 ,the nearest thing to it is the last of the arches which hold up the roof of the auditorium4 ,there is a curtain1 to be sure1 but it does not fall behind pillars1 and it does not cover the forestage4 ,it descends at that point where the walls of the auditorium become the walls of the stage1 and it merely serves to hide one end of this long room while the stage hands make small changes in the permanent setting4 ,the permanent setting1 like the theater itself1 is an experimental product of the attempt to provide what the actors need4 ,it is really no more than a balcony placed against the back wall1 with an arched opening in the middle1 and with walls at the sides that let the actors1 who have gone out through the arch1 get off stage unseen4 ,this balcony is so solidly built that it cannot be taken out1 but certain portions are alterable4 ,the changes in setting are managed by changing the width of the arch or the line of the top of the balcony1 by adding doors1 steps at one side1 or railings1 and particularly by placing significant properties or screens upon the stage4 ,louis ,jouvet1 stage director as well as ,copeau's best actor1 has done many ingenious things to make his settings varied enough and characteristic enough without losing the permanent thing that is common to them all1 and that aids in banishing realistic illusion4 ,a detail that shows the working of his mind is to be found in the screens that he uses to create a room in ,les ,frres ,karamazov2 by giving them two or three inches of thickness and a certain amount of molding1 he has escaped the impression of the bare1 the unsubstantial1 and the untheatrical which the screens of other designers produce4 ,illustration3 ,les ,frres ,karamazov3 the ,gypsy ,inn4 ,this sketch and the following one show the permanent skeleton-setting of ,copeau's ,thtre du ,vieux-,colombier in ,paris4 ,here1 in an arrangement of paneled screens ,louis ,jouvet has caught the mood of the scene without reference to details of 8atmosphere40 ,the balcony is a most useful feature4 ,it was not accident that put a balcony in the ,elizabethan theater or made the ,greeks use the theologium4 ,it serves a practical purpose1 of course1 in any scheme of permanent setting1 for it makes it unnecessary to build balconies for scenes that especially call for them4 ,a good deal more important to the director is the movement up and down1 as well as sideways and back and forth1 which it gives him4 ,with the forestage1 the main stage1 and the balcony1 ,copeau has almost as useful a base for composing action in three dimensions as ,jessner has in the steps which he uses in various productions in ,berlin4 ,sheldon ,cheney has called ,copeau's stage a 8naked stage40 ,it is a happy accident of language that1 when you call it a concrete stage1 you describe the material of which it is made and the feeling of sharp1 definite statement which resides in everything done upon it4 ,the wall at the right of the audience is solid1 the wall at the back1 too2 the ceiling of the stage has some openings between steel girders1 but it is more like the floor than the 8flies0 of the average theater4 ,only in the left wall of the stage are there any openings4 ,through these the actors manage to exit into the next building4 ,the floor of the stage1 except at the edges1 is even more adamant4 ,it will not yield to pleas for atmosphere1 illusion or any of the gewgaws of our theater4 ,it is solid concrete4 ,copeau wanted to give the actor's feet a sense of support which they cannot get from yielding and resounding wood4 ,at the sides is a small section in timber which permits the use of a stairway to a lower room as in ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity or ,les ,frres ,karamazov4 ,in the forestage are two other openings1 covered by wooden and concrete slabs4 ,jouvet's lighting system is ingenious and philosophically sound1 if not altogether perfect4 ,practically all the light comes from four large lamps hung in the auditorium4 ,they replace footlights1 borderlights1 and floods from the sides4 ,illumination from the auditorium itself is essential to good stage lighting2 the footlights are an unhappy makeshift4 ,david ,belasco very wisely uses a battery of lamps hidden in the face of the first balcony4 ,in ,german theaters1 the huge #fjjj-;candlepower bulbs developed since the war1 tempt directors to inefficient and distracting lighting from the ventilator above the main chandelier in the roof of the auditorium4 ,neither the latter method nor ,belasco's is wholly satisfactory in a theater that forswears representation1 a theater like the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus or the ,vieux-,colombier or the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna4 ,electric light on the stage begins as an imitation of the real4 ,if a table is illuminated by a large light in the first border1 there must be a lamp above the table in such a position as to suggest that it is doing all the work4 ,the next step is to use light for illumination and composition--for beauty1 in fact--without bothering to try to make it seem to come from some natural source in the setting4 ,when such light comes from the auditorium we may get composition1 but we also get a throw-back to the source of the light itself4 ,the ray carries our eye up to some lens-lamp trying unsuccessfully to hide in the bottom of the dome of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 or in the top of the ceiling of the ,burgtheater4 ,a new problem arises4 ,it should be answered by making the source frankly visible4 ,the hoods themselves of large bulbs have a shape that would make them interesting and not without significance in the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus2 or a new shape could be supplied to harmonize with architecture or setting4 ,in the ,redoutensaal we find glorious old crystal chandeliers lighting the stage--an accidental result of the fact that the ,viennese government converted ,maria ,theresa's ballroom into a playhouse4 ,in the ,vieux-,colombier ,jouvet makes no bones about admitting where his light is coming from4 ,he places the bulbs in octagonal lanterns1 which1 by revolving on an axis1 present different colored sides for the light to pass through2 the lanterns may also be moved in such directions as to throw the light upon any desired part of the stage4 ,these lanterns are frankly visible2 and1 though they are not a pleasing shape1 they fit esthetically with the theory of this theater4 ,here is electric lighting presented at last as the thing it really is1 not as an imitation of something else4 ,the greatest faults of the ,vieux-,colombier over which ,copeau had control1 and which he could easily have avoided1 lie in the color and quality of painting on the stage4 ,the concrete and the cream of the auditorium take warm lights2 but in portions of the stage itself1 ,copeau has used a cold gray that is surely unfortunate4 ,much that you see is shoddy4 ,if the paint chips off a corner1 nobody bothers to replace it4 ,rivet heads and structural iron show when they have no relation to the shapes on the stage4 ,now it is a good thing not to spend too much energy on the physical side of the theater1 but there is a difference between austerity and slovenliness4 ,actual productions1 animated by the actors and graced with some of ,jouvet's scenic arrangements1 do a great deal to make the stage wholly attractive4 ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity1 a realistic play with a ,french caf for its setting1 makes interesting demands on this non-realistic stage4 ,the demands are met1 and met successfully4 ,there is a counter at one side with racks for bottles1 a wooden door in the arch at the back1 a table in the center1 and above it--the mark of ,realism--a shaded lamp1 from which a great deal of the stage light comes4 ,with the actors giving us the sense of ,french life which was missing in the ,new ,york and ,viennese productions1 we have here a performance which might almost be enclosed in a proscenium frame4 ,but there is in the acting1 as in the setting1 much that is non-realistic1 much that seems representational only by contrast with the dominating spirit and physique of the theater and its people4 ,in the playlet that goes with ,the ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity1 ,mrime's ,le ,carrosse du ,st4-,sacrement1 we are back in a piece from the romantic period1 a comedy of clear and artificial vigor4 ,a screen and some hangings with a southern flash to them set the stage for eighteenth-century ,peru4 ,copeau himself has the same ,punch-like visage that he presents to you in his own study1 but now he manages to make you think him a ,spanish puppet1 an exasperated and wily doll4 ,the same ,punch appears in ,les ,frres ,karamazov1 but a ,punch of the intellect1 a tragic marionette dangling on the strings of rationalism4 ,at the end1 when ,ivan goes mad1 you may see most clearly the subtle exaggeration which is at the heart of the acting of ,copeau's company4 ,the whirling body1 the legs that beat a crazy tattoo on the floor1 the twisting head and the boggling eyes1 are none of them copied from a candidate for the asylum4 ,they are all an explanation of what sort of lines in the figure of a crazy man would strike the imagination1 what angles and movements would most sharply indicate lunacy4 ,karamazov is effectively composed on this stage by a few draperies for the first scene1 a line of curtains hiding the whole stage and begging the question in the second scene1 a flight of steps for the hall of the ,karamazovs1 and two heavy screens for the inn4 ,there is nothing so fine as the interminable steps that lead up from the balcony at the ,garrick to the wretched room of ,smerdiakov2 but there is enough improvement in the very excellent acting seen in ,new ,york1 to make up for this4 ,jouvet's father is gigantically good2 set beside his ,aguecheek1 it puts this young man among the most interesting actors of ,europe4 ,paul ttly1 as the eldest brother1 plays the striking scene in the inn of the gypsies with uncommon vigor1 and the stage direction sweeps the scene along to a burning climax4 ,the intensity of the actors in this play1 added to the intensity of the play itself1 demonstrates how completely a formal theater of this kind1 and a type of acting which is a reasoned sort of explanation1 rather than a thing of life or of acting1 can stand up beside the ,realism of our directors when it is at its best4 ,illustration3 ,la ,carrosse du ,saint-,sacrement at the ,vieux-,colombier3 another arrangement of ,copeau's permanent setting4 ,in ,twelfth ,night you find the company clear out of the shackles of realistic or semi-realistic plays1 and happy in the beautiful playhouse of fantasy4 ,and here the quality of exposition--which you may trace back to ,copeau's profession of critic1 and forward through the days given to the reading and study and analysis of each new play--has almost altogether disappeared4 ,the playing is spontaneous1 or it is nothing4 ,suzanne ,bing's ,viola is a-quiver with radiance and wonder4 ,jean ,le ,goff's ,orsino is no such ,god-favored performance1 but his eyes are lit with an ecstasy of love-sickness4 ,the comedians are far from ,englishmen2 but their creations are immensely funny3 ,jouvet's gently gawking ,aguecheek1 ,romain ,bouquet's shaven-headed1 almost ,oriental ,sir ,toby1 ,robert ,allard's extraordinary clown1 the finest either of us had ever seen4 ,it is interesting1 for once1 to see ,malvolio put in his place as a character1 and not given the star's spotlight to preen in2 it might be a more satisfactory arrangement if ,albert ,savry could be funnier in his dry ,puritanism4 ,twelfth ,night triumphs at the ,vieux-,colombier by virtue of the spirit of the actors1 and the vision of the director4 ,the costuming is bad--an unsuccessful attempt to make ,illyria1 as it might well be1 a land of no time or place but ,poetry2 and the setting is no more than bright and freakish in a ,greenwich ,village way4 ,but in the costumes and up and down the setting these players frisk1 weaving patterns of beauty and fun that link them into the true spirit of the play4 ,the curtain is there at convenient times to make the forestage into a neutral zone for duke or sea captain1 and between this forestage and the balconied space behind there is room for all of ,shakespeare's play to race along just as he wrote it4 ,with the trap door in the forestage to act as cellar1 ,malvolio can be incarcerated below-stairs and happily out of sight--much as ,shakespeare intended4 ,copeau is a believer in gymnastics4 7,he is also a believer in improvisation1 a school of playwrights1 and other things whose absence makes him grow impatient with his theater74 ,through months and years of strenuous labor1 he is training half a dozen young people of his own school to have bodies that are as well under control as a gymnast's4 ,the performances of the ,vieux-,colombier draw on players not so well trained1 but they show what physical command can accomplish4 ,here you see acting that makes you think again of sculpture and its relation to the new theater4 ,copeau's people can meet the test which the theater with a ,greek orchestra1 like the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 exacts4 ,they can play 8in the round40 ,their bodies can be seen from all sides1 and still keep expressiveness and beauty4 ,they have learned to master their bodies1 as well as their voices1 and they are able to make the lines of arms and torsos and knees speak directly to the audience4 ,when ,jouvet sharply underlines and almost caricatures the salient shape of old ,karamazov he is able to escape from ordinary representation1 which may or may not make its point1 and he is able to push his conception of the wicked1 vital old man into almost direct physical contact with the audience4 ,i have often wondered when the actor would learn the lesson of sculpture4 ,there were centuries of almost literal representation1 with the inner expression of the artist and the artist's sense of ,form struggling furiously to impose itself upon ,reality1 and failing more often than succeeding4 ,then1 with ,rodin came the sense that sculpture could make representation a distinctly secondary matter4 ,there could be expression first1 and resemblance afterwards1 if at all4 ,idea1 which is one sort of ,form1 enters the clay with ,stanislas ,szukalsky4 ,expression and idea1 poised in the human body1 begin to inform acting directly and openly in the company of the ,vieux-,colombier4 ,the first presentational theater adds the medium of the body to the medium of the voice4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,redoutensaal--,a ,,playhouse ,,of ,,permanence ,in ,vienna on ,christmas ,day1 #aiba1 there were no matches in the match-stands of the cafs and no paper in the hotel writing rooms4 ,some of the well-to-do and the recklessly soft-hearted had begun to feel that they could afford to keep pet dogs again2 but there were no silk stockings on those most un-,teuton ankles that paraded the ,burgring4 ,you may guess1 therefore1 that there was no butter on the tables of the middle classes1 and no milk in the houses of those who1 by a curious clairvoyance of language1 are called the working people4 ,two nights later three or four hundred citizens1 with bits of bread and meat wrapped in paper and stowed in their pockets1 could be seen seated in a great and splendid ballroom of ,maria ,theresa's palace1 under the light of crystal chandeliers and the glow of priceless ,gobelins1 watching the first performance1 ,the ,marriage of ,figaro1 in a theater a stride ahead of any in ,europe4 ,they had paid good money at one of the doors of that extraordinary old building1 the ,hofburg1 which rambles from the ,opera to the ,burgtheater half across the shopping district of ,vienna4 ,after they had parted from two or three thousand crowns apiece1 they had wound up stone stairways between white walls and twists of old ironwork1 passed through cloakrooms where princesses once left their wraps1 and a supper room where artists may cheerfully go mad over molding1 pediment and mirror1 and reached at last the ,theater in dem ,redoutensaal4 ,they found one of the handsomest baroque rooms in ,europe holding within its beauty both a stage and an auditorium4 ,a row of ,gobelin tapestries filled the lower reaches of the walls4 ,above were moldings and pilasters1 cornices and pargeting1 spandrels and pediments1 fillets and panelling1 an ordered richness of ornament that held suspended in its gray and golden haze mirrors that echoed beauty1 and chandeliers radiant with light4 ,at one end of the room1 beneath great doors and a balcony which the architect had planned in #agdd1 was a new structure2 it broke the line of the ,gobelins1 but continued the panelling1 freshened to cream and gold1 in a curving wall across a platform and in double stairs leading to the balcony4 ,with man's unfailing instinct for the essence of life1 the audience promptly identified this roofless shell as a stage4 ,there was a platform1 of course1 but there was no proscenium4 ,there were doors and windows in the curving wall1 but no woodwings1 borders1 flats1 or backdrops4 ,there was even a something along the front of the platform which might conceal footlights1 but there was nothing to be seen that looked more like scenery than a row of screens4 ,such is the room in which the forces of the ,austrian ,state ,opera ,house have been giving ,the ,marriage of ,figaro and ,the ,barber of ,seville1 and in which ,reinhardt began late in #aibb the most interesting experiment of his most experimental life--the presentation of plays under a unique condition of theatrical intimacy between actor and audience4 ,it is an odd spectacle1 this of ,vienna1 the bankrupt1 going lightheartedly out on the most advanced experiment in production yet attempted in ,europe4 ,one of its oddest angles is that the man who made an empress's ballroom over into a theater is a socialist--,president ,vetter of the ,staatstheaterverwaltung1 the bureau under the republic which controls the ,state playhouses4 ,the conversion was not an easy matter4 ,opponents rose up inside the ,state theaters and outside them4 ,vienna was engaged for months upon one of those artistic quarrels from which it is always drawing new health and spirit4 ,illustration3 ,the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna as arranged for the first scene of ,the ,marriage of ,figaro4 ,the room called for in the text is indicated by a row of crimson screens set straight across the stage and pierced in the center by a door4 ,in the scheme of production indicated by this unique environment such a mere indication is sufficient to establish setting and mood4 ,when ,president ,vetter had won his point he plunged briskly ahead at the work of making over the ballroom into a very special kind of theater without marring its beauty4 ,part of the old balcony came out1 mirrors replaced doors and windows down the sides of the hall1 and ,oberbaurat ,sebastien ,heinrich set to work on the problem of creating a permanent architectural setting for the stage which should harmonize with the lovely room1 yet stand out from it significantly enough to center attention on the acting space4 ,meantime ,president ,vetter took another look at the ,gobelins which had satisfied ,maria ,theresa1 and decided that they weren't quite good enough2 others had to be found4 ,even now he is a little doubtful about those on the right hand wall4 ,the work of the ,oberbaurat is admirable4 ,he has continued the molding above the ,gobelins1 and made it the top of the curving wall which is the background for the stage4 ,this shell is broken at each side by a casement1 which holds either a door or a window1 and two masked openings4 ,through one of these1 close to the front of the stage1 a curtain the height of the wall is run out to hide changes in the screens and furniture upon the stage4 ,at the back1 where the shell curves close to the old balcony of the ballroom1 the ,state architect has placed a pair of graceful steps1 which meet at the top1 and provide1 underneath1 an exit to the rear4 ,for lighting1 there are the foots in their unobtrusive trough1 and small floods placed in the gap where the curtain moves2 but by far the larger part of the illumination comes from the seven chandeliers in the ceiling of the hall4 ,the chandeliers towards the rear are sometimes turned half down or even off1 but essentially it is the same light which illumines both players and audience4 ,this light and the formal and permanent character of the stage stamp the ,redoutensaal with a character as old as it is fresh4 ,this theater goes beyond ,copeau's ,vieux-,colombier in the attempt to re-establish in our century that active relationship between actor and spectator which existed in the great theaters of other centuries1 and towards which the finest minds of the theater have been striving4 ,here is a stage freed from all the associations of modern stage-setting1 innocent of machinery or illusions1 essentially theatrical4 ,actors must be actors upon its boards4 ,they cannot try to represent actual people2 they can only present themselves to the audience as artists who will give them a vision of reality4 ,this is comparatively easy in opera4 ,there is no realistic illusion about a valet who sings a soliloquy on his master's more intimate habits4 ,people who quarrel in verse to a merry tune are most unlikely to be mistaken for the neighbors next door4 ,with music and the stage of the ,redoutensaal to aid them1 the singers of the ,state ,opera manage to give a roughly presentational performance4 ,in direction there is nothing notable to be seen1 unless it is the wedding scene of ,figaro with the ,count striding up and down across the front of the stage1 opposed in figure and in action to the plaguing women above upon the stairs4 ,the acting possibilities of this stage1 however1 are very great4 ,reinhardt saw them vividly in the summer of #aibb1 while he was making preparations for his five productions in ,september3 ,turandot by ,gozzi1 ,stella and ,clavigor by ,goethe1 ,le ,misanthrope by ,molire1 and ,dame ,cobalt by ,calderon4 ,he saw the possibilities and the difficulties of acting also1 and he rejoiced that he was to have old and tried associates like ,moissi1 ,pallenberg and ,krauss with him once more when he began his experiment with a theater far more exacting than the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus1 and a technique of acting very hard to regain after so many years of ,realism4 ,so far as there must be indications of time and place upon this stage1 a beginning in experiment has been made4 ,it has not been a particularly good beginning1 but it shows the opportunities for the artist1 and also the limitations4 ,they are very nearly identical4 ,it is the business of the scene designer who works here to draw from the ,redoutensaal itself the motifs and colors which he shall add to the permanent setting4 ,it is his privilege1 using only these things1 to give the scene just the fillip of interest which the play demands4 ,alfred ,roller1 a veteran of the scenic revolt of fifteen years ago1 and1 next to ,reinhardt's artist1 ,ernst ,stern1 the most distinguished ,german scenic designer of his time1 has made the screens and set pieces for ,the ,marriage of ,figaro and ,the ,barber of ,seville4 ,there is little or no good to be said of his work in the latter piece4 ,the screens with which he indicates a room in the first act1 and the bulky gate which he sets down across the stairs in the second act1 are bad as to color1 and quite at odds with the ,redoutensaal4 ,obviously he could have made so much more amusing a gate out of the permanent stairs1 and given his scene a ,spanish stamp by a circle of vivid1 tight-packed flowers in the center4 ,the ,marriage of ,figaro is much better1 though here again ,roller could have done far better if he had turned his eyes up to the walls above him4 ,the first scene1 the servant's room1 is made by a row of antique screens of faded crimson placed well down stage4 ,through a door in the central one1 you see green screens1 which1 in the second scene are to define the room of the wife4 ,with an excellent sense of climax1 ,roller proceeds from the shallow stage of the first scene to the deeper stage of the second1 and finally sweeps in the whole permanent setting for the wedding in the third scene4 ,more than that1 he calls the stairs and balcony into play1 and finally opens the great doors above the balcony to let us see beyond to a room of crimson hangings and more crystal4 ,the last scene1 the garden1 is shoddily conceived1 with a few uninteresting potted trees1 a bad painting of ,schnbrunn in the exit under the steps1 and a sickly attempt at moonlight from the floodlights and foots4 ,why not1 you wonder1 delicate1 artificial1 gilded hedges along the walls1 and fruit trees flattened on espaliers against the steps8 ,unquestionably the lighting problem in the ,redoutensaal is not yet solved4 ,reinhardt looks to solve it with a large light or two concealed in the forward chandeliers4 ,this may make the illumination of the stage a little more flexible and expressive2 but it is quite as likely that the way to light the stage is without the least pretense at illusion4 ,at any rate footlights and lights from the side are distressing reminders of the conventional theater4 ,illustration3 ,the first scene of ,the ,barber of ,seville as given in the ,redoutensaal4 ,a not altogether successful attempt by ,professor ,roller to create an architectural unit which should suggest a ,spanish exterior while harmonizing with the decorations of the ballroom4 ,almost as reminiscent is the curtain which slides out between acts while the stage hands move the screens4 ,why a curtain at all--unless the curtain of darkness8 ,why not uniformed attendants managing the simple matter of screens or small set pieces with the aplomb of actors8 ,or if there must be a curtain1 why a crimson sheet2 why not a hanging whose folds continue the motif of the ,gobelins at each side8 ,perhaps the most serious question concerned with the physical arrangements of this stage is whether there should not be some scheme of levels other than floor and balcony4 ,a lower forestage would aid the director in composing his people1 and getting movement and variety out of this fixed and therefore limited setting4 ,it would also aid an audience that is seated almost on a flat floor4 ,the sceptic may find other limitations in the ,redoutensaal4 ,and he will be right if he points out that its atmosphere is too sharply artificial in its distinction to permit every sort of play to be given here4 ,gorky's ,night ,lodging might be played in the ,redoutensaal as a literally tremendous tour de force1 but it would be in the face of spiritual war between the background of the stage and the physical horrors of the slums which the play describes4 ,plays for the ,redoutensaal must have some quality of distinction about them1 a great1 clear emotion free from the bonds of physical detail1 a fantasy or a poetry as shining as crystal1 some artificiality of mood1 or else an agreement in period with the baroque4 ,you can imagine ,racine or ,corneille done perfectly here1 ,euripides only by great genius1 ,the ,weavers not at all4 ,nothing could suit ,molire better1 or ,beaumarchais or the ,restoration dramatists4 ,shakespeare could contribute ,twelfth ,night and ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 perhaps ,romeo and ,juliet1 but never ,hamlet4 ,here1 of course1 is a perfect stage for ,oscar ,wilde1 a good stage for ,somerset ,maugham1 ,a4 ,a4 ,milne1 some of ,clare ,kummer4 ,the ,moscow ,art ,theater would have no trouble with ,the ,cherry ,orchard4 ,more or less at random1 you think of ,bahr's ,josephine1 ,the ,school for ,scandal1 ,the ,sabine ,women1 ,lysistrata1 ,the ,mollusc1 ,a ,marriage of ,convenience1 ,the ,truth1 ,prunella1 ,the ,beggar's ,opera4 ,the one impossible barrier to performance in the ,redoutensaal is ,atmosphere4 ,if a play is drenched in the emotions of firesides1 poppy fields1 moonlit gardens or natural physical things1 it is impossible here4 ,these are the limitations of the ,redoutensaal1 not of its idea4 ,the permanent setting and its enclosing hall can take the shapes of other periods and meet almost every demand of the drama except atmosphere4 ,ideally the hall should have some sober yet arresting architecture common to many periods4 ,a neutral order of this sort might be the blank ,roman arches and plain pilasters which are seen so often in modern buildings4 ,the chandeliers might take a form less ornate and less blazing2 nuances of lighting1 if desirable1 might then be achieved4 ,more important1 however1 would be to have three interchangeable shells and steps4 ,one set of walls should be classical and severe1 suited to ,greek tragedy1 ,julius ,csar1 and1 with a bit of brightening1 to ,shaw's ,csar and ,cleopatra4 ,another shell should strike the note of artificial distinction with which the ,redoutensaal now echoes4 ,the third should be of dark1 paneled wood1 to suit ,shakespearean tragedy1 the comedy of ,goldsmith1 and modern pieces from ,rosmersholm to ,getting ,married and from ,alice ,sit-by-the-,fire to ,magda4 ,the idea of a permanent room in which to act a related repertory is thoroughly applicable even to our peepshow playhouses with their prosceniums4 ,it would be possible to install a shell or room on the stage of any reasonably presentable theater1 such as ,henry ,miller's1 the ,little1 the ,booth1 the ,plymouth1 the ,selwyn in ,new ,york1 the ,knstler in ,munich1 the ,volksbhne1 the ,kammerspiele in ,berlin1 the ,comdie des ,champs-,elyses in ,paris1 ,st4 ,martin's in ,london4 ,the room would have to be formal1 probably without a ceiling1 and certainly far more like a wall than a room4 ,such a compromise seems the only chance ,america may have of experimenting with the idea of the ,redoutensaal4 ,there is nowhere in this country a room so naturally fitted to the purpose by its beauty as was the ballroom of the ,hapsburgs4 ,the building of a fresh structure is a little too much to ask2 for we have hardly the directors or actors to launch unpractised upon such a costly and critical test4 ,it might be risked perhaps1 as ,frank ,lloyd ,wright proposed risking it1 in a theater of a purely artistic nature far from ,broadway4 ,wright designed for ,aline ,barnsdall a playhouse to be erected in ,california1 with an adjustable proscenium1 a stage with a dome that all but continued over the auditorium1 and1 upon the stage1 a plain curving wall some ten feet high1 following the shape of the dome4 ,the nearest analogy to the ,redoutensaal that has been actually attempted in ,america is probably the adaptation which ,director ,sam ,hume and the artists ,rudolph ,schaeffer and ,norman ,edwards made of the ,greek ,theater in ,berkeley1 ,california1 for ,romeo and ,juliet and ,twelfth ,night4 ,there is a certain significance1 however1 in the pleasure which our scenic artists seem to get out of a play which gives them only one setting to design1 but which requires them to wring from it1 by means of lights1 many moods and a variety of visual impressions4 ,lee ,simonson's circus greenroom for ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped and ,norman-,bel ,geddes' sitting room for ,the ,truth ,about ,blayds showed how seductive to the artist of the theater may be the game of playing with lights in a permanent setting4 ,approached purely from the point of view of scenic art1 or the so-called new stagecraft1 the ,redoutensaal presents excellent reasons for its existence4 ,historically it could be defended by a study of the theater from the ,greeks1 with their day-lit1 architectural background1 to ,georgian times when the stage and the house were both lighted by the same chandeliers1 and the wide apron1 the boxes1 and the proscenium made a sort of permanent setting which was varied by the shifting backcloths4 ,but if we go no further back than the days when ,craig and ,appia were beginning to write1 and before their voices and their pencils had won an audience among theater directors1 we shall find the start of an evolutionary development for which the idea of the ,redoutensaal provides a plausible climax4 ,in the first decade of the twentieth century1 the 8flat0 was flat indeed1 and the painted wing and backdrop ruled4 ,if there was any depth1 it was the space between wing and wing1 or the false space of painted perspective4 ,then the ideas of ,craig and ,appia1 making a curious alliance with ,realism1 forced the plastic upon the stage4 ,the solid1 three-dimensional setting dominated4 ,when directors and artists began to discover the physical and spiritual limitations of 8real0 settings which could present nothing bigger than the actual stage space1 many went back to the painted flat4 ,it was a different flat1 however1 one painted with dynamic and expressive design4 ,the third method is seldom quite satisfactory4 ,the living actor1 with his three-dimensional being1 clashes with the two-dimensional painting4 ,the result is bad from a realistic or illusionistic point of view2 and1 as soon as we think of the stage in terms of a frank convention1 we find that we want the emphasis thrown upon the actor as the more interesting and the more difficult element4 ,we want a defined and permanent artificiality that shall give the actor scope1 serve as a pied--terre1 not join in a fantastic competition4 ,we can escape plastic and limited reality in the ,redoutensaal1 while we supply the actor with a background that harmonizes with the living character of his body4 ,at the same time we can secure the vivid indication of mood or time or place which we seek1 and achieve it more vividly because of the permanence of the main fabric of the stage1 and its contrast with the merely indicated setting4 ,german scene designers and directors move in theory steadily towards what they call the podium1 the platform pure and simple1 from which the player addresses the audience openly as a player4 ,in practice they tend steadily to try to approach this by driving out as much of changing scenic background as possible4 ,they place something in the middle of the stage1 a table1 a flight of steps1 a pillar1 a bed1 and they try to eliminate the rest of the stage4 ,jessner does this in ,berlin by using his cyclorama as a neutral boundary without character in itself4 ,fehling1 the director of ,masse-,mensch1 uses black curtains1 and the artist ,krehan by the same means tries to center our attention on small set pieces placed in the middle of the stage and designed to represent corners of rooms or a sofa by a window4 ,black curtains appear everywhere in ,germany--perhaps as an expression of the mood of the beaten nation1 but also unquestionably from a desire to drive out both ,realism and pretense and to leave as little as possible upon the stage except the actor and the barest and most essential indication of setting4 ,the ,german uses black curtains to achieve nothingness4 ,instead he gets desolation1 spiritual negation4 ,in the ,redoutensaal1 the actor is backed up by space4 ,it is a positive presence instead of a negative background4 ,yet it does not obtrude1 this splendid room1 with its gold and gray1 its mirrors and its tapestries4 ,these things float in the back of consciousness1 filling what might be a disquieting void or a depressing darkness4 ,always the cream walls dominate the gray1 and always the living actor1 driving his message directly at the spectator1 dominates them all4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,the ,,cirque ,,medrano ,perhaps the gladiators gave it a bad name4 ,at any rate for twenty centuries men have hesitated to put anything more serious than a clown or an athlete in the middle of an audience4 ,the ,romans could hardly be called a timorous1 a sensitive or a conventional people1 yet even they never thought of presenting a play in an amphitheater4 ,c4 ,curio1 rich and reckless1 celebrated the death of his father by building two great wooden theaters back to back1 giving performances in both at the same time1 then whirling the spectators about on turn tables1 until they faced each other1 and the two semicircles of seats joined and made one huge arena4 ,but1 though ,curio was reckless of money and of the lives of his guests1 he was careful of the esthetic proprieties4 ,the actors performed in the theaters1 and the animals in the arena4 ,so far as the feelings of the ,drama can be learned1 she did not approve of the way the ,romans shoved her actors out of the old ,greek orchestra1 and crammed them into a shallow little box1 which they called a stage4 ,the first chance that the ,drama had1 she climbed down close to the people again1 and played on the stone floor of the medieval churches4 ,even ,shakespeare did not have the temerity to try to put her back in a box4 ,it is said that there were rare times1 as in some of the outdoor mysteries of the ,middle ,ages and while the pageant wagons carried the actors and their scenes into the squares of the ,english towns1 when you might have found the ,drama entirely surrounded by the hosts of her admirers4 ,but some curious and perverse power seems to have schemed through the centuries to seize a decadent time like the ,roman days or the last fifty years in modern ,europe1 and clap the ,drama in a box4 ,and to-day1 when the ,drama is bravely insisting on a little air and light1 the power is still strong enough to keep the ,drama's liberators from placing her naked and unashamed in the center of her fellows4 ,she is no longer a peepshow lure1 but we still hesitate to treat her as a goddess4 ,occasionally a theorist1 who is as sick as the rest of us of the fourth wall convention1 comes forward with some extraordinary proposal to put the audience in the middle of the drama4 ,furttenbach in the seventeenth century laid out a square theater with a stage in each corner4 ,oskar ,strnad of ,vienna wants to place a doughnut stage two thirds round the audience2 and some ,frenchman has advocated whirling the doughnut4 ,anything to distract the spectator from the drama2 nothing to concentrate him upon it4 ,in the 8,theater of the ,five ,thousand0 devised by ,max ,reinhardt in ,berlin1 and in the imitation which ,firmin ,gmier launched at the ,cirque d',hiver in ,paris1 the audience and the drama at last met in the circus4 ,but for some curious reason--at which ,i have only guessed in a more or less absurd fashion--neither ,reinhardt nor ,gmier was courageous or far-seeing enough to use the circus as a circus4 ,neither dared put the players in the center1 and forget the old stage4 ,at one side there always lingered a palace or a proscenium4 ,reinhardt might make the excuse that for such a scheme he needed a round circus1 and that a round circus would be far too big for the drama4 7,he would not be absurd enough to say that ,moissi or ,pallenberg could not act unless all the audience saw all his face all the time74 ,there are round circuses in ,europe1 however1 and small1 round circuses1 and if ,reinhardt could not find one in ,berlin1 he could have built one for half the money he put into reconstructing the ,circus ,schumann into the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus4 ,up on ,montmartre1 just under the last heights on which perches ,sacr ,cur1 there is such a circus4 ,an intimate circus1 a little circus1 just the place to begin the last experiment with the theater4 ,copeau could go straight there from the ,vieux-,colombier1 and throw his ,scapin into the ring without a second's hesitation4 ,it would bowl over ,paris and half the theatrical world4 ,copeau could go straight there1 but ,i think the audience should be required1 for a time1 to make a detour via the top of ,montmartre4 ,certainly that is the only way to approach the ,cirque ,medrano to-day4 ,a fiacre to the funicular4 ,the funicular to the base of the cathedral4 ,a stroll all round that boarded-up curiosity4 ,a look-off at ,paris swimming in the ebb-tide of the summer sun4 ,then supper in the ,place du ,tertre4 ,not for the food1 which is as good as any cuisine bourgeoise2 nor for the trees and window-groups out of ,manet2 nor for the tubby widow of forty-five who sings3 ,je le proclame1 ,les mains de femme ,sont les bijoux ,dont je suis fou4444 or the ancient with the two brass buttons in the back of his surtout and the patience of an ,english politician1 who recites inaudible and probably unintelligible poetry before passing the hat4 ,supper in the ,place du ,tertre is an appropriate prelude to the ,cirque ,medrano because of the dog that watches all evening from the tin roof of an impossibly ruined house1 and the women straight out of the ,french ,revolution1 the days of '#dh and the ,commune1 who stand about with their great naked arms akimbo1 and their strong sharp chins1 high cheek bones1 and eagle eyes waiting for the liberty cap to crown them4 ,the dog and the women1 they are the audience and the show4 ,they are the ,cirque ,medrano4 ,this circus is a golden bowl4 ,at the bottom1 no sawdust but a carpet of hemp1 a great 8welcome0 doormat without the lettering2 we take the deed for the word4 ,outside the ring is a parapet nicely carpeted in yellow2 one of the clowns finds it amusing to roll round this track on his shoulders4 ,above the parapet rise steep rows of seats1 half of them in bright orange for the spectators with fifty or sixty cents to spend4 ,higher up the thin and graceful pillars which support the roof cut across the vision a little2 here there are only benches and the dvots4 ,at opposite sides of the ring1 walled passages lead out to the greenroom and public entrances which circle underneath the seats4 ,exits for the audience pierce the rows at the four quarters4 ,from the disk of the dome above1 sixteen great lamps blaze down on the ring1 and sometimes a spotlight or two punctuate the darkness4 ,if you like to take your pleasure sentimentally1 a performance at the ,cirque ,medrano is like opening old letters--with a comic valentine now and then for tonic4 ,huck ,finn saw a one-ring circus2 but ,gentry's ,dog and ,pony ,show is the farthest that the present generation ever get from the three-ring-and-two-stage monstrosity which deafens our ears and dulls our eyes4 ,the ,cirque ,medrano is the proper place for artists and connoisseurs4 ,the fifteen hundred people that it holds can study--and do study--with the minute intensity of an anatomical clinic1 ,m4 ,grossi and ,coquette1 as the horseman1 quite as proud as his mare1 puts her through five minutes of marching to music4 ,they turn their eyes with just as much appreciation to watch the aerialists1 plunging into their dangerous pastimes under the lights4 ,here ,m4 ,lionel1 ,roi du ,vertige1 gets the sort of attention he could never win on the vaudeville stage2 it must seem to him sometimes1 as he manuvers gingerly on a chair balanced by its right hind leg in the neck of a bottle which is perched in turn on a ten foot pole1 that the towering rows of seats are about to topple over on the strange career which he has made of himself4 ,there is no question1 then1 about the sight-lines of the theater which ,copeau should make out of the ,cirque ,medrano4 ,there never was such an auditorium for sheer visibility4 ,the last rows are better than the first2 they take in the whole audience as well as the show1 while all you can say for the front seats is that they would show you half of the laughing or crying crowd of men and women1 hanging over the actors in far from mute adoration4 ,the slant of these seats is greater than the slant in ,max ,littmann's theaters in ,munich1 but1 because the rows swing all round1 you never get that feeling of awful vacancy and gap which comes to spectators in the upper rows of the ,prinzregenten and the ,knstler ,theaters in ,munich4 ,and there is no proscenium arch to press down upon the poor midgets at the bottom of the playhouse4 8,but their backs8 ,how about the actors' backs80 ,that is a foolish question from any one who has ever seen ,copeau's players1 who has watched ,jouvet's back play the coarse1 immense ,karamazov1 or seen his legs and buttocks send ,aguecheek shuffling across the stage1 or caught the whole quick poise of ,suzanne ,bing's ,viola in her shoulders and hips4 ,it is nothing short of the ravings of a mad man if the questioner has been to the ,cirque ,medrano1 and looked upon the clowns4 ,people have wondered how the actors of the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus could play to three audiences at once1 the one in front1 the one at the right1 and the one at the left2 here are the clowns playing to four4 ,it is not all slapstick either4 ,there is almost no whacking in the clowns' own turns4 ,in these scenes they work out broad little comedy skits such as ,ray and ,johnny ,dooley1 ,leon ,errol and ,walter ,catlett1 ,eddie ,cantor and ,george ,le ,maire1 ,willie and ,eugene ,howard1 or ,weber ,fields might offer in our revues4 ,the difference at the ,medrano is that the actors seem to have consciously developed their gestures and their poses as supplementary expression to their faces4 ,also they warily work round during their scenes1 and give each part of the audience the benefit of both back and face4 ,the comedy of the ,medrano is far funnier than the comedy of ,the ,follies or the comedy of the ,redoutensaal in ,vienna2 and not because the turns are broader4 ,it is funnier because it is so intimately alive1 because it is made with all the actor's body1 and because it is always directed at an audience4 ,four audiences at once6 ,it is a priceless advantage4 ,the actor has always some one to press his art upon4 ,in our theater half an actor's body is dead1 or else vainly talking to the scenery4 ,that is an understatement1 if anything4 ,the only way the actor can get directly at our audience1 register upon it the impact of his art1 his personality1 his emotion1 is to turn away from the scene and make his speech into a monologue4 ,that is the chief difficulty which stands in way of the sort of acting which deals directly and frankly with the audience1 which admits that it is art and not reality1 which says that the actor is an actor and the audience is an actor1 too2 the kind of acting1 in short1 which is called presentational in contrast to the realistic method of representation which rules our theater4 ,on any stage that is surrounded by its audience1 the player can speak to his fellow-actor and to his audience at the same time4 ,in the ,medrano it is no question of backs or faces4 ,the whole man plays1 and every inch of him has an audience4 ,there remains1 however1 the question of setting4 ,clowns need no atmosphere1 but ,hamlet must speak to a ghost4 ,an acrobat is his own scenery1 but ,juliet needs a balcony4 ,can the ,medrano manage such things8 ,can this open ring do what the stage of the ,redoutensaal balks at8 ,the ,medrano can do almost anything that our theater can do--and a great many things more--because it can use the three essentials of setting and atmosphere3 light1 human bodies1 and indications of place4 ,light4444 ,it is the fifth turn in the ,cirque ,medrano4 ,lydia et ,henry1 8,babies ,dancers10 two pitiable little children1 who have been taught to do very bad imitations of their elders in the banal dances of the revues4 ,after they have hopped and shaken their way uncertainly through two or three fox trots and shimmies1 the great lights in the roof go out4 ,blackness1 then a stain of amber in the center of the ring4 ,the light brightens and the stain lengthens4 ,it might fall upon the stone of an old cistern1 if some one had thought to put it there4 ,then1 when the figure of ,salome crawls out along the stain1 it would be many moments before we could see that it was the body of a four-year-old1 whom some one had togged out with breast-plates4 ,or again darkness1 and slowly a blue-green light from on high1 and in the midst of it an ,apache and a girl4 ,it needs no curb1 no lamp-post1 no brick corner1 to make the ring a moonlit street4 ,after light1 there comes the human body4 ,the ,medrano as a circus does nothing to show how the actors themselves can make a setting4 ,why should it8 ,but ,i remember the project of an ,american artist1 in #aiad1 to put ,the ,cenci upon the stage of a prize ring1 and ,i remember how the sketches showed a chorus of human figures in costumes and with staves1 circling about the people of ,shelley's play and forming a dozen frames to the drama within4 ,illustration3 ,an impression of the ,cirque ,medrano in ,paris4 ,after light and a setting of bodies comes just as much of the ordinary plastic scenery of the stage as you need1 and just as little as you can get along with4 ,if you care to dig a bit under the ring1 and install machinery that will lower the floor in sections1 pile up hills in concentric circles or even lift a throne or a well or an altar into the middle of the circus while the lights are out--well1 there is nothing to prevent you4 ,juliet's balcony may hang above one of the entrances2 or in the center of the stage throughout the whole action of ,les ,fourberies de ,scapin may stand the trteau or block1 which ,copeau makes the center of the action at the ,vieux-,colombier4 ,scenically the problem of the ,medrano is the most fascinating problem of the stage artist1 the creation of a single permanent structure1 large or small1 which can stand throughout a play and give significant aid to the various scenes4 ,it is no such difficult task to imagine productions in the ,medrano as it is to find plays for the ,redoutensaal4 ,the accompanying sketch shows an arrangement for ,the ,merchant of ,venice4 ,glowing ,venetian lanterns are hung in the spaces between the arches at the top of the theater4 ,the four entrances for the public are made entrances for the players as well4 ,below each gate is a double stair1 railed at the top with ,venetian iron4 ,between the stairs are benches1 again in the shape of the period4 ,the railings become the copings of the ,rialto4 ,the casket scenes are played in the center of the arena1 while ,portia and ,nerissa watch the proceedings from a bench at one side2 another bench seats the judges in the courtroom4 ,jessica leans out from an entrance to flirt with her lover1 and the carnival mob chases old ,shylock up and down the little stairs1 over the benches1 round about and out one of the two lower gates to the ring4 ,the ghost scene in ,hamlet8 ,imagine the sentinel's companions moonlit in the center4 ,imagine a gallery behind the arches lighted with a dim and ghostly radiance4 ,and imagine ,marcellus suddenly and fearfully pointing to the figure of the dead man where it moves above the last row of spectators4 ,no mixing of actors and audience1 but what a thrill to see the ghost across a gulf of turned and straining faces1 what a horror to see him over your own shoulder6 ,later ,hamlet climbs stone by stone to meet and speak with the ghost from a platform above one of the great entrances4 ,the ,jest--its prison scene8 ,a block in the middle of the ring1 a single glaring light from straight above1 and the figure of ,neri chained to the block4 ,illustration3 ,the ,merchant of ,venice as it might be given in the ,cirque ,medrano4 ,masse-,mensch8 ,but a mob-play is too easy4 ,the scene of the defeat1 for instance2 light upon the steps in the middle of the ring1 workers piled up on it1 messengers and refugees running in from gate after gate1 from all four entrances1 flinging themselves back on the crowd in the center as the news of fresh disaster comes4 ,the rattle of firearms2 lights against the back of the high gallery1 and the silhouettes of a score of machine guns trained on the actors and the audience4 ,it would be foolish to deny that the ,medrano is not a theater for every play4 ,it could not hold some that the artificiality of the ,redoutensaal would make welcome--,oscar ,wilde's1 for instance--along with most of the conversational ,realism of the past thirty years4 ,but it could house all that the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus is fitted for--,greek tragedy and comedy1 ,shakespeare's greatest plays1 dramas like ,florian ,geyer1 ,the ,weavers1 and ,danton4 ,some of the scenes of such pieces1 the intimate episodes which ,reinhardt's circus balks at1 could be done excellently in the ,medrano4 ,it has all the intimacy of ,copeau's theater1 and it could bring into its ring many dramas of to-day1--,the ,emperor ,jones1 ,strife1--which are impossible in the ,vieux-,colombier4 ,the ,medrano has its limitations1 of course1 but they are not the limitations of size1 emotion1 or period4 ,the plays that it could not do would be the plays least worth doing1 at their best the plays which give to a reader almost all that they have to give4 ,if you should try to make a comparison of method1 rather than of limitations1 between the three active presentational theaters of ,europe1 and the fourth that might be1 it would run1 ,i think something like this3 ,the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus tries to deceive you in curious ways1--with dome and scenery and cloud machine4 ,the ,vieux-,colombier carefully explains to you that this is a theater1 and that this is also life4 ,the ,redoutensaal asks you to dress up and see something artistic4 ,the ,medrano unites you and overwhelms you4 ,the thing that impresses any one who studies the ,medrano from the point of view of play production--it may even impress the reader who tries to understand and sympathize with these attempts to suggest how plays might be produced there--is the great variety which such a theater offers and always the sense of unity which it creates4 ,from every angle relationships center upon the actor1 or cut across one another as he moves about1 makes entrances or exits1 or appears in the back of the audience4 ,all these relationships work to a fine1 natural unity4 ,there is the actor in the center with the audience about him2 there is the actor on the rim drawing the audience out and across to him4 ,there are three circles of action within one another in a single unity4 ,and there is the sense of all this which the audience has as it looks down1 ,olympian1 from its banks of seats4 ,something of the vision of the aeroplane invades the ,medrano4 ,we see life anew4 ,we see it cut across on a fresh plane4 ,patterns appear of which we had no knowledge4 ,relationships become clear that were once confusion4 ,we catch a sense of the roundness and rightness of life4 ,and in the ,medrano1 while we win this vision in a new dimension1 we do not lose the feel of the old4 ,such a theater establishes both for us4 ,it gives us the three unities of space in all their fulness4 ,they cut across one another like the planes of a hypercube4 ,and the deeper they cut1 the deeper grows the unity4 ,the ,medrano seems to solve two problems of the modern theater4 ,these arise from two desires in the leading directors and artists4 ,one is to throw out the actor into sharp relief1 stripped of everything but the essential in setting4 ,this motivates a production like ,masse-,mensch1 with black curtains blotting out all but the center of the stage1 and a theater like the ,redoutensaal1 with the actor placed amidst a background of formal and permanent beauty4 ,the ,medrano supplies a living background1 the background of the audience itself4 ,it is the background of life instead of death1 a fulness of living things instead of the morbid emptiness of black curtains4 ,it is a background more enveloping and animating than the ballroom of ,maria ,theresa4 ,it is a background that accords with every mood1 and is itself a unity4 ,the other problem is a psychological and a physical problem1 the problem of life-principles in art4 ,in the beginning the theater was masculine4 ,its essence was a thrust4 ,the phallus was borne in the processional ritual at the opening of the ,theater of ,dionysus each spring2 and its presence was significant4 ,the greatest and the healthiest of the theaters have always plunged their actors into the midst of the audience4 ,it is only decadence1 whether ,roman or ,victorian1 that has withdrawn the actor into a sheath1 a cave1 a mouth1 and has tried to drag the spirit of the spectator in with him4 ,the peep show is essentially evil4 ,i will not say it is feminine1 but ,i will say that the art of the theater is a masculine art1 that it is assertive and not receptive4 ,its business is to imbue the audience4 ,it is not too difficult to see in the proscenium arch the reason for the barrenness of the realistic theater4 ,directors and artists who have felt this have tried to find a playhouse that lies nearer to the masculine vigor of schylus and ,shakespeare4 ,i think they can find it in the ,cirque ,medrano4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,old ,,spirit--,,the ,,new ,,theater ,it is hard to escape the belief that this ferment in the theater means something4 ,something for life and from life2 something for art and from art4 ,something immensely important to the sense of godhead in man which is life and art together1 life and art fecundating one another4 ,it seems peculiarly clear that the new forces in the theater have been working towards a spiritual change far more novel1 far more interesting1 and naturally far more important than any of the technical changes which they have brought about4 ,the technical changes have been confusing4 ,first this business of scenic designers and revolving stages and all manner of show and mechanism2 and now the 8naked stage10 abdication of the artist1 scrapping of the machines1 the actor alone1 on a podium or in a circus ring4 ,all in the name of drama4 ,there is only one explanation4 ,these changes have come as part of an attempt to restore the theater to its old functions4 ,they are two very extraordinary functions4 ,one may be debauched into titillation1 or may rise to that fulness of vitality1 that excitation1 upon which the second function of the theater is based1 the function of exaltation4 ,between the older theater1 in which these functions worked as potently as they worked seldom1 and the theater in which they may work again1 lay the theater of ,realism4 ,it was a product of a tremendous force1 a force for evil as well as good--the force of nineteenth century science4 ,science made the theater realistic and ,realism made the drama scientific4 ,it ceased to be a show4 ,it became a photograph4 ,the drama was made 8truer10 but only in the sense that a photograph may be truer to fact than a drawing by ,picasso4 ,it achieved resemblance to life4 ,and then it ceased to have excitement or exaltation1 because excitement1 in the vivid sense in which ,i use it here1 is most uncommon in modern life1 and because exaltation is a rare and hidden thing showing seldom in outward relations4 ,both are too exceptional for ,realism4 ,the restoration of excitement to the theater may appear to degrade it from the exact and austere report of life which ,realism demands4 ,but the thrill of movement and event is the element in the theater which lifts our spirits to the point where exaltation is possible4 ,the power of the theater lies in just this ability to raise us to ecstasy through the love of vitality which is the commonest sign of divinity in life4 ,and when the theater gives us ecstasy1 what becomes of science8 ,and who cares8 ,the new forces in the theater have struggled more or less blindly toward this end4 ,they have tried beauty1 richness1 novelty1 to win back excitement4 ,they have only just begun to see that the liveliest excitation in the playhouse may come from the art of the actor and the art of the rgisseur when they are stripped to the task of providing exaltation4 ,present the actor as an actor1 and the background as an honest1 material background1 and you are ready for what glories the playwright and the peculiar genius of the theater can provide4 ,the drama is free again for its eternal task--the showing of the soul of life4 ,just how much this may mean is perhaps the test of your belief in the theater4 ,it is the conviction of some of us that there has resided in the theater--and our hope that there may reside once more--something akin to the religious spirit4 ,a definition of this spirit is difficult4 ,it is certainly not religion4 ,it goes behind religion4 ,it is the exaltation of which formal creeds are a product4 ,it is the vitality which informs life1 and begets art4 ,out of the intensity of spiritual feeling which rises from the eternal processes of the universe and in turn becomes conscious of them1 the thing is born which made ,greek tragedy noble and which called drama back to life in the ,middle ,ages4 ,then it was the spirit of religion4 ,to-day we might call it the spirit of life4 ,both consciously and unconsciously men of the theater have sought to win back this exaltation4 ,the latest attempt is in some ways the most daring and the most interesting4 ,max ,reinhardt1 leaving the playhouse1 has tried to find it in a wedding of the drama and the church4 ,before this book is published1 ,reinhardt will have produced ,calderon's mystic drama1 ,the ,theater of the ,world1 under the high altar of the ,collegienkirche in ,salzburg4 ,it is impossible now to speak of how far he has been able to effect an esthetic union between the handsome rococo edifice and the platform for his players2 it is only possible to speculate on the spiritual feeling which spectators may gain through looking up at the actors from a flat floor1 instead of looking down upon them4 ,i cannot speak of the actual presence of exaltation in the audience1 but we can speculate together on the possibilities of winning back spiritual vitality for the drama by union with the church4 ,first of all1 there comes the disquieting thought that the theater presents the spectacle these days of a bird that lays eggs in another bird's nest4 ,it isn't content with the one it has used for some centuries4 ,it must go snooping about looking for a new haven for the drama4 ,it tries the circus4 ,it tries the ballroom4 ,it shows us the ,grosses ,schauspielhaus and the ,redoutensaal4 ,it even seems to have got a notion of laying its eggs on the fourth wall4 ,as this was the only thing that wasn't thoroughly real in the realistic theater1 the result--the motion picture--is a bit of a scramble4 ,and now the cuckoo theater has its eye on the church4 ,a truer charge might be that the human animal has a perverse liking for novelty2 but even that could be countered with the assertion that out of the stimulation of novelty1 as out of almost any stimulation1 man can make art--if he has it in him4 ,as to that strange bird1 the theater1 it has never had good home-keeping habits4 ,it laid its eggs on ,greek altars1 and in the mangers of ,christian chapels4 ,it nested in the inn yard in ,england1 and the tennis court in ,france4 ,the fact that the theater has a habit of roaming is worth about as much in this discussion of its chance in the modern church as the fact that it once found ecstasy by the ,greek altar and produced little approaching dramatic literature while it was in the ,christian church4 ,jacques ,copeau complains that the drama has no home to-day1 and asserts that between the only choices open to it--the church and the street--he much prefers the street4 ,the church doesn't want the drama2 its creed doesn't want the drama2 its spirit repels the drama4 ,in this relation of the church and the theater there seems to be a problem for ,europe and a problem for ,america4 ,the possibility of the two uniting appears much greater in ,europe4 ,europe--particularly central and southern ,europe1 where ,catholicism flourishes--holds far more of genuine religious spirit than does ,america4 ,moreover1 the church there has the strength of tradition and of art behind it4 ,the esthetic-emotional grip of the churches themselves1 their architecture1 their atmosphere1 the sense of continuity that lives in them1 holds men and women whose minds have rejected or ignored the authority of dogma4 ,even an ,american cut off from the traditional side of this life would feel a thrill in a drama in the ,collegienkirche in ,salzburg or in the ,cathedral of ,chartres that no performance in a theater could give him4 ,the beauty of the ages would bless the drama in almost any ,european building except a theater4 ,but come to ,america1 and try to imagine ,everyman in ,trinity ,church at the head of ,wall street1 or ,the ,theater of the ,world in the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,john the ,divine1 not to bring it down to the level of a ,methodist meeting house4 ,the theater can always make religion more dramatic2 witness the experiments of the ,reverend ,william ,norman ,guthrie and ,claude ,bragdon with lighting and dance in ,st4 ,mark's-in-the-,bouwerie4 ,but ,i do not think that any ,american church short of some ,spanish-,indian mission in the ,southwest can make the drama more religious4 ,for ,america--and1 ,i suspect1 for ,europe1 too--the problem is to find a way to the religious spirit independent of the church4 ,it is not a question of producing plays in cathedrals1 but of producing the spirit of life in plays4 ,it is not3 ,can religion make itself theatrical8 ,but3 ,can the theater make itself--in a new sense--religious8 ,if modern life1 particularly the life of ,america1 were spiritual in any degree1 all this would be simple4 ,church and theater would both minister--as neither of them does now--to the life of the spirit4 ,america has no art and no religion which can make drama religious4 ,america does not believe1 in any deep sense4 ,science has shattered dogma1 and formal religion has not been able to absorb an artistic or a philosophic spirit great enough to recreate the religious spirit in men4 ,the thing is still more difficult because there is nowhere in this country--unless1 again1 it is in the ,southwest--a sense of the age-long processes of life1 which are part of the soil and which leave their mark on men and women through the physical things that have always cradled them4 ,in ,europe even the cities hold this ancient and natural aspect2 they are shaped by man and time1 even as the fields and the hills are shaped by time and man4 ,these cities bask1 and lie easy4 ,there is a sense of long1 slow growth in the very stones4 ,in ,america1 it is not only that our cities are new and brash4 ,our countryside is the same4 ,even our farmhouses stick out of the land like square boxes4 ,as simple a house in ,europe has a breadth that reconciles it with the sweep of the fields4 ,the ,american farmhouse is symbol of our separation from the soil4 ,we are out of touch with the earthy vitality of life which might bring us at least a little sense of the eternal4 ,if the man of the theater gives up the ,american church as a path to the spirit of life1 and if he finds no religion in modernity from which to bring religion to the stage1 what can he do8 ,is it possible that he can create the spiritual in the people by creating it in the theater8 ,can he see the vision himself2 and1 if he sees it and embodies it1 can it make over the people8 ,clive ,bell1 writing in ,art1 has described how such artists as ,william ,blake and a very few others have reached the spiritual reality of existence--the thing we should call religion--directly1 by pure intuition3 8,some artists seem to have come at it by sheer force of imagination1 unaided by anything without them2 they have needed no material ladder to help them out of matter4 ,they have spoken with reality as mind to mind40 ,vision of this sort is so inordinately rare1 that it seems as though some other way must be found to open spiritual truth to the artist of the theater4 ,the only other way is through the deepest understanding of life itself4 ,what can the artist find in ,american life to bring the vision8 ,nothing1 surely1 on the surface4 ,our architects have reached a more noteworthy expression than perhaps any of our painters1 because they have somehow managed to identify themselves with a spirit of affirmation behind those industrial forms that our commercial imperialism presents to view in our men of position like ,morgan and ,ford1 our periodicals like ,the ,american ,magazine and ,the ,saturday ,evening ,post1 our subways and our cigarette ads1 our patent medicines and our ,kuppenheimer clothes4 ,the artist of the theater who is to create ecstasy by finding it1 must see deeper than the architects behind the shams of ,american life4 ,he must grasp the ,spirit of ,america in a sense so extraordinary that the use we ordinarily make of that phrase will seem impossibly and blasphemously cheap4 ,we have hints of what the artist must see and understand in ,sandburg's sense of ,chicago1 in ,vachel ,lindsay's sense of the ,middle ,west1 in ,waldo ,frank's sense of ,new ,mexico4 ,when theatrical genius has grasped the truth of ,america1 it must be his business to make of himself and his theater a magnifying glass for the rest of his fellows4 ,what he has been able to seize by sheer intuition1 he must put in such form that it can seize all ,america4 ,it is the hope of the theater that it can make the vision of one man become the vision of many4 ,there is no reason why a man of the theater should not have the vision2 it has come to other artists4 ,they have been able to transfer some share of it to the sensitive1 the developed1 the intellectual4 ,the artist of the theater can perhaps transfer it to millions1 to the uneducated and the dull1 as well as to the receptive4 ,in the theater he has a very extraordinary instrument4 ,it is the art nearest to life2 its material is almost life itself4 ,this physical identity which it has with our very existence is the thing that can enable the artist to visualize with amazing intensity a religious spirit of which he has sensed only the faintest indications in life4 ,he can create a world which shines with exaltation and which seems--as it indeed is--a world of reality4 ,he can give the spirit a pervading presence in the theater which it once had in the life of the ,greeks and of the people of the ,middle ,ages4 ,and when men and women see eternal spirit in such a form1 who can say that they will not take it to them8 ,,the ,,end ,,index ,,index ,in the case of a number of plays listed in this index1 the names of the director and the artist responsible for the particular production in question are coupled in a parenthesis preceding the numbers of the pages on which the production is mentioned2 a semi-colon separates references to such special productions from references to the play alone4 ,in the case of theaters listed1 the name of the city in which each is located appears in parenthesis4 ,ars ,system1 #gc-gf1 #aaf4 ,andr1 ,harald1 opp4 #ed1 #ge1 #gg1 #gh1 #gi1 opp4 #abj1 #aba-abb1 opp4 #abb4 schylus1 #f1 #ib1 #bab4 ,albert ,theater 7,dresden71 #cc4 ,alice ,sit-by-the-,fire1 #aic4 ,allard1 ,robert1 #aje1 #aha4 ,american ,magazine1 ,the1 #bbj4 ,amphitheater1 #df4 ,andreyeff1 ,leonid1 #be4 ,anglin1 ,margaret1 #ih4 ,annonce faite ,marie1 ,l'1 7,dalcroze-,appia71 #aei4 ,appia1 ,adolphe1 #db1 #dd1 #fh-fi1 #gj1 #ajg1 #ach1 #aei1 #aie4 ,arnold1 ,victor1 #hb4 ,art1 #ai1 #bbj4 ,austrian ,state ,opera ,house1 see ,vienna ,opera ,house4 ,awakening of ,spring1 ,the1 #bh4 ,back to ,methuselah1 7,simonson71 #gc1 #gf4 ,bahr1 ,hermann1 #aib4 ,bakshy1 ,alexander1 #ii1 #ajj1 #aeh4 ,bakst1 ,leon1 #dd1 #dh4 ,balieff1 ,n4 ,f41 #ajg4 ,ballets ,russes1 #dd4 ,barber of ,seville1 ,the1 #ahf1 #ahi-aij1 opp4 #aij4 ,barnsdall1 ,aline1 #aei1 #aid4 ,barrie1 ,sir ,j4 ,m41 #h4 ,barrymore1 ,lionel1 #hg4 ,barton1 ,jim1 #hf4 ,bassermann1 ,albert1 #hb4 ,bataille1 ,henry1 #f4 ,beaumarchais1 #aib4 ,beggar's ,opera1 ,the1 #aib4 ,belasco1 ,david1 #ad1 #be1 #db1 #agf4 ,bell1 ,clive1 #ai-bj1 #bbj4 ,ben-,ami1 ,jacob1 #id4 ,berlin ,state ,opera ,house1 opp4 #fj1 #adf4 ,berlin ,state ,schauspielhaus1 #ee1 #gb1 #gh1 #hd2 7,acting company71 #hh-hi1 #aci-adj2 7,jessner's productions there71 #acj-adc2 see illus41 ,napoleon1 ,othello1 and ,richard ,,iii4 ,berlin ,volksbhne1 see ,volksbhne4 ,bernhardt1 ,sarah1 #ih1 #ajd4 ,bertens1 ,rosa1 #hb4 ,bibiena1 see ,galli-,bibiena4 ,bing1 ,suzanne1 #ahj1 #bjd4 ,blake1 ,wm41 #bbj4 ,bltter des ,deutschen ,theaters1 #afb4 ,blaue ,vogel1 ,der1 #hc4 ,booth1 ,edwin1 #ih4 ,booth ,theater 7,new ,york71 #aic4 ,bouquet1 ,romain1 #aha4 ,bragdon1 ,claude1 #bah4 ,brahm1 ,otto1 #db1 #aaj4 ,brice1 ,fanny1 #ajb4 ,bronnen1 ,arnold1 #bi4 ,burbage1 #ib4 ,burghers of ,calais1 #acg4 ,burgtheater 7,vienna71 #ee1 #ef1 #hd1 #agg4 ,butler1 ,samuel1 #aah4 ,csar and ,cleopatra1 #aic4 ,calderon1 #aag1 #ahh1 #baf4 ,caliban 7,mac,kaye-,ordynski-,urban-,jones71 #aei1 #afa4 ,cantor1 ,eddie1 #bjd4 ,capek1 ,karel1 #cd1 #ce1 #cf4 ,carroll1 ,lewis1 #eh4 ,carrosse du ,st4-,sacrement1 ,le1 7,copeau-,jouvet71 #ajd1 #agi1 opp4 #ahj4 ,catlett1 ,walter1 #bjd4 ,cenci1 ,the1 #bjf4 ,czanne1 #f1 #ch4 ,chauve-,souris1 #hc1 #ajg4 ,chaplin1 ,charlie1 #hf1 #ii4 ,cheney1 ,sheldon1 #age4 ,cherry ,orchard1 ,the1 7,stanislavsky71 #h-af1 opp4 #aj1 #bh1 #ij1 #ie1 #aib4 ,chout 7le ,bouffon71 7,gontcharova71 #abd-abe4 ,church ,theater1 #agj1 #baf-bah4 ,circus ,schumann 7,berlin71 #aaj1 #afb1 #afd1 #bjj4 ,circus ,theater1 #aaj1 #aeg1 #afb-agj1 #aih-bab1 #bac1 #baf4 ,cirque d',hiver 7,paris71 #bjj4 ,cirque ,medrano 7,paris71 viii1 #aih-bab1 opp4 #bjf1 opp4 #bjh4 ,clark1 ,bobbie1 #ajb4 ,claudel1 ,paul1 #aei4 ,clavigor1 #aag1 #ahh4 ,cloud-machine1 #ge-gf1 #gg4 ,collegienkirche 7,salzburg71 #baf1 #bah4 ,color ,organ1 #gf4 ,comdie des ,champs-lyses 7,paris71 #aic1 see illus41 ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped and ,uncle ,vanya4 ,cooper1 ,claude1 #he1 #aje4 ,copeau1 ,jacques1 viii1 #be1 #db1 #ee1 #he1 #ajd1 #aje1 #ajf1 #aei1 #aga-ahc1 opp4 #agd1 opp4 #ahj1 #ahh1 #bjj1 #bjc1 #bjd1 #bjg1 #bji1 #bag4 ,corneille1 #aib4 ,craig1 ,gordon1 #ah1 #ai1 #be1 #db1 #dd1 #ef1 #eg1 #ajg1 #aaa1 #aca1 #aci1 #afj1 #aie4 ,craven1 ,frank1 #if1 #ig-ih4 ,curio1 ,c41 #aih4 ,cyclorama1 #ga1 #gb1 #gd1 #aaf4 ,czech ,national ,theater 7,prague71 #cd4 ,dalcroze1 ,jaques-1 #aei4 ,dame ,cobalt1 #aag1 #ahh4 ,d',annunzio1 ,gabriele1 #h4 ,dante1 #aei4 ,danton1 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #aaj1 #afg1 #afh2 #bji4 ,das ,bist ,du1 7,linnebach71 #gc4 ,deutsches ,opernhaus 7,charlottenburg71 #ei4 ,deutsches ,theater 7,berlin71 #aaj1 #aaa4 ,diegelmann1 ,wilhelm1 #hb4 ,dietrich1 ,m41 #hb1 #ij1 #adi-aej4 ,divine ,comedy1 ,the1 #aei4 ,dome1 #gj-gb1 #aec4 ,don ,giovanni1 #ei4 ,dooley1 ,johnny1 #bjd4 ,dooley1 ,ray1 #bjd4 ,draper1 ,ruth1 #ajb4 ,dream ,play1 ,the1 #bh2 7,reinhardt71 #ajg4 ,drehbhne1 see ,revolving stage4 ,dresden ,opera ,house1 #fj1 #gc4 ,dresden ,schauspielhaus1 #be1 #fj-fa1 #gb2 7,acting company71 #hg-hh4 ,duchamp1 ,marcel1 #ch4 ,duncan1 ,augustin1 #he4 ,drer1 ,a41 #dh4 ,duse1 ,eleanora1 #hj1 #ii4 ,eames1 ,clare1 #ih4 ,ebert1 ,carl1 #hh4 ,edwards1 ,norman1 #aid4 ,eibenschtz1 ,camilla1 #hb4 ,emperor ,jones1 ,the1 #bji4 ,erdgeist1 #bh1 #hc4 ,errol1 ,leon1 #bjd4 ,euripides1 #aib4 ,evergreen ,tree1 ,the1 #aei1 #afa4 ,everyman1 7,lindberg71 #aab2 7,reinhardt71 #afb2 #bah4 ,eysoldt1 ,gertrud1 #hb4 ,faust1 7,reinhardt-,stern71 opp4 #ajh4 ,fehling1 ,jrgen1 #aai1 #add1 #adh-aef1 opp4 #adh1 opp4 #aej1 opp4 #aeb1 opp4 #aed1 opp4 #aef1 #aif4 ,festspiel1 7,reinhardt71 #afb4 ,fields1 ,lew1 #bjd4 ,first ,year1 ,the1 #if4 ,florian ,geyer1 #e2 7,stieler-,goldschmidt71 #ee1 #hf1 #hi1 #ajb2 7,reinhardt71 #afh2 #bji4 ,follies1 ,the1 #bjd4 ,ford1 ,henry1 #bbj4 ,forestage1 #aaf1 #aei1 #afb-afc1 #afh1 #afi1 #agc1 #agd1 #age1 #agf1 #aha1 #aia4 ,formal stage1 #fd1 #fe1 #ajd1 #aei1 #agc1 #agf4 ,forrest1 ,edwin1 #ih4 ,forrest1 ,marguerite1 #he4 ,forster1 ,rudolf1 #hi4 ,fortuny1 ,m41 #fi1 #gj4 ,fortuny ,system1 #fi-gj4 ,fourberies de ,scapin1 ,les1 #bjj1 #bjg4 ,france1 ,anatole1 #ad1 #cg4 ,francesca da ,rimini1 7,duse71 #hj4 ,frank1 ,waldo1 #ff1 #bba4 ,frankfort ,opera ,house1 #cb1 opp4 #cb4 ,frankfort ,schauspielhaus1 #ea1 #ee2 7,acting company71 #hh-hi2 #aab1 opp4 #aab1 opp4 #aad4 ,freie ,volksbhne1 #aaj2 see ,volksbhne4 ,frres ,karamazov1 ,les1 7,copeau-,jouvet71 #be1 #ff1 #ajc1 #ajd1 #agc1 #agd1 opp4 #agd1 #agf1 #agi4 ,frogs1 ,the1 #ib4 ,from ,morn to ,midnight1 7,simonson71 #gh4 ,furttenbach1 ,joseph1 #aii4 ,galli-,bibiena1 #abj1 #abf4 ,galsworthy1 ,john1 #f1 #g1 #bd4 ,garrick1 ,david1 #bc1 #ib1 #ajj4 ,garrick ,theater 7,new ,york71 #agc1 #ahj4 ,gas1 7,linnebach71 #gc4 ,geddes1 ,norman-,bel1 #aei1 #aid4 ,gmier1 ,firmin1 #aei1 #bjj4 ,getting ,married1 #aic4 ,globe ,theater 7,london71 #abj4 ,goethe1 #f1 #de1 #aag1 #aba1 #ahh4 ,goldsmith1 ,oliver1 #aic4 ,gontcharova1 ,natalia1 #abd4 ,gorky1 ,maxim1 #ajg1 #aia4 ,gozzi1 ,c41 #aag1 #ahh4 ,grabbe1 ,c4 ,d41 #gc1 #hh1 #aca1 #acc1 #acg4 ,grasso1 ,giovanni1 #ih1 #ajd4 ,greek ,theater 7,berkeley1 ,cal471 #aid4 ,grieg1 ,edward1 #ed4 ,grosses ,schauspielhaus 7,berlin71 vii1 #ec1 #ee1 #aji1 #aaj1 #aaa1 #aae1 #aaf1 #afd-agj1 opp4 #afd1 opp4 #afh1 #agf1 #agg1 #ahb1 #ahi1 #bjj1 #bjd1 #bji-baj1 #baf4 ,grossi and ,coquette1 #bjc4 ,grumpy1 #hc4 ,grnewald1 ,isaac1 #aba-abc1 opp4 #abj1 #abb4 ,guthrie1 ,rev4 ,wm4 ,n41 #bah4 ,hairy ,ape1 ,the1 #e1 #ba1 #bi1 #ch4 ,hamlet1 #bd2 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #aaj1 #aaa1 #afh2 #aib1 #bjh4 ,hartau1 ,ludwig1 #hi4 ,hasait1 ,max1 #fj1 #fa1 #fe1 #gb1 #gd1 #aaf4 ,hasenclever1 ,walter1 #cb1 #cc1 #fc4 ,hauptmann1 ,gerhart1 #e1 #hf1 #afb4 ,he ,who ,gets ,slapped1 7,pitoff71 opp4 #bd1 #be2 #ih2 7,simonson71 #acc4 ,hebbel1 #afh4 ,heims1 ,elsa1 #hb4 ,heinrich1 ,sebastien1 #ahf1 #ahg4 ,heinz1 ,wolfgang1 #hi4 ,herford1 ,beatrice1 #ajb4 ,herterich1 #hd4 ,hettner1 ,otto1 #fe4 ,hilar1 ,k4 ,h41 #cd4 ,hindemith1 ,paul1 #cb4 ,hofmannsthal1 ,hugo von1 #aaf1 #aba4 ,hoftheater 7,munich71 see ,munich ,national ,theater4 ,hopkins1 ,arthur1 #ad1 #dd1 #abi4 ,howard1 ,eugene1 #bjd4 ,howard1 ,willie1 #bjd4 ,hume1 ,sam1 #aid4 ,ibsen1 ,henrik1 #f1 #bg1 #bi1 #da4 ,idle ,inn1 ,the1 #id4 ,ingalls1 ,h4 ,c41 #df4 ,inner proscenium1 #fd1 #gc4 ,insect ,comedy1 ,the1 7,hilar-,capek71 #cd-cf4 ,international ,theater ,exhibition 7,amsterdam and ,london71 ix1 x4 ,irving1 ,sir ,henry1 #aba4 ,jannings1 ,emil1 #hb4 ,jansson1 ,thorolf1 #aba4 ,jaques-,dalcroze1 see ,dalcroze4 ,jenseits1 7,linnebach71 #cc1 #fc1 #gc4 ,jessner1 ,leopold1 vii1 #gh1 #hj1 #hh1 #hi1 #aai1 opp4 #abf1 opp4 #abh1 opp4 #acj1 opp4 #acb1 opp4 #acd1 #acj-adc1 opp4 #acf1 opp4 #ach1 opp4 #adj1 opp4 #adb1 opp4 #add1 opp4 #adf1 #adg1 #aed-aee1 #age1 #aif4 ,jest1 ,the1 #bjh4 ,jolson1 ,al1 #aja4 ,jones1 ,inigo1 #abj4 ,josephine1 #aib4 ,jouvet1 ,louis1 #ajc1 #ajd1 #agd1 opp4 #agd1 #agf1 #agg1 #ahj1 opp4 #ahj1 #aha1 #ahb1 #bjd4 ,joyce1 ,james1 #ff4 ,judith1 #afh-afi1 opp4 #afh4 ,julius ,csar1 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #afh2 #aic4 ,kain1 7,roller71 #ef4 ,kaiser1 ,georg1 #g1 #cb1 #gh4 ,kaiser ,heinrich ,,vi1 7,linnebach71 #gc4 ,kamerny ,theater 7,moscow71 #ajd4 ,kammerspielhaus 7,berlin71 #df4 ,katchaloff1 ,v4 ,i41 #aa4 ,kaufman1 ,oskar1 #de1 #df1 #adf4 ,kellerhals1 ,richard1 #hf1 #hg1 #ajb4 ,kemble1 ,chas41 #bc4 ,klein1 ,cesar1 opp4 #abf4 ,knipper1 ,mme4 ,o4 ,l41 #aa1 #ab-ac4 ,kokoschka1 ,oskar1 #cb-cc4 ,konstantin1 ,leopoldine1 #hb4 ,kortner1 ,fritz1 #hi1 #aci-ada4 ,krauss1 ,werner1 #ahi4 ,kraussneck1 ,arthur1 #hi4 ,krehan1 ,hermann1 #aif4 ,kummer1 ,clare1 #aib4 ,knstler ,theater 7,munich71 #df1 #he1 #aic1 #bjc4 ,kuppelhorizont1 see ,dome4 ,lauder1 ,harry1 #ajc4 ,lautenschlger1 ,karl1 #eh4 ,ledebur1 ,leopold von1 #hi4 ,leffler1 ,heinrich1 #ee4 ,lehman1 ,elsa1 #hb4 ,leithner1 ,melitta1 #hh4 ,le ,maire1 ,geo41 #bjd4 ,lert1 ,ernst1 #cc4 ,le ,goff1 ,jean1 #ahj4 ,lessing ,theater 7,berlin71 #ee4 ,lindberg1 ,per1 #aaa4 ,lindsay1 ,vachel1 #bba4 ,linnebach1 ,adolf1 #cc1 #fj1 #fc1 #fd1 opp4 #fd1 #fe1 #ga1 #gb1 #gc1 #gd1 opp4 #gf1 #gh1 #aaf4 ,lionel1 #bjc4 ,little ,theater 7,new ,york71 #aic4 ,littmann1 ,max1 #de1 #df1 #he1 #bjc4 ,living ,corpse1 ,the1 #hd4 ,lorensberg ,theater 7,gothenburg71 #aaa4 ,lulu1 #bh1 #hc2 see also ,erdgeist and ,pandora's ,box4 ,lydia et ,henry1 #bjf4 ,lysistrata1 #aib4 ,macbeth1 the opera1 7,andr-,jansson71 opp4 #ed1 #ee1 #gh1 #gi1 #aba4 ,mack1 ,wm4 ,b41 #hg4 ,mac,kaye1 ,percy1 #aei1 #afj1 #afa1 #afb1 #afc4 ,mac,kaye1 ,steele1 #afj-afa4 ,madison ,square ,garden 7,new ,york71 #aei4 ,maeterlinck1 ,maurice1 #h1 #aba4 ,magda1 #aic4 ,mallarm1 ,stephane1 #bi4 ,manet1 ,e41 #bja4 ,maria ,stuart1 7,weichert-,sievert71 #ed1 #ee1 #hh1 #aab1 opp4 #aab1 opp4 #aad4 ,marriage of ,convenience1 ,a1 #aib4 ,marriage of ,figaro1 ,the1 frontispiece1 #ahd1 #ahf1 opp4 #ahf1 #ahh1 #ahi1 #aij4 ,marionettes1 #gc4 ,masque of ,st4 ,louis1 ,the1 7,mac,kaye-,smith71 #aei1 #afa4 ,masse-,mensch1 7,fehling-,strohbach71 vii1 #cd1 #ec1 #ee1 #fb1 #gb1 #hj1 #ij1 #add-aef1 opp4 #adh1 opp4 #aej1 opp4 #aeb1 opp4 #aed1 opp4 #aef1 #aif1 #bjh-bji1 #baa4 ,master ,builder1 ,the1 #bh4 ,matisse1 ,henri1 #ch4 ,maugham1 ,somerset1 #aib4 ,medrano1 see ,cirque ,medrano4 ,merchant of ,venice1 ,the1 7,reinhardt71 #aaa2 #bjg-bjh1 opp4 #bjh4 ,meistersinger1 ,die1 7,roller71 #ee1 #ef1 opp4 #ef4 ,mrime1 ,prosper1 #agi4 ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 ,a1 7,reinhardt71 #aaj1 #aib4 ,miller's ,theater1 ,henry 7,new ,york71 #aic4 ,milne1 ,a4 ,a41 #aib4 ,miracle1 ,the1 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #aaj4 ,misanthrope1 ,le1 #aag1 #aga1 #ahh4 ,mitchell1 ,grant1 #ag4 ,moissi1 ,alexander1 #hb1 #aaa1 #aci1 #ahi1 #bjj4 ,molire1 #bc1 #ajj1 #aag1 #abj1 #ahh1 #aib4 ,molluso1 ,the1 #aib4 ,mrder ,hoffnung der ,frauen1 7,lert-,sievert71 #cb-cc1 opp4 #cb4 ,morgan1 ,j4 ,p41 #bbj4 ,moscow ,art ,theater1 vii1 #h1 opp4 #aj1 #aa-af1 #be1 #bh1 #hc1 #ij1 #ig1 #ajb1 #aeh1 #aib4 ,motion ,pictures1 #baf4 ,mozart1 #gc4 ,mller1 ,gerda1 #hh1 #hi4 ,munich ,national ,theater1 opp4 #fd1 #fe1 #gf1 opp4 #gf1 #he2 7,acting company7 #hf-hg4 ,murderer1 ,hope of ,women1 see ,mrder1 ,hoffnung der ,frauen4 ,musik und die ,inscenierung1 ,die1 #fh4 ,mthel1 ,lothar1 #hi4 ,napoleon1 7,jessner-,klein71 #hh1 opp4 #abf1 #aca1 #acb1 #acc-acd1 #ace-acf1 #acf-acg1 #aci4 ,national ,theater 7,munich71 see ,munich ,national ,theater4 ,night ,lodging1 #aaj1 #aia4 ,neue ,schaubhne1 ,die1 #cc4 ,neues ,volkstheater 7,berlin71 #ade4 ,new ,york ,theater ,guild1 see ,theater ,guild4 ,oberon1 7,hasait71 #gc4 dipus-,rex1 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #aaj1 #aae1 #afb1 #afe1 #afh4 ttly1 ,paul1 #ahj4 ,o',neill1 ,eugene1 #e1 #ba1 #bi1 #cg4 ,orestes1 7,reinhardt71 #afb4 ,orska1 ,marie1 #hc4 ,orpheus in the ,underworld1 7,reinhardt-,re71 #ajg-aaj4 ,othello1 7,jessner-,pirchan71 #gb1 opp4 #abh1 opp4 #acj1 #aca1 #acb1 opp4 #acb1 opp4 #acd1 #acf1 #ach1 #aci1 #adj1 #ada4 ,pallenberg1 ,max1 #hb1 #hc1 #ahi1 #bjj4 ,pandora's ,box1 #bh1 #hc4 ,parrish1 ,maxfield1 #ee4 ,pasetti1 ,leo1 opp4 #fd1 #fe1 opp4 #gf4 ,path of the ,russian ,stage1 ,the1 #ii4 ,pavloff1 ,p4 ,a41 #aa1 #ac4 ,peer ,gynt1 #ed1 #ee1 #hh1 #aac4 ,penthesilea 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #ee4 ,permanent setting1 #fd1 #ajd1 #aei1 #ahd-aig1 #bjg4 ,phillips1 #ga4 ,picasso1 ,pablo1 #f1 #ch1 #bad4 ,pinero1 ,sir ,a4 ,w41 #f4 ,pirchan1 ,emil1 opp4 #fj1 #aai1 #aca1 opp4 #abf1 opp4 #abh1 opp4 #acj1 opp4 #acb1 opp4 #acd1 opp4 #acf1 opp4 #ach1 opp4 #adj1 opp4 #adb1 opp4 #add1 opp4 #adf4 ,pitoff1 ,georges1 opp4 #bd1 #be1 #ec1 #abe1 opp4 #abd1 #abg4 ,plymouth ,theater 7,new ,york71 #aic4 ,podium1 #fc1 #abf1 #aif1 #bac4 ,poelzig1 ,hans1 #aji1 #aaf1 #aff-afg1 #afh4 ,ponto1 ,erich1 #ij4 ,portal1 see ,inner proscenium4 ,price1 ,georgie1 #ig4 ,prices of admission1 #ej4 ,prinzregenten ,theater 7,munich71 #df1 #he1 #bjc4 ,projected scenery1 #gb-gh4 ,prunella1 #aib4 ,prussian ,state ,opera ,house1 see ,berlin ,state ,opera ,house4 ,prussian ,state ,schauspielhaus1 see ,berlin ,state ,schauspielhaus4 ,pygmalion1 7,linnebach71 #be1 #fd1 #hh4 ,rachel1 ,elisa1 #ajj4 ,racine1 #aib4 ,redemption1 7,hopkins-,jones71 #hd4 ,redoutensaal 7,vienna71 frontispiece1 vii1 viii1 #be1 #ef1 #ff1 #aag1 #abf1 #agf1 #agg1 #ahd-aig1 opp4 #ahf1 opp4 #aij1 #bjd1 #bje1 #bjg1 #baj1 #baa1 #baf4 ,re1 ,max1 #ajh4 ,reinhardt1 ,max1 #be1 #cj1 #cb1 #db1 #dd1 #df1 #ej1 #ee1 #ef1 #eh1 #ei1 #hb1 #ajg-aaa1 opp4 #ajh1 #aab1 #aac1 #aae-aag1 #aah1 #aai1 #aba1 #abe1 #abi1 #acj1 #adi1 #aei1 #afj1 #afb-agj1 #ahf1 #ahh1 #ahi1 #aij1 #aii1 #bjj1 #bji1 #baf4 ,religion and the theater1 #agj1 #bae-bbb4 ,repertory system1 #di-ej4 ,residenz ,theater 7,munich71 #he4 ,revolving stage1 #eh-ei1 #fa-fb1 #bac4 ,rheingold1 ,das1 7,hasait71 #fb1 #fe2 7,linnebach-,pasetti71 opp4 #fd1 #fe1 #gf1 opp4 #gf4 ,richard ,,iii 7,jessner-,pirchan71 #ec1 #hj1 #aca1 #acd1 #acf1 opp4 #acf1 #acg-adb1 opp4 #ach1 opp4 #adb1 opp4 #add1 opp4 #adf4 ,richardson1 ,dorothy1 #ff4 ,ring vs4 ,rang1 #df4 ,rodin1 ,august1 #acg1 #adj1 #ahb4 ,roerich1 ,nicolas1 #eg4 ,rolland1 ,romain1 #aaj1 #afg4 ,roller1 ,alfred1 #dd1 #dg1 #ee1 #ef1 opp4 #ef1 #eg1 #ahi-aij4 ,romeo and ,juliet1 7,reinhardt71 #aaa2 7,lindberg71 #aab1 #aib1 #aid4 ,roscius1 #ajj4 ,rosmersholm1 #aic4 ,rosse1 ,herman1 #aei4 ,royal ,swedish ,opera1 see ,swedish ,opera4 ,r4 ,u4 ,r4 7,hilar-,capek71 #cf-cg4 ,rundhorizont1 #ga4 ,sabine ,women1 ,the1 #aib4 ,st4 ,martin's ,theater 7,london71 #aic4 ,salle des ,machines1 ,la 7,paris71 #ff4 ,salzburg ,festspielhaus1 #ajg1 #aaf4 ,samson and ,delilah1 7,andr-,grnewald71 #gg1 #aba-abc1 opp4 #abj1 opp4 #abb4 ,samson and ,delilah 7the play71 #id4 ,sandburg1 ,carl1 #bba4 ,saturday ,evening ,post1 ,the1 #bbj4 ,savry1 ,albert1 #aha4 ,saxon ,state ,schauspielhaus1 see ,dresden ,schauspielhaus4 ,schaeffer1 ,rudolph1 #aid4 ,schatzgrber1 ,der1 opp4 #fj4 ,schauspielhaus 7,berlin71 see ,berlin ,state ,schauspielhaus4 ,schauspielhaus 7,dresden71 see ,dresden ,schauspielhaus4 ,schauspielhaus 7,frankfort71 see ,frankfort ,schauspielhaus4 ,schiebebhne1 see ,sliding stage4 ,schildkraut1 ,rudolf1 #hb4 ,schinkel1 ,c4 ,f41 #de1 #abj4 ,school for ,scandal1 ,the1 #aib4 ,schwabe1 #ga1 #gd4 ,seagull1 ,the 7,pitoff71 #be1 #bh4 ,selwyn ,theater 7,new ,york71 #aic4 ,semper1 ,g41 #de4 ,senders1 #hd4 ,shadow-marionettes1 #gc4 ,shakespeare1 ,wm41 #f1 #bb1 #bc1 #bd1 #ec1 #hg1 #ic1 #ajj1 #aaj1 #abj1 #aba1 #acd1 #acg1 #adj1 #ada1 #afa1 #aha1 #aib1 #aic1 #aii1 #bji1 #bab4 ,shaw1 ,g4 ,b41 #h1 #be1 #gc1 #aic4 ,shelley1 #f1 #bjg4 ,siddons1 ,mrs41 #bc1 #ajj4 ,sievert1 ,ludwig1 opp4 #cb1 #cc1 #ea1 #aab-aai1 opp4 #aab1 opp4 #aad1 #abc-abd4 ,simonson1 ,lee1 #gc1 #gf1 #gg1 #acc1 #aid4 ,sinking stage1 #fj1 #fa1 #fb1 #fc-fd1 #fe1 #ff4 ,six ,cylinder ,love1 #if4 ,sky-dome1 see ,dome4 ,sliding stage1 #eh1 #ei-fa1 #fe4 ,sophocles1 #aaj1 #aei1 #afb4 ,spectatorium 7,chicago71 #afa4 ,spook ,sonata1 ,the1 #bh2 7,munich71 #cj-ca4 ,s4 ,s4 ,tenacity1 ,the1 7,copeau71 #be1 #hd1 #ajd1 #aje1 #agh1 #agi4 ,staatsoper 7,berlin71 see ,berlin ,state ,opera ,house4 ,staatsoper 7,vienna71 see ,vienna ,opera ,house4 ,stanislavsky1 ,c4 ,s41 #h1 opp4 #aj1 #aa1 #ac1 #ad1 #id1 #ie1 #aba1 #aeh4 ,state ,opera ,house 7,dresden71 see ,dresden ,opera4 ,state ,opera ,house 7,berlin71 see ,berlin ,state ,opera ,house4 ,state ,schauspielhaus 7,berlin71 see ,berlin ,state ,schauspielhaus4 ,state ,schauspielhaus 7,dresden71 see ,dresden ,schauspielhaus4 ,stella1 #aag1 #ahh4 ,stern1 ,ernst1 #dd1 #dg1 #dh1 #ee1 #eg1 #eh1 opp4 #ajh1 #aji1 #aah1 #aai1 #abe1 #afg1 #ahi4 ,strauss1 ,richard1 #aaf1 #adf4 ,strife1 #bji4 ,strindberg1 ,august1 #bg-bh1 #bi1 #ca1 #cb1 #db1 #ea1 #ajg4 ,strnad1 ,oskar1 #aii4 ,strohbach1 ,hans1 opp4 #dd1 #aai1 #adh1 opp4 #adh1 #adi1 opp4 #aej1 opp4 #aeb1 opp4 #aed1 opp4 #aef4 ,strm1 ,knut1 #aaa1 #abe4 ,sturm1 ,der1 #bi4 ,sudraka1 #hh4 ,sumurn1 7,reinhardt-,stern71 #dd1 #hb1 #ajh1 #aei4 ,sunken ,bell1 ,the1 #ee4 ,swanwhite1 #bh4 ,swedish ,opera 7,stockholm71 viii1 opp4 #ed1 #ee1 #gd1 #ge1 #ajh1 opp4 #abj1 opp4 #abb4 ,szukalsky1 ,stanislas1 #ahc4 ,talma1 ,f4 ,j41 #ajj4 ,taming of the ,shrew1 ,the1 #hf1 #ajb4 ,tchehoff1 ,anton1 #h1 #aa1 #be1 #bh1 #bi4 ,thtre du ,vieux-,colombier 7,paris71 viii1 #ee2 7,acting company71 #ajc-aje1 #ajf1 #aei1 #aga-ahc2 opp4 #agd2 opp4 #ahj2 7,acting company71 #agh-ahc2 #ahh1 #bjj1 #bjg1 #bji1 #baj4 ,theater ,guild 7,new ,york71 #gc1 #gh1 #acc4 ,theater in dem ,redoutensaal 7,vienna71 see ,redoutensaal4 ,theater of ,dionysus 7,athens71 #baa4 ,theater of the ,five ,thousand1 ,the1 #aae1 #afb1 #agj1 #aii4 ,theater of the ,world1 ,the1 #baf1 #bah4 ,thomas1 ,augustus1 #g4 ,three ,sisters1 ,the1 #id4 ,toller1 ,ernst1 #add1 #adf1 #adg1 #aed1 see ,masse-,mensch4 ,towards ,damascus1 #bh2 7,kerb-,sievert71 #ea1 #ef1 #abc-abd4 ,toy ,theater 7,boston71 #aga4 ,treszler1 #hd4 ,traum1 ein ,leben1 ,der1 opp4 #dd4 ,trojan ,women1 ,the 7,browne71 #aga4 ,troubador1 ,der1 #ef4 ,truex1 ,ernest1 #if4 ,truth1 ,the1 #aib4 ,truth ,about ,blayds1 ,the1 #aid4 ,turandot1 #aag1 #ahh4 ,twelfth ,night 7,copeau-,jouvet71 #ajc1 #ajd1 #ahj-aha1 #aib1 #aid4 ,ubermarionette1 #ai4 ,ulmer1 ,friedrich1 #hg4 ,uncle ,vanya1 opp4 #abd4 ,van ,gogh1 ,vincent1 #ch4 ,vasantasena1 7,hettner71 #fd1 #hh1 #hi1 #ij4 ,vatermord1 #bi-cj4 ,verden1 ,alice1 #hh4 ,verdi1 ,g41 #ee1 #gh4 ,versunkene ,glocke1 ,die1 #afh4 ,vetter1 ,president1 #aag1 #ahf1 #ahg4 ,vienna ,opera ,house1 opp4 #ef1 #ahe1 #ahf1 #ahh4 ,vieux-,colombier1 see ,thter du ,vieux-,colombier4 ,vildrac1 ,charles1 #hd4 ,volksbhne 7,berlin71 viii1 opp4 #dd1 #df1 #dg1 #ee1 #fb1 #gb1 #ij1 #add-adf1 #adh1 #aeb1 #aec1 #aee1 see illus4 of ,masse-,mensch4 ,volksoper 7,berlin71 #ade4 ,wagner1 ,r41 #de1 #fh1 #fi4 ,wagon stage1 #fa4 ,washington ,square ,players1 #ef4 ,wauwau1 ,der1 #hc4 ,weavers1 ,the1 #aib1 #bji4 ,weber1 #gc4 ,weber1 ,joe1 #bjd4 ,wedekind1 ,frank1 #bh-bi1 #cb1 #hc1 #hd1 #ajg4 ,wegener1 ,paul1 #hb4 ,weichert1 ,richard1 #hh1 #aab-aae1 opp4 #aab1 opp4 #aad1 #aai4 ,when ,we ,dead ,awaken1 #bh4 ,wilbrand1 #hd4 ,wild ,duck1 ,the1 #bh4 ,wilde1 ,oscar1 #aib1 #bji4 ,wilfred ,thomas1 #gf4 ,wilhelm ,tell1 7,linnebach71 #gc4 ,will of ,song1 ,the1 7,mac,kaye-,barhart-,jones71 #aei1 #afa4 ,wright1 ,frank ,lloyd1 #aei4 ,w4 ,u4 ,r41 see ,r4 ,u4 ,r4 ,zauberflte1 7,hasait71 #gc4 ,transcriber's ,notes pg xv ,changed3 ,a ,pitoff ,produtction to3 ,a ,pitoff ,production pg #aaa ,changed3 ,gothenburg1 the commerical city of ,sweden to3 ,gothenburg1 the commercial city of ,sweden pg #abe ,changed3 for ,rinehardt there was always to3 for ,reinhardt there was always pg #ahh ,changed3 while he was makng preparations to3 while he was making preparations