In order to understand the social and dynamic significance of
modern dramatic art it is necessary, I believe, to ascertain the
difference between the functions of art for art's sake
and art as the mirror of life.
Art for art's sake presupposes an attitude of aloofness
on the part of the artist toward the complex struggle of life:
he must rise above the ebb and tide of life. He is to be merely
an artistic conjurer of beautiful forms, a creator of pure fancy.
That is not the attitude of modern art, which is preeminently
the reflex, the mirror of life. The artist being a part of life
cannot detach himself from the events and occurrences that pass
panorama-like before his eyes, impressing themselves upon his
emotional and intellect... (From: University of Berkeley.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA
In a letter to George Brandes, shortly after the Paris Commune,
Henrik Ibsen wrote concerning the State and political liberty:
"The State is the curse of the individual. How has the national
strength of Prussia been purchased? By the sinking of the individual
in a political and geographical formula. . . . The State must
go! That will be a revolution which will find me on its side.
Undermine the idea of the State, set up in its place spontaneous
action, and the idea that spiritual relationship is the only thing
that makes for unity, and you will start the elements of a liberty
which will be something worth possessing."
The State was not the only bête noire of Henrik Ibsen.
Every other institution whic... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: HENRIK IBSEN
THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY
The disintegrating effect of the Social Lie, of Duty, as an imposition
and outrage, and of the spirit of Provincialism, as a stifling
factor, are brought out with dynamic force in "The Pillars
of Society."
Consul Bernick, driven by the conception of his duty toward
the House of Bernick, begins his career with a terrible lie. He
sells his love for Lona Hessel in return for the large
dowry of her step-sister Betty, whom he does not love.
To forget his treachery, he enters into a clandestine relationship
with an actress of the town. When surprised in her room by the
drunken husband, young Bernick jumps out of the window,
and then graciously accepts the offer of his bos... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: HENRIK IBSEN
A DOLL'S HOUSE
In "A Doll's House" Ibsen returns to the subject
so vital to him,--the Social Lie and Duty,--this time as manifesting
themselves in the sacred institution of the home and in the position
of woman in her gilded cage.
Nora is the beloved, adored wife of Torvald Helmer.
He is an admirable man, rigidly honest, of high moral ideals,
and passionately devoted to his wife and children. In short, a
good man and an enviable husband. Almost every mother would be
proud of such a match for her daughter, and the latter would consider
herself fortunate to become the wife of such a man.
Nora, too, considers herself fortunate. Indeed, she worships
her husband, believes in him implicitly,... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: HENRIK IBSEN
GHOSTS
The social and revolutionary significance of Henrik Ibsen is
brought out with even greater force in "Ghosts" than
in his preceding works.
Not only does this pioneer of modern dramatic art undermine in
"Ghosts" the Social Lie and the paralyzing effect of
Duty, but the uselessness and evil of Sacrifice, the dreary Lack
of Joy and of Purpose in Work are brought to light as most pernicious
and destructive elements in life.
Mrs. Alving, having made what her family called a most
admirable match, discovers shortly after her marriage that her
husband is a drunkard and a roué. In her despair
she flees to her young friend, the divinity student Manders.
But he, preparing to save souls... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: HENRIK IBSEN
AN ENEMY OF SOCIETY
Dr. Thomas Stockmann is called to the position of medical adviser
to the management of the "Baths," the main resource
of his native town.
A sincere man of high ideals, Dr. Stockmann returns home
after an absence of many years, full of the spirit of enterprise
and progressive innovation. For as he says to his brother Peter,
the town Burgomaster, "I am so glad and content. I
feel so unspeakably happy in the midst of all this growing, germinating
life. After all, what a glorious time we do live in. It is as
if a new world were springing up around us."
Burgomaster. Do you really think so?
Dr. Stockmann. Well, of course, you can't
see this as clearly as I do. You've spe... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: AUGUST STRINDBERG
"THE reproach was leveled against my tragedy, 'The Father' that it was so sad, as though one wanted merry tragedies. People clamor for the joy of life, and the theatrical managers order farces, as though the joy of life consisted in being foolish, and in describing people as if they were each and all afflicted with St. Vitus's dance or idiocy. I find the joy of life in the powerful, cruel struggle of life, and my enjoyment in discovering something, in learning something."
The passionate desire to discover something, to learn something, has made of August Strindberg a keen dissector of souls. Above all, of his own soul.
Surely there is no figure in contemporary literature, outside of Tolstoy,... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: AUGUST STRINDBERG
THE FATHER
The Father portrays the tragedy of a man and a woman struggling for the possession of their child. The father, a cavalry captain, is intellectual, a freethinker, a man of ideas. His wife is narrow, selfish, and unscrupulous in her methods when her antagonism is wakened.
Other members of the family are the wife's mother, a Spiritualist, and the Captain's old nurse, Margret, ignorant and superstitious. The father feels that the child would be poisoned in such an atmosphere:
The Captain. This house is full of women who all want to have their say about my child. My mother-inlaw wants to make a Spiritualist of her. Laura wants her to be an artist; the governess wants her to be a Methodist... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: AUGUST STRINDBERG
COUNTESS JULIE
In his masterly preface to this play, August Strindberg writes: "The fact that my tragedy makes a sad impression on many is the fault of the many. When we become strong, as were the first French revolutionaries, it will make an exclusively pleasant and cheerful impression to see the royal parks cleared of rotting, superannuated trees which have too long stood in the way of others with equal right to vegetate their full lifetime; it will make a good impression in the same sense as does the sight of the death of an incurable."
What a wealth of revolutionary thought,were we to realize that those who will clear society of the rotting, superannuated trees that have so long been standing... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA: AUGUST STRINDBERG
COMRADES
Although comrades was written in 1888, it is in a measure the most up-to-date play of Strindberg,-so thoroughly modern that one at all conversant with the milieu that inspired " Comrades " could easily point out the type of character portrayed in the play.
It is a four-act comedy of marriage - the kind of marriage that lacks social and legal security in the form of a ceremony, but retains all the petty. conventions of the marriage institution. The results of such an anomaly are indeed ludicrous when viewed from a distance, but very tragic for those who play a part in it.
Axel Alberg and his wife Bertha are Swedish artists residing in Paris. They are both painters. Of course they share t... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE GERMAN DRAMA
HERMANN SUDERMANN
It has been said that military conquest generally goes hand in hand with the decline of creative genius, with the retrogression of culture. I believe this is not a mere assertion. The history of the human race repeatedly demonstrates that whenever a nation achieved great military success, it invariably involved the decline of art, of literature, of the drama; in short, of culture in the deepest and finest sense. This has been particularly borne out by Germany after its military triumph in the Franco-Prussian War.
For almost twenty years after that war, the country of poets and thinkers remained, intellectually, a veritable desert, barren of ideas. Young Germany had to go for its intellectual food ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: HERMANN SUDERMANN
MAGDA
Lieutenant Colonel Schwartze, Magda's father, represents all the conventional and conservative notions of society.
Schwartze. Modern ideas! Oh, pshaw! I know them. But come into the quiet homes where are bred brave soldiers and virtuous wives. There you'll hear no talk about heredity, no arguments about individuality, no scandalous gossip. There modern ideas have no foothold, for it is there that the life and strength of the Fatherland abide. Look at this home! There is no luxury,-hardly even what you call good taste,-faded rugs, birchen chairs, old pictures; and yet when you see the beams of the western sun pour through the white curtains and lie with such a loving touch on the old room, does ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE GERMAN DRAMA: HERMANN SUDERMANN
THE FIRES OF ST. JOHN
In "The Fires of St. John," Sudermann does not go as far as in " Magda." Nevertheless the play deals with important truths. Life does not always draw the same conclusions; life is not always logical, not always consistent. The function of the artist is to portray life-only thus can he be true both to art and to life.
In this drama we witness the bondage of gratitude,-one of the most enslaving and paralyzing factors. Mr. Brauer, a landed proprietor, has a child, Gertrude, a beautiful girl, who has always lived the sheltered life of a hothouse plant. The Brauers also have an adopted daughter, Marie, whom they had picked up on the road, while traveling on a stormy night. They called ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE GERMAN DRAMA: GERHART HAUPTMANN
LONELY LIVES
Gerhart Hauptmann is the dramatist of whom it may be justly said that he revolutionized the spirit of dramatic art in Germany: the last Mohican of a group of four-Ibsen, Strindberg, Tolstoy, and Hauptmann-who illumined the horizon of the nineteenth century. Of these Hauptmann, undoubtedly the most human, is also the most universal.
It is unnecessary to make comparisons between great artists: life is sufficiently complex to give each his place in the great scheme of things. If, then, I consider Hauptmann more human, it is because of his deep kinship with every stratum of life. While Ibsen deals exclusively with one attitude, Hauptmann embraces all, understands all, and portrays all, because... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE GERMAN DRAMA:
GERHART HAUPTMANN
THE WEAVERS
When "The Weavers" first saw the light, pandemonium broke out in the " land of thinkers and poets." "What!" cried Philistia, "workingmen, dirty, emaciated and starved, to be placed on the stage! Poverty, in all its ugliness, to be presented as an after-dinner amusement? That is too much! "
Indeed it is too much for the self-satisfied bourgeoisie to be brought face to face with the horrors of the weaver's existence. It is too much, because of the truth and reality that thunders in the placid ears of society a terrific J'accuse!
Gerhart Hauptmann is a child of the people; his grandfather was a weaver, and the only way his father could escape the fate of his parents was by leaving his trade... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE GERMAN DRAMA: GERHART HAUPTMANN
THE SUNKEN BELL
The great versatility of Gerhart Hauptmann is perhaps nowhere so apparent as in " The Sunken Bell," the poetic fairy tale of the tragedy of Man, a tragedy as rich in symbolism as it is realistically true-a tragedy as old as mankind, as elemental as man's ceaseless struggle to cut loose from the rock of ages.
Heinrich, the master bell founder, is an idealist consumed by the fire of a great purpose. He has already set a hundred bells ringing in a hundred different towns, all singing his praises. But his restless spirit is not appeased. Ever it soars to loftier heights, always yearning to reach the sun.
Now once more he has tried his powers, and the new bell, the great Master Bell, is rai... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
FRANK WEDEKIND
THE AWAKENING OF SPRING
Frank Wedekind is perhaps the most daring dramatic spirit in Germany. Coming to the fore much later than Sudermann and Hauptmann, he did not follow in their path, but set out in quest of new truths. More boldly than any other dramatist Frank Wedekind has laid bare the shams of morality in reference to sex, especially attacking the ignorance surrounding the sex life of the child and its resultant tragedies.
Wedekind became widely known through his great drama "The Awakening of Spring," which he called a tragedy of childhood, dedicating the work to parents and teachers. Verily an appropriate dedication, because parents and teachers are, in relation to the child's needs, the most ignorant and mentally ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE FRENCH DRAMA
MAETERLINCK
To those who are conversant with the works of Maeterlinck it may seem rather far-fetched to discuss him from the point of view of revolutionary and social significance. Above all, MaEterlinck is the portrayer of the remote, the poet of symbols; therefore it may seem out of place to bring him down to earth, to simplify him, or to interpret his revolutionary spirit. To some extent these objections have considerable weight; but on the other hand, if one keeps in mind that only those who go to the remote are capable of understanding the obvious, one will readily see how very significant Maeterlinck is as a revolutionizing factor. Besides, we have Maeterlinck's own conception of the significance of the revolutionar... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE FRENCH DRAMA: EDMUND ROSTAND
Chantecler
In view of the progress the modern drama has made as an interpreter of social ideas and portrayer of the human struggle against in. ternal and external barriers, it is difficult to say what the future may bring in the way of great dramatic achievement. So far, however, there is hardly anything to compare with " Chantecler " in philosophic depth and poetic beauty.
Chantecler is the intense idealist, whose mission is light and truth. His soul is aglow with deep human sympathies, and his great purpose in life is to dispel the night. He keeps aloof from mediocrity; indeed, he has little knowledge of his immediate surroundings. Like all great visionaries,Chantecler is human, " all too human "; there... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE FRENCH DRAMA: BRIEUX
DAMAGED GOODS
In the preface to the English edition of "Damaged Goods," George Bernard Shaw relates a story concerning Lord Melbourne, in the early days of Queen Victoria. When the cabinet meeting threatened to break up in confusion, Lord Melbourne put his back to the door and said: "Gentlemen, we can tell the house the truth or we can tell It a lie. I don't give a damn which it is. All I insist on is that we shall all tell the same lie, and you shall not leave the room until you have settled what it is to be."
This seems to characterize the position of our middle-class morality to-day. Whether a thing be right or wrong, we are all to express the same opinion on the subject. All must agree on the sameli... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE FRENCH DRAMA: BRIEUX
MATERNITY
Motherhood today is on the lips of every penny-a-liner, every social patch-worker and political climber. It is so much prated about that one is led to believe that motherhood, in its present condition, is a force for good. It therefore required a free spirit combined with great dramatic power to tear the mask oft the lying face of motherhood, that we may see that, whatever its possibilities in a free future, motherhood is to-day a sickly tree setting forth diseased branches. For its sake thousands of women are being sacrificed and children sent into a cold and barren world without the slightest provision for their physical and mental needs. It was left to Brieux to inscribe with letters of fire the cryin... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
"I am not an ordinary playwright in general practice. I am a specialist in immoral and heretical plays. My reputation has been gained by my persistent struggle to force the public to reconsider its morals. In particular, I regard much current morality as to economic and sexual relations as disastrously wrong; and I regard certain doctrines of the Christian religion as under stood in England to-day with abhorrence. I write plays with the deliberate object of converting the nation to my opinions in these matters."
This confession of faith should leave no doubt as to the place of George Bernard Shaw in modern dramatic art. Yet, strange to say, he is among the most doubted of his time. That is partly... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION
Mrs. Warren is engaged in a profession which has existed through all the ages. It was at home in Egypt, played an important role in Greece and Rome, formed one of the influential guilds in the Middle Ages, and has been one of the main sources of income for the Christian Church.
But it was left to modern times to make of Mrs. Warren's profession a tremendous social factor, ministering to the needs of man in every station of life, from the brownstone mansion to the hovel, from the highest official to the poorest drag.
Time was when the Mrs. Warrens were looked upon as possessed by the devil,-lewd, depraved creatures who would not, even if they had the choice, engage in any o... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
MAJOR BARBARA
"Major Barbara" is of still greater social importance, inasmuch as it points to the fact that while charity and religion are supposed to minister to the poor, both institutions derive their main revenue from the poor by the perpetuation of the evils both pretend to fight.
Major Barbara, the daughter of the world renowned cannon manufacturer Undershaft, has joined the Salvation Army. The latter lays claim to being the most humane religious institution, because--unlike other soul savers--it does not entirely forget the needs of the body. It also teaches that the greater the sinner the more glorious the saving. But as no one is quite as black as he is painted, it becomes necessary for tho... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: JOHN GALSWORTHY
The power of the modern drama as an interpreter of the pressing questions of our time is perhaps nowhere evident as clearly as it is in England to-day.
Indeed, while other countries have come almost to a standstill in dramatic art, England is the most productive at the present time. Nor can it be said that quantity has been achieved at the expense of quality, which is only too often the case.
The most prolific English dramatist, John Galsworthy, is at the same time a great artist whose dramatic quality can be compared with that of only one other living writer, namely, Gerhart Hauptmann. Galsworthy, even as Hauptmann, is neither a propagandist nor a moralist. His background is life, " that palpitati... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: JOHN GALSWORTHY
STRIFE
Not since Hauptmann's "Weavers" was placed before the thoughtful public, has there apt peered anything more stirring than "Strife."
Its theme is a strike in the Trenartha Tin Plate Works, on the borders of England and Wales. The play largely centers about the two dominant figures: John Anthony, the President of the Company, rigid, autocratic and uncompromising; he is unwilling to make the slightest concession, although the men have been out for six months and are in a condition of semi-starvation. On the other hand there is David Roberts, an uncompromising revolutionist, whose devotion to the workers and the cause of freedom is at redwhite heat. Between them are the strikers, worn and weary with ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: JOHN GALSWORTHY
JUSTICE
No subject of equal social import has received such thoughtful consideration in recent years as the question of Crime and Punishment. A number of books by able writers, both in Europe and this country--preeminently among them "Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist," by Alexander Berkman--discuss this topic from the historic, psychologic, and social standpoint, the consensus of opinion being that present penal institutions and our methods of coping with crime have in every respect proved inadequate as well as wasteful. This new attitude toward one of the gravest social wrongs has now also found dramatic interpretation in Galsworthy's "Justice."
The play opens in the office of James How & Sons, solic... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: JOHN GALSWORTHY
THE PIGEON
John Galsworthy calls this play a fantasy. To me it seems cruelly real: it demonstrates that the best human material is crushed in the fatal mechanism of our life. "The Pigeon" also discloses to us the inadequacy of charity, individual and organized, to cope with poverty, as well as the absurdity of reformers and experimenters who attempt to patch up effects while they ignore the causes.
Christopher Wellwyn, an artist, a man deeply in sympathy with all human sorrow and failings, generously shares his meager means with everyone who applies to him for help.
His daughter Ann is of a more practical turn of mind. She cannot understand that giving is as natural and necessary to her father as ligh... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: STANLEY HOUGHTON
HINDLE WAKES
In Stanley Houghton, who died last year, the drama lost a talented and brave artist. Brave, because he had the courage to touch one of the most sensitive spots of Puritanism--woman's virtue. Whatever else one may criticize or attack, the sacredness of virtue must remain untouched. It is the last fetish which even so-called liberal-minded people refuse to destroy.
To be sure, the attitude towards this holy of holies has of late years undergone a considerable change. It is beginning to be felt in ever-growing circles that love is its own justification, requiring no sanction of either religion or law. The revolutionary idea, however, that woman may, even as man, follow the urge of her nature,... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
THE ENGLISH DRAMA: GITHA SOWERBY
RUTHERFORD AND SON
The women's rights women who claim for their sex the most wonderful things in the way of creative achievement, will find it difficult to explain the fact that until the author of "Rutherford and Son" made her appearance, no country had produced, a single women dramatist of note.
That is the more remarkable because woman has since time immemorial been a leading figure in histrionic art. Rachel, Sarah Bernhardt, Eleanore Duse, and scores of others had few male peers.
It can hardly be that woman is merely a reproducer and not a creator. We have but to recall such creative artists as Charlotte and Emily Bronté, George Sand, George Eliot, Mary Wollstonecraft, Marie Bashkirtshev, Rosa... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
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