CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Joseph Whitmore Barry dramatic library THE GIFT OF TWO FRIENDS OF Cornell University 1934 Cornell University Library PN 1851.C59 1914 Continental drama of to-day: 3 1924 026 093 231 Cornell University Jbrary The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026093231 THREE MODERN PLAYS FROM THE FRENCH Lavedan*s Prince d'Aurec Lemaitre* s The Pardon Donnafs The Other Danger The first two plays translated by Barrett H. Clark, translator of Hervieu's *'The Labyrinth"; "The Other Danger" translated by Charlotte Tenney David , With mtroductions on each author and bibliographies by Barrett H. Clark, and preface by Clayton Hamilton. (Ready August, 1914) This is the first edition in English of these plays by three eminent French^ authors. The Prince d'Aurec gives a vivid picture of a de- caying, " hard-up " French noble. His wife and a money lender also play prominent parts. The Pardon is a comedy of intrigue in which the author most ingeniously holds our interest for three acts, even though he has but three characters. The Other Danger is a tense, emo- tional piece about a mother's predicament. It has a strong love interest, and is both like and very unlike Pinero's " Second Mrs. Tan- queray." While in the last two of these dramas there is wrong-doing, it is not condoned, and it is treated with typical French finesse and good taste. HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY Publishers New York THE CONTINENTAL DRAMA OF TO-DAY OUTLINES FOR ITS STUDY SUGGESTIONS. QUESTIONS, BIOGKAPHIBS, AND BIBLIOGEA- PHIBS FOB USB IN CONNECTION WITH THE STUDY OF THE MOKE IMPORTANT PLATS ' By BARRETT H. CLARK Translator of Lavedan's Prince d'Auree, Lemaitre's The Pa/rdon, Hervieu's The Labyrinth, etc. NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1914 Copyright, 1914, BT HENKT HOLT AND COMPANY Fablished May, 1914. PREFACE A growing demand on the part of clubs, reading circles, schools, colleges, and universities for defi- nite and systematic guidance in the study of the modem movement in drama has led me to compile this Outline, in which are included plays of repre- sentative authors, from Ibsen to the present day. Most of these plays have distinctive features of technique or characterization or theme, so that when the studen.t has completed a study of the plays in connection with the Outline, he should have a very definite knowledge of the essentials of dra- matic technique in general, and the modern move- ment in particular. The comment that precedes each play is intended to give the reader a few suggestions as to the na- ture of the work, its, importance, and to furnish him with a method of attack; supplementary to this comment are suggestions and questions intended to stimulate thought, discussion, and a careful reading of the play. As the Outline deals only with those plays which have been translated into English and are easily ob- tainable, there must of necessity be many impor- vi PREFACE tant omissions. In each case, however, practically all the plays of an author, whether they have been translated or not, are listed in the bibliographical notes. It is not possible to classify satisfactorily the Modern Drama movement in definite groups or periods, for new work is constantly appearing and standards changing. I have therefore arranged the dramatists according to countries, and placed their work, in a general way, chronologically. In making the bibliographies, I have referred from time to time to the various bulletins and com- pilations of the Drama League of America, and hereby acknowledge my indebtedness. I have found it very difficult to get dates or rec- ords of American performances, and will welcome additional information or corrections from my readers. Nearly all the performances in German were at the little Irving Place Theatre in New York, which has done much for the modern drama. I plan to follow the present volume with another, British and American Drama of To-day — Out- lines FOR Its Study, which will treat of the impor- tant plays of Pinero, Jones, Wilde, Shaw, Gals- worthy, Barker, Bennett, Masefield, Synge, Yeats, Lady Gregory, Howard, Thomas, Fitch, Moody, Sheldon, etc. B. H. C. CONTENTS PAQS What Constitutes a Plat 3 Henbie Ibsen 17 "The Pretenders 23 -Brand 26 -Peer Gynt 28 -A Doll's House 31 -Hedda Gabler 34 -The Master Builder 36 Bjobnstjebite: Bjohnson 39 — Leonarda 42 —A Gauntlet 44 Leo Tolstot 48 -The Man Who Was Dead SI Maxiu Gobkt 54 —The Lower Depths SS Anton Tchekoff 59 ■^The Seagull 62 Leonid Andhetefp 66 — Anathema 68 August Stbindbebg 72 -The Father 77 ■-There Are Crimes and Crimes 81 Gebhabt Hauftmann 85 -'The Weavers 89 — Hannele 93 — The Sunken Bell 96 "Drayman Henschel 100 Hehmann Sudebmann 104 -Honor lOT ''Magda 110 Fritzchen 113 vii viii CONTENTS FAOn Frank Wedekind 115 -Such is Life 117 Aethue ScHifiTziJia 119 -Light-o'-Love 121 Hugo von Hofmannsthal 12S -Electra 126 Henet BEcauE 129 -Ths Crows 131 Jules LemaItbe 136 «The Pardon 137 Hestei Lavedan 141 —■The Prince d'Aurec 142 Maueice Dostnat 145 -The Other Danger 146 Paul Heevieu 150 -The Labyrinth 152 Eugene Beieux 157 -The Three Daughters of M. Dupont .... 161 Edmond Rostand 165 -Cyrano de Bergerac 168 • "Chantecler 175 Maueice Maeteelinck 181 *The Intruder 187 •Pelldas and M^lisande 188 — Monna Vanna 191 -The Blue Bird 195 Gabeiele D'Annunzio 200 -Gioconda 203 Giuseppe Giacosa 208 —As the Leaves 211 Jose Echegabat 215 —Madman or Saint 219 -The Great Galeotto 225 Benito Perez Galdos 228 -The Grandfather 230 BiBLIOGEAFHT 233 Index 239 THE CONTINENTAL DRAMA OF TO-DAY WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY What is a play? The question is a difficult one, for a definition should include every play that critics in the past have classed as such, as well as every production of the present age, the classifica- tion of which is stiU a matter of contention. As we survey the drama from Eschylus to Ibsen, certain definite types of literature stand out which by their form and content are called plays ; dramatic pe- riods have given birth and later final shape to plays, which have remained as unquestioned models until the inauguration of a new dramatic period. The three great dramatic poets of Greece — ^Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides — gave permanence to the form of drama for the age in which they lived, and Aristotle formulated the theory of that drama.* The Romans derived their inspiration from the Greeks and left the form essentially as they found it. The various movements following immediately upon the Renaissance were inspired mostly by Seneca, a Roman whose plays are at least exter- nally Greek. In France, Corneille and Racine were the great classical dramatists; each accepted the * See " The Poetics of Aristotle." 3 4 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY old laws of technique, adding little to them in re- gard to form; in Italy there was no attempt to question the validity of the ancient formula: Al- fieris tragedies are patterned after those of an- tiquity. In Spain, Lope de Vega and Calderon invented a sort of Romantic drama of their own, which was not, however, to exert widespread influ- ence beyond the borders of the Peninsula. But it was during the age of Elizabeth that the Ro- mantic dramatists, who disregarded most of the rules of classical scholars and none more so than Shakspere, attained their highest excellence. Two of the three Unities he threw to the winds, and the third he used with the unconsciousness of genius. We have only to compare "Twelfth Night " or " Hamlet " with " Edipus the King " or " Prometheus Bound " to realize the gulf sep- arating the ancient and modem method of con- structing plays. Shakspere, together with twenty others, gave a more or less clearly defined form to the drama of his age, and this form was widely used as a model until the present time. In fact, nearly every English poet of the nineteenth cen- tury wrote poetic plays under the influence of Shakspere. In another realm, the so-called com- edy of " manners," — which aimed at the depiction and ridicule of contemporaneous life, its customs, manner, modes of thought and living, — the English Restoration ushered in a new dramatic age, and for WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY 5 nearly two centuries Congreve and Vanbrugh and Farquhar, and later Sheridan and Goldsmith con- tinued to furnish models for comedies of manners. Similar movements in France and Germany and — in the eighteenth century, in Italy — each contrib- uted to the dramatic form. Beaumarchais brought the Romantic and satirical comedy to its height in France, with " The Marriage of Figaro," Lessing and Schiller originated types in Germany in " Minna von Bamhelm " and " The Robbers," and Goldoni did much to deserve the title of the " Italian Moliere." In the following century Augier and Dumas fils. Scribe and Sardou brought the old forms of comedy to a degree of perfection that has caused their plays to be termed bien faites — ^well-made. Scribe and Sardou, in developing the comedy of intrigue, or plot ; Augier and Dumas fils, in originating the " thesis " or " problem " play, still exert widespread influence. If these latter mentioned dramatists had not written, it is doubtful whether Ibsen could have brought the dramatic form to so high a degree of perfection as he did. In each of these periods a clearly defined type stands forth as representative of the highest achievement of that age ; in many cases some critic has synthesized his ideas on the form — as Aristotle did — ^most typical of the age, and left it a criterion for future generations. We now link together Soph- 6 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY ocles and Greek tragedy, Shakspere and the Ro- mantic play — tragedy and comedy — Moliere and the satirical comedy of manners, Ibsen and the so- cial drama of the present time. To-day we are in the midst of a dramatic period, the extent and importance of which is now impos- sible to determine. It is an age of production, of experimentation, of revolt against the accepted forms of the past, against its ideas and prejudices. One dramatist, like Tchekoff , writes a play of pure character; another, like Bernstein, one in which the situation is all-important. There is the " in- tellectual" drama of Bernard Shaw and Gran- ville Barker, where the author uses the stage as a medium for the expression of ideas ; the " thesis " drama and the play with a " purpose," of Brieux and Hervieu, where the dramatist makes use of the dramatic form for the advancement and proof of theories, for the correction and exposition of social wrongs ; there is the poetic drama of Stephen Phillips and Rostand, reminiscent of Shakspere, in which the author seeks to tell a story in a beautiful manner, for its own sake and for the sake of the beauty of the language in which it is clothed. Is it possible, then, to speak of the age as Realistic, or Intellectual, or Ro- mantic? Can we accurately apply any term to it as yet? Obviously, no definition of the past can include WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY 7 the mass of dramatic works which have during the past twenty-five years made their appearance. If we apply the formula of the well-made play, we eliminate TchekofF and most of Shaw — to mention no others ; if we hold up Shakspere as a shining example of the perfect dramatist, scarcely will a living writer survive ; if we revert to Aristotle, we must rest content with "The Servant in the House " and a few imitations of the ancients. Can we approximate a new definition .-' Mr. Clayton Hamilton* says that " a play is a represen- tation, by actors, on a stage, before an audience, of a struggle between individual human wills, moti- vated by emotion rather than by intellect, and ex- pressed in terms of objective action." The great majority of plays, past and present, fall easily within the range of this admirable definition, and yet the disquieting fact remains that it does not cover a large number of works which will doubtless take a permanent place in the drama when the his- tory of this period is finally recorded. A wider definition, to be used at least as a working hypoth- esis, must be found for the present. This will be discussed later on. The prime difl'erence between the dramatic and other forms is that a play is a " representation, by actors, on a stage, before an audience." It is per- haps an exaggeration to assert that a play which *In "The Theory of the Theatre." (Holt, 1910.) 8 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY is not performed is no play, but the parallel may legitimately be drawn between a picture that is not seen or a symphony that is not heard. A drama is written not to be read, but to " be played before an audience." This is its distinguishing feature. The fact that it must be presented before an audi- ence materially limits its form and content. M. Gustave LeBon * tells us that when a crowd is gathered together for a common purpose, its col- lective self tends to lose the " mental qualities in which men differ from one another," and assumes " the qualities in which they are at one," which are the " innate passions of race." That is, a theater audience is emotional rather than intellectual. An individual in that audience, because he is a mem- ber of a crowd assembled for a common purpose, is more readily appealed to by a display of emo- tion than of intellect ; Marguerite Gautier, in the play known in America as " Camille," is a more compelling figure than the " intellectual " Trebell in Mr. Barker's " Waste." When Shelley and Browning wrote plays they were not aware that they were writing for the individual, not for the collective body which went to the theater to feel, not primarily either to think or to listen to beauti- ful verse. There is something to be said in favor of the man who checks his brains with his over- coat. * In " La Psychologie des Foules." WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY 9 This is what Mr. Hamilton means when he says that a play must be " motivated by emotion rather than by intellect." But must a play be a " struggle between individual human wills ".? The question is worth consideration. The French critic Bmnetiere* declares that "the theater in general is nothing but the place for the develop- ment of human will, attacking the obstacles op- posed to it by destiny, fortune, or circumstance." This critic allows for possible exceptions by his inclusion of the word " general," and William Archer t has called attention to the fact that neither " As You Like It, " nor " Ghosts, " nor " Hannele " contains such a struggle. Maeter- linck's « The Blind ," " The Intruder ." and "In- terior " may be mentioned as further examples of plays with no struggle, while " Edipus the King " and " The Weavers " are, each in its way, devoid of any " struggle between conflicting individual human wills." " Edipus " contains a struggle, but not " between conflicting individual human wills," while " The Weaver s " is a struggle between conflicting wills of bodies of individuals, between employers and employed. I wish merely to point out that such a conflict as is spoken of in the defini- tion, is not a necessary prerequisite. It is, how- ever, one of the chief factors of interestingness, * In " Etudes critiques," vol. vii., pp. 163 and 207. t In " Playmaking." See page 9S, present volume. 10 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY just as a struggle anywhere, in literature or life, is interesting. In the theater it has the additional advantage of appealing to the emotions rather than to the intellect. The dramatist is further limited because the at- tention of his audience cannot safely be taxed for a greater period than two or two and a half hours. He must therefore lose no time in starting his story. A novelist may write one or many intro- ductory chapters of preparation and explanation, and then begin his plot ; a dramatist has only a few moments in which to explain and prepare. If by the end of half an hour he has not aroused the interest or enlisted the sympathy of his audience he will play to empty houses. And the reason, as M. LeBon has pointed out, is that whereas we are willing to sit in our library and read for many hours, in public, as part of a throng, we must feel, sympathize, see. On the stage a character must do, not be. We can see him do, we cannot see him think. Meredith may tell us in four or five hun- dred pages how WiUoughby Patterne thinks, but Shakspere must show us in one-eighth the time the external results of Hamlet's mental state — even if at times he does furnish us with certain superb samples of his hero's intellectual power. The last few years have brought forth numerous experiments in dramatic form, in Russia, Germany, and England. It is in attempting to place many WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY 11 of these under some distinct category that the stu- dent finds he has no adequate criterion of judg- ment. Is there a definition which can include works of so widely different character as Tche- koff's "Cherry Orchard, " Wedekind's "The Awak- ening of Spring," Hauptmann's " Hannele, " and Shaw's "Getting Married" ? Tchekoff's play lacks unity, has little appeal to the emotions; Wedekind's is an inchoate series of realistic and madly romantic pictures, Hauptmann's is a " dream-poem " with no struggle, and Shaw's is a " discussion." And yet who shall say these are not plays ? Mr, Hamilton's definition is one of the best yet formulated, but it must with the advance of time be widened. A play should of course be some sort of representation, usually a story, played by actors before an audience. This much is clear then, but as to subject-matter, we have observed, there is some question. Certainly a struggle is of great importance, but there are and always will be plays that are plays without it ; nor need the struggle be between individual human wills. It is convenient and usually very dramatic to personify great so- cial or political forces or " wills " in individuals, and such wills are usually found in individuals; but a body of individuals can likewise have a "will." Hauptmann has proved that. Bearing in mind these few essentials, and accept- 12 WPAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY ing Mr. Hamilton's definition with the modifica- tions made necessary by a number of recent suc- cessful innovators, we may inquire briefly into what constitutes a good play, and consider some method of approach and basis of judgment by which we may enjoy and criticise intelligently what we see in the theater — or read, as the case may be. The theater is first and foremost and finally a place of amusement. It may teach, it may demon- strate, it may antagonize or disgust, but it must amuse. Perhaps the word amusement needs some explanation, for what amuses me may bore you, what edifies, interests, or pleases me, may send you packing after the first act. Amusement, then, in the broadest significance of the word may be assumed to mean the quality of pleasing, of appealing to our imagination pleasurably through the senses. " Edipus the King " has been acted and read for over two thousand years, yet it deals with patricide and incest ; " Macbeth " is brutal and bloody, and yet is played and read in every part of the world. Both plays please, or they would not have survived. They are tragedies: they show great men strug- gling with forces which are greater than they and which finally dominate them. They appeal to the sympathies, to the imagination, and, because of their literary form, to the esthetic sense. They are, besides, interesting stories. They amuse. Both as it happens have " lessons " to teach, but WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY 13 that is merely because life has a lesson to teach; and the great artist in foreshortening and synthe- sizing and shaping his materials has brought that lesson of life into sharper relief and made it stand out in clearer terms than it does in the irrelevant and infinitely complex thing we call life. It is only when the dramatist sees his lesson or moral first and then tries to shape a semblance of life to fit it, that he fails to amuse. His lesson is repugnant to us, for it is obvious that the lesson's " the thing " and not the play. Sophocles and Shakspere and Moliere wrote for the purpose of amusing, — they happened to have the divine spark. Underlying all art is the principle of unity, and the reason for this is a psychological one. When you look at an object your attention cannot re- main fixed upon it for more than a few consecutive seconds, and while it is thus occupied there is but a " fringe of consciousness," as James terms it, giving attention to the objects immediately sur- rounding it. When you look at a Rembrandt por- trait your attention is at once riveted upon one specific point, the head, let us say. The artist knows that if he puts in two points of equal or nearly equal interest the attention of the beholder will be divided: that his picture, in fine, will lack unity. The composer is aware that if he intro- duces a number of equally interesting themes, fail- ing to reiterate and develop one which will stand 14 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY out above the rest, he will cause a scattering of at- tention: that his composition will lack unity. Likewise the skilled dramatist knows that his story must be swift, compact, and essentially one, that his audience must be conducted as directly as is com- patible with truth to life straight to the point of supreme interest and tension : the apex, the climax. He may insert a subordinate plot, or even two, but these must aid the central idea, and serve only as contrast or diversion. The play must hold the at- tention of the audience by its unity. Yet unity is not an end in itself, it is only a means, a psycho- logical necessity. No play can succeed merely because it is unified. It is only when unity is joined with qualities of imagination and beauty, effectiveness and entertainment, that it is of use. When you go to the theater, not with the idea of edifying yourself or learning, or judging, but for the sake of amusement, you ask only to be inter- ested. If, after seeing the play you ask yourself why you were amused and interested, how will you be able to answer the question? Let us say that the story is good; assume that the play is "The School for Scandal." You enjoy the wit of the lines; they are clever, well phrased, and appro- priate. They happen to be literature, but let us leave that question aside. Bright lines are not suf- ficient to carry a play. The story interests from the first; we like the intrigue, the working WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY ,15 out of human motives by means of human agents. We enjoy Oliver's plan to find out the attitude of Charles, we are excited in the " screen " scene, we are anxious to learn the outcome of Sir Peter and Lady Teazle's domestic wrangles. Finally, we like the basic idea. We dislike aiFectation and hypocrisy, and heartily applaud any attempt to unmask the shallow pre- tenses of our fellow-beings ; we like nothing better than to see virtue triumphant and baseness get its just deserts. Further, most of us take pleasure in seeing men and women like ourselves and observing, with the aid of the dramatist's skill in characteriza- tion, how their minds work, and how they behave under unusual circumstances. We take particular pleasure in seeing them in embarrassing and pain- ful situations — on the stage, at least. We take keen delight in sympathizing with Ophelia, we are excited and interested and moved when we see Lady Macbeth wring her hands in despair. How many of us are prompted to leave the theater at the be- ginning of the " sleep-walking " scene because we cannot bear the suffering of the unfortunate lady? In " The School for Scandal," then, are to be found most of the elements of a good play : an interesting and well-constructed plot, good characterization and a good central idea, or theme. How, precisely, does Sheridan bring about this combination which in the form of a comedy has 16 WHAT CONSTITUTES A PLAY given pleasure for so many years ? By what proc- ess does the dramatist so arrange his material as to interest audiences, and perchance tell them something worth learning? This question it is the purpose of the present volume to consider, in sug- gesting to the student what is best and most repre- sentative in the drama of the present period. A word of warning may be necessary : in the an- alysis of human handiwork, in the critical consider- ation of any work of art, the purpose of the artist must never be forgotten. That purpose is to give us pleasure. It cannot be too emphatically urged that a play is intended to amuse, not to furnish ma- terial for dissection. HENRIK IBSEN Henrik Ibsen was born March 20th, 1828, in Skien, Norway. He spent a number of years at Grimstad as apprentice to an apothecary, and in 1850 entered the University of Christiania; soon after, he visited Co- penhagen and Dresden for the purpose of making a study of the stage, in preparation to his assuming the managership of the theater of Bergen. He remained in Bergen for five years, and at the end of that period went to Christiania, to manage another theater. In 1862, he was forced to relinquish this theater and be- come " esthetic adviser " to still another theater. Two years later he left Norway, and lived in Italy and Germany until 1874, when he returned to his na- tive land; after a short sojourn there, he returned to Germany and lived in Dresden and Munich until 1891, at which time he finally made his home in Christiania, residing there until his death, in I9O6. Ibsen cannot be said to be a great originator, either i technically or philosophically. As a dramatist he | owes much to Augier and Dumas fils ; as a philoso- pher to Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. He did, how- f ever, eventually develop a technique all his own and ( a philosophy apart from that of any of his intel- lectual forbears. His great importance lies in the 17 18 HENRIK IBSEN fact that he took the " well-made " play where the French had left it and brought it to a state of per- fection which no one has as yet improved upon. I Like many philosophers he often changed his ideas ; in " An Enemy of the People " Doctor Stockmann asserts that most truths cease to be such after twenty years' time; in his poetic dramas and in many of his social pieces he preaches the doctrine of ideals, and in " The Wild Duck " he seems to I deny their value. Yet if his work is viewed in its entirety, something like a philosophy of life, a dis- tinct system of thinking and belief, may be traced. Above all, Ibsen believed in the individual, in his right to live his life in accordance with his personal creed, in spite of all obstacles; he says time and again that a man in order to realize the best that is in him must have the courage, the will, to be himself. Now the individual who so wiUs invari- ably finds the serried ranks of society against him ; if he be strong enough he will break the social bonds, if not, he is merely weak, and fails. Nora must " live her life " ; she is forced, in order to do this, to leave home and family, thereby shattering one of the most " inviolable " shibboleths of so- ciety. Ibsen is determined to bring to judgment most of the social prejudices of his time, and the result is that for thirty years all the scorn and hatred of an outraged social system are heaped upon his head. The fearful and acrimonious at- HENRIK IBSEN 19 tacks made against him on the appearance of " A T)n1Ps House " and " Ghosts " were merely in- dications of the horror with which his ideas were regarded by the people of the time, but the calm acquiescence with which a much more outspoken play than either of these — Brieux's "Damaged Goods " — is now accepted gives ample proof that society was only a few years behind the Scandi- navian leader. As a poet of prime importance, as an original and in many ways revolutionary thinker, as dra- matic craftsman and artist Ibsen is rightly con- sidered the greatest of modem dramatists, and one of the few dramatists of all time. PLAYS Catilixa (published 1850, produced 1881). The Warrior's Mound (produced 1850, published 1854). Olaf Liljekrans (produced in a revised version 1857, published in German 1898). >^ Philip H. Wicksteed: "Four Lectures on Henrik Ibsen." Sonnenschein. KEdmund Gosse: "Henrik Ibsen." Scribner. J'Haldane McFall: " Ibsen: The Man, His Art, and His Significance." Morgan, Shepard. ^George Bernard Shaw: "The Quintessence of Ib- senism." Brentano. Revised edition 1913. K Montrose J. Moses: " Henrik Ibsen: The Man and His Plays." Kennerley. X Otto Heller: " Henrik Ibsen, Plays and Problems." Houghton Mifflin. JtJennette Lee: "The Ibsen Secret." Putnam. The introductions of Archer to the individual plays in the Collected Edition should also be consulted, as well as the volume entitled " From Ibsen's Workshop ," HENRIK IBSEN 23 which contains a number of Ibsen's scenarios and preliminary sketches. The " Letters of Henrik Ibsen," published by Duffield , and the " Speeches and New Letters of Henrik Ibsen." published by Badger, are also of value. X THE PRETENDERS A historical drama in five acts. First published 1864. (In Volume II, Ibsen's Collected Works. Scribner.) Although the play is founded upon incidents taken from early history, and the main facts in it are authen- tic, much has been added by the poet; chiefly the mo- tivation of the leading characters. " The Pre- tenders " is a considerable advance over " The Vi- kings," the historical play that preceded it ; the char- acters are more strikingly individual, the story as well told, yet more intricate. Because of its essentially dramatic form, its subject-matter, and its literary style, the play is by some critics considered Ibsen's finest dramatic achievement. This play is concerned primarily with the char- acters of Skule and Hakon : Skule, the king by ac- tual right, Hakon the king " by confidence." The author has taken an old story and put a distinctly modern theme into it. Bishop Nicholas says to Skule, "The right is his [Hakon's], for he is the fortunate one ; 'tis even the summit of fortune, to have the right. But by what right has Hakon the right, and not you.'' " This is the central idea of the play. 24 HENRIK IBSEN 1. Observe how the " atmosphere " is created in the opening scene. The setting, the crowds in the street, the incident of the ordeal, all combine to give the spirit in which the action is to take place. 2. As in practically all plays, a scene of less tension follows one of storm and stress ; note how the scene between Lady Ragnhild and Margrete re- leases the tension created by the preceding one. Note, too, how the conversation between these two contains a good deal of exposition. This colloquy gives the audience what information it is necessary they should know in order to understand what is happening, or going to happen.* Notice how scenes are contrasted throughout the play. 3. The scene just referred to — that between Lady Ragnhild and Margrete — contains a good deal of repetition (see pp. 132-133). This is done in order that the audience may not miss an im- portant point. Scribe is said to have repeated all his important points three times, and it is safe to say that all successful playwrights have acted on the principle that to state a fact once is not suffi- cient. — ^Another good example of this is found throughout Sir Arthur Finero's " The Thunder - bolt." 4. Most plays do not actually begin the moment * See Archer's " Playmaking,'' chapter on Exposition. HENRIK IBSEN 25 the curtain rises ; time is necessary to introduce the chief characters and tell something of the past. In nearly every play it is easy to detect just where the action begins. Where in " The Pretenders " does exposition stop and the story, or action, begin? 5. One of the commonly observed " laws " of playwriting is, Never keep a secret long from the audience. A usual method to this end is to drop hints early in the play as to what is going to occur. In Finero's "Mid-Channel" Zoe Blundell says, " You'll see, when I put an end to myself, it will be in the winter time." In Galsworthy's " Justice " Falder says to Ruth, " It is too late " [to stay, i. e.]. These are examples of foreshadowing, or giving the audience some inkling of what is to happen later. Bishop Nicholas, in " The Pretend- ers," says, " Ever on your guard, good Dagfinn — ever on your guard." — ^Find other examples of foreshadowing in the present play. 6. It is the function of every first act — and of every other save the last — to throw out some hint of what is to follow in the next ; very few acts can stand independently and give no clue to the story to come. It is usually toward the end of the act that such indications are found. They are in the nature of a " Continued in our next," and serve as binding links in the story. At the end of the second act of Bjornson's " The 26 HENRIK IBSEN Gauntlet " (First Version, Everyman's Library) , Christenson says, " Then it is to be war ? — ^Well, I fancy I know a thing or two about war," and goes out. That speech and the manner in which it is delivered, arouse the interest of the audience, so that they eagerly await the next act. Another good example is at the end of the first act of Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan, " where Lady Windermere declares her intention of striking Mrs. Erlynne over the face if she comes to the reception. In " The Pretenders," Hakon says, " At last, then, I am King of Norway," and Earl Skule replies, " But I rule the realm." If it were not for this disquieting remark, the first act might almost stand as a complete one-act-play. 7. Find the " bridging-over " sections in the sub- sequent acts. % BRAND A play in five acts. First published 1866. (In Volume III, Ibsen's Collected Works.) " Brand " is a dramatic poem in five acts. It was not written originally for the stage, but it has been produced with considerable success in most of the countries of Europe. The play is concerned with a man who sacrifices everything to his ideal of " All or nothing " ; Brand gives up friends, wife, and child, for his principles. Technically, the plot is well constructed and interest- HENRIK IBSEN 27 ing as a story; as a play, it is doubtful whether the long speeches add to its general effectiveness. 1. Notice again the setting. The key-note of the play is to be found there. A good dramatist rarely gives the audience a false clue in his opening act ; either by setting, conversation, or pantomime, or all three, he foreshadows as it were the spirit of the play. — Compare the opening of " Brand " with those of " Macbeth " and " Hamlet." 2. At precisely what point does " Brand " start? That is, where does the introduction, or exposition, stop, and the plot begin? 9. What examples of foreshadowing are there in the first act? Where, in the first act, is there a connecting link of interest, carrying the story into the succeeding act ? 4. After the introduction, or exposition, which is always in the first act, and after the play starts,* that section of the play which is known as the de- velopment, begins. This extends to the climax, the high-water mark of interest — the " greatest of a series of crises," the point from which the play releases its tension and falls, to the conclusion. In Sudermann's " Magda, " practically the entire first act is devoted to exposition ; not until the very last part of it does the play start. The moment * Archer calls this setting in motion of the wheels of the play, "joining the issue." See " Playmaking." 28 HENRIK IBSEN Schwartze says he will let his daughter come to see him the play has begun. — By way of comparison trace carefully the development of " Brand," not- ing where the exposition stops, where the action begins, and where it reaches its culmination. 5. Every scene, in its action and in what it con- tains of characterization, contributes to the ex- position of various sides of Brand's nature. This adherence to one personage, continuous and yet in- teresting in its variations, makes for unity, both of the play and of the character of the protagonist. When the play is read, a distinct and unified im- pression remains, in spite of many scenes and seem- ingly countless incidents. 6. What is the dramatic, or structural, purpose of the Dean, the Mayor, and of Einar.? Note. — ^For information on the meaning and symbolism of " Brand," see Moses' " Ibsen ," and Jennette Lee's " The Ibsen Secret." y: PEER GYNT A play in five acts. First published 1867. (In Volum e IV, Ibsen's Collected Works.) " Peer Gynt " may be taken as complementary to " Brand." In the former play, the hero is a man of indomitable will ; in the latter, he is a man almost with- out it. In " Peer Gynt," Ibsen satirized the weak- HENRIK IBSEN 29 nesses of the Norwegian people, incorporating them into the character of Peer. Although at first the play may seem disjointed and chaotic, the hero always stands out clearly and one is left with a unified im- pression of the work as a whole. 1. Certain themes recur constantly in Ibsen's plays, and one of the commonest is heredity. Worked out finally in " Ghos ts," it is to be found in " A Doll's House " and " Peer Gynt ." Peer owes much in his character to his mother and a great deal to his father ; this we learn from Ase herself in one of her early conversations with her son. How great a factor heredity is when used for purposes of motivation in a play, is an interesting study. How far is Peer responsible for what he does? How far is Nora Helmer? As for Oswald in " Ghosts," it is safe to assert that Ibsen intended him to be entirely blameless. a. Ibsen's later plays — from " A Doll's House " to " Hedda Gabler " — are often cited as models of technical economy. And so they are, but it must not be forgotten that the early plays are for the most part admirable examples of the crafts- man's skill. Read the first eleven pages of " Peer Gynt " (in the edition cited) and notice how much ground is covered: (a) the atmosphere is created; the " wooded hillside," with the water rushing down the slope, the old mill shed, serve to give the " mi- lieu " or environment in which the action is to pass ; 30 HENRIK IBSEN (b) the chief personage is introduced, and his dom- inant characteristics made apparent ; (c) nearly all of the past that is necessary for the understanding of the play is made known; and, (d) some inkling as to Peer's fate is hinted at. These preliminaries are so skilfully introduced, so unobtrusively insin- uated, that the reader scarcely realizes he has learned anything. Compare with this the opening pages of " Hedda Gabler, " where the exposition is much more compact, almost too much so; in that play it is doubtful whether the audience could as- similate all that is set before it, because practically every word is full of import. In " Peer Gynt " there is suflScient matter of extraneous interest — such as the intrinsic beauty of the lines and the sit- uation itself — to attract the reader or auditor, so that he will pay strict attention to all that is said and done. In the exposition of " Hedda Gabler " what actually happens is of comparatively little interest. Take any play, read the ifirst five pages, and see how much the author has told, noting care- fully whether it is attractively served, as it were, or merely lumped together. 3. Read " Peer Gynt " through as a story, a poem, a fantasy ; the first time do not seek the full explanation of hidden meanings and symbols. The work is a satire on human nature, and if in places it is obscure, try to enter into its spirit, which is everywhere manifest. It is, of course, helpful to HENRIK IBSEN 31 know what the Boyg and the Button Moulder stand for, but not absolutely necessary.* 4. Compare the exposition of "Peer Gynt" with that of " The Pretenders " and ".Brand." Compare the characters of Agnes and Solveig; what is the function of each, in relation to the chief character in the respective plays ? 5. " Peer Gynt " is not a " well-made " play ; it is not modeled upon any accepted formula, yet it is effective both as poetry and drama. Ibsen de- clared that if critics objected to his play on the ground that it was not poetry, they would have to change their conception of poetry to fit what he had written. Likewise may it not be urged that they who condemn " Peer Gynt " regarding it merely as a poem and no play must change their conception of what constitutes a play? "J^ A DOLL'S HOUSE^ A play in four acts. First published 1879. (In Volume VII, Ibsen's Collected Works. ) Ibsen's so-called " social dramas," written between 1867 and 1899, differ widely in spirit and style from the works that have just been considered. Most of them consist of the end of a story, most of the events of which have happened long ago, and have * See Archer's introduction to the Scribner edition; also chapters on " Peer Gynt " in the books of Moses and Heller. 32 HENRIK IBSEN been aptly called " catastrophic " plays^ because they deal almost exclusively with the end or catastrophe. " Ghosts " is perhaps the best example. When the curtain rises on that play, everything but the inevi- table result has taken place. Ibsen is interested and actually concerned only with the end. " Ghosts " is the dramatization of an effect; the cause of the tragedy is over years before the play begins. " A Doll's House " is similar, because the audience sees only the last part of the story. The gist of the play is in the last half of the last act, in the conversation between Nora and Helmer. Ibsen once said that the play was written for the sake of this scene. The first three acts and the first part of the fourth are preparation. The ex- position in the first act, the unfolding of Nora's previous history, serve as additional preparation. Therefore, when the momentous conversation takes place, the audience has firmly in mind the impor- tant events in the lives of the characters. Technically, this play is one of Ibsen's best; it is clear, interesting, unified. No time is lost in let- ting the audience know what has gone before. We are curious to know more, to learn how Nora will extricate herself from her difficulties. Through- out the play, there is scarcely a superfluous word : all tends toward the final scene, all is virtually preparatory explanation. In studying this play — and, for that matter, all HENRIK IBSEN 33 plays — it will be well to reconstruct the story of what has happened previously to the rise of the curtain. 1. How does the conversation between Nora and Mrs. Linden advance the story in the first act? In other words, what is the purpose of Mrs. Linden in that act. J" 2. It has been said that every line in a good play does one of two things, if not both: advance the plot or reveal character. What is the purpose of the scene between Rank, Nora, and Mrs. Linden in the first act? What is the purpose of the scene with the children? S. Do you see a good reason why Helmer should speak of Krogstad before his wife in the first act rather than in a later one, or why he should speak of his dealings with Krogstad at all? 4. Near the beginning of the second act, Nora says to the maid who tells her that if she goes out she may catch cold : " Worse things might hap- pen." Is this a good example of foreshadowing? In the first two acts, are there any better examples ? What are they? 5. What structural purpose is served by Rank's exposition of his views on heredity ? 6. The play has sometimes been criticized on the ground that it was impossible for Nora to develop to so abnormal a degree within the three days allowed her by the author. Trace the steps by 34 HENRIK IBSEN which that development has progressed, and try to determine whether Ibsen has justified such a change. Read the scene between Nora and Helmer in the last act and notice how, during the preceding acts, the scene is prepared for. Nora's acute reasoning power should not come as too great a surprise, for an audience has a right to be pre- pared for what is the outgrowth of the early part of the play. y HEDDA GABLER A play in four acts. First published 1890. (In Volume X, Ibsen's Collected Works.) " Hedda Gabler " is one of the finest examples of dramatic technique in existence. As a study in con- struction it repays many readings and much careful application. The play deals with the character of a woman out of harmony with her surroundings. All the skill of the dramatist is brought to bear upon a complete revelation of her past life, her thoughts, and the resultant acts. Everything in the play con- tributes to the psychological portrait of Hedda Gabler. 1. The exposition is so deftly contrived that every word counts ; in fact, the words " I don't believe they are stirring " arouse curiosity, give some past history, and afford some indication as to the character of the speaker. The first two pages HENRIK IBSEN S5 are so full of meaning that the reader — and cer- tainly the auditor — must pay the strictest atten- tion, or else lose important information. Up to George's entrance, we learn enough about him so that no time need be lost learning his further char- acteristics from himself. The presence of George varies the scene a little, and by the time the audi- ence has seen him, it is ready for more informa- tion. Judge Brack is mentioned, then a little fur- ther action is introduced; farther on there is more exposition — telling us of the relations be- tween Hedda and Miss Tesman. Little by little the details are piled up, until we know nearly all that is needful for a full comprehension of the re- mainder of the play. — ^Then Hedda makes her ap- pearance. Trace the steps in the introduction, and notice how the past gradually rises up and takes shape as background; how the characters are introduced, how each important detail is insisted upon, pre- paratory to the action that is to take place. The " curtain " of the first act closes the exposition, and the development begins. 2. The second act starts and advances the plot up to the climax. The climax is that point at which the action of the play reaches its culmina- tion, the last stage in its development, from which the action falls, or is unraveled. In Henry Arthur Jones's " The Liars," Lady Jessica says to 36 HENRIK IBSEN Falkner (Act III), "Tell my husband the truth," and Falkner does so. That is the climax of the play ; up to that point, the fortunes of most of the people depended upon a network of lies, and when these are discovered and the truth learned, tension is released, and the only thing to wait for is the explanation. The rest of the play shows merely the result of the revelation. In " Hedda Gabler," the climax is Hedda's burning of the " child," Lovborg's MS. ; that deed is the culminating point of those events, or crises, in her life with which Ibsen, either in the play or before it, is concerned. From that point onward, we see only effects ; never again does the action rise to so high a pitch. Hedda's death, even, is only the logical outcome of what has gone before, and that was prepared for, foreshadowed, in the first and succeeding acts. Note. — " Hedda Gabler " is carefully analyzed in Charles H. CaflBn's " Appreciation of the Drama." Ibsen's scenarios and sketches for this play are especially interesting, and are found in the volume entitled " From Ibsen's Workshop. " y THE MASTER BUILDER A play in three acts. First published 1892. (In Volume X, Ibsen's Collected Work s.) " The Master Builder " marks the beginning of Ibsen's " third and last period." The historical and HENRIK IBSEN 37 poetical plays compose the " first period/' and the prose " social " dramas, — from " The League of Youth " to " Hedda Gabler. "— the " second period." In " The Master Build er " Ibsen is within the realm of fancy; symbols are used to suggest more or less hid- den truths, while the action itself must be considered as unreal. The tone of the play is poetical, although the medium of expression is prose. In order to under- stand the play better, which is to a great extent auto- biographical, a certain incident should be known. The following passage from Gosse's " Henrik Ibsen " gives an interesting clue: "In the season of 1889, among the summer boarders at Gossensass, there ap- peared a young Viennese lady of eighteen. Miss Emi- lie Bardach. She used to sit on a certain bench in the Pferchthal, and when the poet, whom she adored from afar, passed by, she had the courage to smile at him. Strange to say, her smile was returned and soon Ibsen was on the bench at her side. He readily discovered where she lived ; no less readily he gained an introduc- tion to the family with whom she boarded. . . . Perhaps, until they parted in the last days of Septem- ber, neither the- old man nor the young girl realized what their relations had meant to each. Youth se- cured its revenge, however; Miss Bardach soon wrote from Vienna that she was now tranquil, more inde- pendent, happy at last. Ibsen, on the other hand, was heart-broken, quivering with ecstasy, overwhelmed with joy and despair." — Bearing in mind that " The Master Builder " grew out of this incident, the play is easier to understand. 38 HENRIK IBSEN 1. Why should symbols be used in plays ? Does their use in " The Master Builder," for instance, make the meaning clearer ? Do such obvious sym- bols as those in Maeterlinck's " Blue Bird " help the reader or auditor? 2. Although "The Master Builder" is a con- siderable departure from the manner of the earlier plays, the main technical points, such as develop- ment, climax, etc., are still clearly discernible. Find these points and compare each section with those of "Hedda Gabler" and "A Doll's House." S. Taking Solness as the embodiment of the older generation, and Hilda of the younger, and accepting the climbing of the tower as a symbol of aspiration, does the rest of the play follow logic- ally.'' That is, granting the symbolic medium of expression, is the rest of the play comprehensible ? 4. Do you think that "The Master Builder" would be more effective on the stage than if read? Later in the present volume, the question of whether some plays are injured by stage produc- tion and are better read than seen, is considered. Is "The Master Builder" one of these? BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON Bjornson, together with Ibsen the first Norwegian to embody to any considerable extent the true spirit of his native land in modern times^ and create a dis- tinctly national literature, was born in Kvikne, Nor- way, in 1832. His primary education was received in Molde. At the age of twenty, he entered the Uni- versity of Christiania, where he made the acquaintance of Ibsen. His first book appeared in 1857, an idyllic novel, called " Synnove Solbakken," which was re- ceived with considerable enthusiasm; it has remained one of his most popular books. The following year Bjornson assumed the directorship of the Bergen theater and there produced some of his earlier plays, the subject-matter of which was drawn largely from the Norse sagas. The next few years were devoted to travel, the writing of stories, plays, and poems, and to practical politics. The years 1865-1867 saw him in charge of a theater in Christiania, as well as editor of a newspaper, which he used to further his struggle for Norwegian independence, political and literary. For practically the rest of his life, Bjornson partici- pated in the great political upheaval in Norway, and was considered the leader of the liberal party. In 1880 he came to America and delivered a number of lectures in the Northwest. From 1881, when he re- turned to his native country, until 1910, when he died 39 40 BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON in PariSj he spent most of his time on his estate in the south of Norway. Although he was primarily a novelist and poet, Bjornson claims a place among the foremost of mod- ern dramatists, because he was the first to found the new drama in Norway, and among the first to employ that medium for a free discussion of individual rights and personal liberty, moral and intellectual. PLAYS Between the Battles (1858). Lame Hulda (1858). King Sverre (1861). /Sigurd Slembe (1862). Mary Stuart (1864). "^The Newly-Married Couple (1865). Sigurd Jorsalfar (1872). ^The Editor (1874). >^A Bankruptcy (1874). -^The King (1877). ><'Leonarda (1879). XThe New System (1879)- K,A Gauntlet (1883). ■s^Beyond Our Power, Part I (1883). Produced in United States by Mrs. Patrick Camp- bell 1902. ''^Geography and Love (1885). »< When the New Wine Blooms (1909). " Sigurd Slembe " is translated by William Morton Payne (Sergei, Chicago, 1910) ; " Mary^ Queen of Scots " by Aug. Sahlberg (Specialty Syndicate Press, Chicago, 1912) ; " The Newly-Married Couple " by R . Farquharsnn pharp (Eyeryiqan's Library. Button, 1913), and by G. T. Colborn (Brandu, New York, 1911) as "A Lesson in Marriage"; " Leonarda " in The Drama, 1912 . and by R. F. Sharp (Everyman's Library. Button . 1Q1.^) : " The New System " bv Ed- win Bjorkman fScribner. 1913 ^ : " A Gauntlet" by H. L. Braekstad, 1890, b y Osman Edwards. 1894 , and in The Drama, yol. xvii (The Athenian So- ciety, London), by R. F. Sharp ("Everyman's Li- brary, Button, 1913) , and by Edwin B j orkman (Scribner, 1913) ; " Beyond Our Power " Part I. by Edwin B^iorkman (Scribner, 1913); " Geography and Love " by Edwin Bjorkman (Scribner, 1914) ; " Beyond Our Power," Part II, by Edwin Bjo rkmaiL (Scribner, 1914) ; " Laboremus " by Edwin B^jork- man (Scribner. 1914) ; " When the New Wine Blooms" by Lee M. Hollander (Poet-Lore'). References : Geprg Brandes, " Henrik Ibsen — Biornstjerne B.iornson: Critical .^t . ^lj ies " (Macmil- lan) ; H. H. Boy ^ff^n, " EssaY,s nn Scandinavian Lit- pj-fffprp- " (Scribner) ; William Morton Payne. " Bjornstjerne Bjornson" (McClurg. Chicago") . Shorter essays and criticisms: See introductions to 42 BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON "Sigurd Slembe" (Sergei); " Three Comedies of Bjornsterne Biornson" (Everyman's T.ihrary) : " Plays by Bjornson." 1st Series: "The Nfw Sys- tem," " The Gauntiet " " Beyond Our Power," -with jntroduc tion by Edwin Bjorkman — 2d Series : " Love_ and Geograp hy," " Beyond Human M ig ht " ( Be- yond Uur !ir'ower," Part II), " Laboremus," with in- troduction by Edwin Bjorkman (Scribnerj : also Ashley Dukes. . " Modern Dr'^Itiat'"*'-'' " (Sergei, 1912); Edwin Bjorkman, " Voices of To-morrow " (KennerleY. 1913) . ^ LEONARDA A play in four acts. Originally published 1879. Translations ii^ Thf ^^ Drama. and in Everyman's " Leonarda " is one of the first plays in the mod- ern moyement to treat of the " woman with a past." The author endeavors to show that such women as the heroine are capable of great sacri- fice and ought not to be regarded as social out- casts. Society's attitude to such women is the subject, or theme, of the play ; note that society's attitude toward men " with a past " is the theme, or a part of it, of " A Gauntlet ." 1. Contrary to modem custom, the heroine ap- pears on the stage at the rise of the curtain; in this way we enter immediately into the subject of the play. One side of Leonarda's character is quickly revealed: her sympathetic nature. The BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON 43 attention of the audience is at once attracted by movement and variety, and is not taxed by lengthy exposition. A minute passes before this begins, and when General Rosen inquires about Aagot the audience is prepared to listen with interest. This method of attracting attention and holding in- terest from the very beginning is not uncommon: the opening scenes of " The Tempest " and "Romeo and Juliet" are good examples of the principle. 2. Good exposition, we have observed, is that which seems natural and at the same time gives valuable information while not appearing to do so. The first scene between Hagbart and Leonarda is good exposition, because the latter's questioning of Hagbart gives us full details, and the important points on an essential bit of past history; shows Leonarda's relations with and attitude toward Hagbart, and their feeling in turn for Aagot — and all with perfect naturalness. The entire scene is not only lifelike, it seems inevitable. 3. Generally speaking, the climax — the highest point of dramatic interest — in a play occurs some- where near the end of the penultimate act.* It is * Two interesting exceptions are " King Lear," where the technical climax occurs at the very beginning of the play, and William Vaughn Moody's "The Great Divide. " in which the climax is in the middle of the first act. Hie latter author has difSculty in sustaining interest during the rest of the play. 44 BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON the point from which the action, and consequently the suspense, descends, and the last act takes up the concluding threads of the story, explains what has gone before, and ends the play. In " Leo- narda," the climax is where the chief char- acter gives up Hagbart in favor of Aagot (p. 94, Everyman's edition). The remain- der of the act merely demonstrates the immediate result of this renunciation, and the fourth concludes the story in the shortest possible way. For further illustration of the po- sition and function of the climax, see the third acts of Henry Arthur Jones's " The Liars, " Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan," and Sir Arthur Finero's " Iris." K' A GAUNTLET A play in three acts. Published 1883. Translations listed above. Recommended texts: in Everyman's Library^ and in " Three Plays by Bjornson " (Scribner). The play was re-written in 1892. " A Gauntlet " * is one of the most clearly de- fined examples of the thesis play. The author wishes to show that a woman has the right to de- mand the same prenuptial chastity from her fiance as he demands of her ; it is a plea for the abolition * This discussion is based upon the original version, as the revised is not easily accessible. BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON 45 of the " double standard." The fault with most thesis plays is that the thesis occupies too prom- inent a place, and that violence is done to the plot and characters, owing to the fact that the author must first of all establish and prove his case, at the expense of verisimilitude. " A Gauntlet " is open to this criticism. If a dramatist wishes to make his play prove something, he should conceal any conscious effort in so doing, and " bury his tools " when through with them. This is precisely what Brieux has done in his finest thesis play, " The Red Robe." The evils incident to obtaining advance- ment in the French courts are what the French dramatist wishes to expose, but his crushing indict- ment is not fully realized until after the close of the play, for everything happens so naturally that the attention of the audience is not distracted from the story and the people who are so intimately bound up in it. The thesis grows gradually and inevitably out of the action, and this does not seem to be merely a means, but an end in itself. 1. The " Gauntlet," being written primarily for the sake of the " lesson," is unlike the Ibsen plays we have considered. Ibsen always put into his writings an idea, but rarely does he allow us to see that he wrote a play for the idea itself. In " A Gauntlet " everything points toward and supports the central idea, every scene stands independently as some phase of the theme, or else prepares the 46 BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON way for such a scene. Bear these facts in mind as you read the play, and judge of its effectiveness, both as a piece of dramatic art and a thesis play. 2. A consideration of this work is rendered doubly interesting if the two versions * are com- pared. The second act, as it was originally writ- ten, ends with Svava's throwing of the glove in Alf's face, and Christensen's declaration of war. This climax is good, and it occurs where we might expect it to occur: at the end of the last act but one. The last act has to do with the result of Svava's challenge, and ends with her reconcili- ation with Alf. This seems fairly reasonable and human, but Bjornson's thesis suffers: if he wished to preach the doctrine of the single standard, he has weakened his argument by making his strong character destroy it. Feeling that this was a weakness, Bjornson re- wrote the play, and made his thesis stronger; he closes the second act with Svava's enlightenment regarding her father's re- lations with Mrs. North. This is a sufficiently dramatic climax in itself, but in that it creates greater tension — ^because it leaves the outcome more doubtful — than the first version, it is su- perior. The last act, therefore, of the new ver- sion is much better than that of the old, as the * The revised version is in The Drama, vol. xvii (Athenian Society, LfOndon) ; it is also in a French translation, pub- lished by P.-V. Stock, Paris, as " Un Gant." BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON 47 audience eagerly awaits the " big scene " between Svava and Alf. The throwing of the gauntlet constitutes the end of the play, and we are no longer in doubt as to Svava's feelings and the author's ultimate intention. Now the climax of the earlier play serves as the catastrophe* — so called — of the later. But notice a still more un- usual feature : while the climax is effective in both versions, that of the first is the more so, but the catastrophe is comparatively weak; the climax in the second is adequate, and the catastrophe power- ful and wholly convincing. As a rule, it is more difficult to sustain interest in the last act than in any other, so that, dramaturgically, the second version of this play is incomparably better than the original. * The " Catastrophe " is the outcome, the final chord, the result, of the play. The term is applicable to both tragedy and comedy. LEO TQLSTOY Leo Tolstoy was born August 28, 1828, at Yasnaya Polyana, Russia. Soon after the early death of his parents he was sent in turn to live with his two aunts, the second of whom exerted an influence — as Tolstoy was only eleven years old — which was far from good. Four years later he entered the University of Kazan, and subsequently studied in the School of Eastern Languages and the law school. In 1847 he left the law school, tired of the life of comparative idleness and dissipation which he was then leading. After spending a few months at his home, he went to St. Petersburg with his brother, " carousing with Zigani dancers, and throwing all serious thoughts to the winds." In 1851 he joined the army in the Caucasus, whence he began sending back vivid accounts of the battles in which he participated. The Czar was soon attracted by the " Tales from Sebastopol," and had Tolstoy brought back to the capital. In 1857 he left his native country to travel in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, England, returning from time to time to Russia. In 1861 he was once more at Yasnaya Poly- ana ; the next year he was married. The remainder of his life was devoted to the consideration of many po- litical questions of the day, upon which he wrote num- erous tracts; besides these, he published novels, 48 LEO TOLSTOY 49 stories, longer political and philosophical works and plays. For political and religious reasons he was in 1901 excommunicated from the Orthodox Church. He died nine years later at Astapovo. Tolstoy's best work is not in his plays, but there is much good in them in spite of occasional scenes of brutal and revolting realism. Nor is he great among Bussian dramatists; most of the Eussians to be con- sidered later are better craftsmen. But the develop- ment of the drama has been everywhere so rapid, that it is interesting to study a comparatively early ex- ample of modern Bussian drama. Tolstoy wrote his plays for special and private performances, and their technical requirements were not such as would be made in the case of plays intended for professional production. Tolstoy shares with other dramatists of his country their lack of the sense of form ; either they have not yet learned the art of play-building or else they have purposely avoided what they considered the " tricks of the trade," preferring to lay greater stress on the delineation of character. Whatever the reason, the plays of Tolstoy, Tchekoff, Gorky, and Andre- yeff are interesting primarily as revealing their au- thors' insight into humanity at large. PLAYS The Nihilist (1863). The Infected Family (1864). )CThe Life op Man (1907). The Days op Our Life (1908). •♦«;iNG Hunger (1908). Night Love (1908). Anfisa (1909). Anathema (1909). Gaudeamus (1910). SsThe Pretty Sabine Woman (191I). "IKLove of One's Neighbor (in one act) (191I). " To the Stars " is translated by D r. A. Gqudis s_ (Poet-Lore. 1907") ; " Kina^ Hungey " bv Eugene M. Kayden (PoetsLore, IQH) ; " Anathema " bv Herman Bernstein (Macmillan, 1910) ; and " The Pretty Sa- bine Woman " by Thomas Seltzer (The T)rnm.n.^ M^y, 1914) ; " Love of One's Neighbor," translated by Thomas Seltzer (^Ae Glehe. January, 1914); " ^ he Life of Man," " King Hunger." " Savva," translated by Thomas Seltzer, are announced by Kennerley. References : William Lyon Phelps, " Essays on Russian Novelists" (Macmillan, 1911). Magazines: 68 ANDREYEFF Independent, vol. Ixvii (p. 242') ; . North American \ Revietp. vol. cxciv (p. 882) ; Living Age, vol. cclviii * (p. 786) ; Lippincott's, vol. xc (p. 241) ; and The Drama (May. 19141. v*;* /anathema A tragedy in seven scenes. First published 1909- Transl ated by Heyman Bernstein. 1. " Anathema " somewhat resembles Goethe's " Faust " in form and treatment ; the Prologue, laid in " a wild deserted place, the slope of a moun- tain rising to infinite heights," at once strikes a note of vast and overwhelming immensity. The apprehension of the infinity of mysterious space pervades the air and becomes a half-felt back- ground to the scene of human action. — Note how the setting as well as the high-sounding speeches of Anathema at once give the spirit of the Pro- logue. This Prologue is a necessary division of the play, and is not merely a first act. Compare with it the Prologue to Goethe's "Faust " and that to Echegaray's " The Great Galeotto." 2. We have noticed how the opening scene of a play ought to tell what of the past must be known and what of the life and character of the partici- pators in the story. But there is still another function to be fulfilled: the audience must under- stand the spirit of the play, they must be told ANDREYEFF 69 something of the manner in which the subject is to be treated. In Biomson's " Leonarda ," the woman of that name exchanges a few words with an old servant, at the very opening of the play, and lets the audience know a little of the chief character, in which it must interest itself for the " two hours' traffic," — and what the play is to be concerned with. In " The Man Who Was Dead " there is a similar scene. A play should " get into the subject" before the audience loses interest. Since " Anathema " is to treat of that questioning of the ultimate purpose of life which we have seen is characteristic of the Russian temperament, we must early in the play be prepared for this. On page 31, Sarah says, " Happiness ! Who knows what is happiness.'' All people are equal before God, and yet one sells two cents' worth, while another sells thirty cents' worth . . . and no one knows why happiness is given to a person." Here, in epitome, is the essence of the play ; it is at least an inkling of what it is to treat of. S. It has been pointed out that the Russians excel in portraying character, and we have seen that Tchekoff's " Seagull " was written primarily for the sake of the characters. It is pertinent now to inquire into the nature of true character- ization. What is it? In this play, David is a striking example ; he is shown acting and speaking in accordance with 70 ANDREYEFF what the audience knows of him, in many moods and under varying circumstances. The long speech (pp. 52-53) in which he tells of the death of his children and declares that he will not accept the four million rubles, is a full revelation of what we have been led to expect of such a man ; just as Sarah's washing Rosa's face is quite in accordance with what we know of her. In succeeding acts, David shows further traits as he is influenced by other people and by force of circumstances, and at the end he emerges a unified and logical char- acter, fully portrayed — eminently human and alive. The great superiority of the Russians in this field may be seen by comparing the chief person- ages of " The Man Who Was Dead^ " " The Lower Depths," " The Seagull," an d " Anathema," with those, for instance, in many of the plays of the modern French school. Brieux's " Three Daugh - ters of M. Dupont " has some very good char- acter-drawing, and Hervieu's " Know Thyself " (Connais-toi) contains some memorable figures, but the inferiority of the French to the Rus- sian characters is undeniable. In the French plays here referred to the theme is all-important, and the characters are subservient — a means to an end; with the Russians they are an end in them- selves. 4). Andreyeff, like most of his race, writes with ANDREYEFF 71 little regard for accepted forms, yet with the true instinct of the artist, for his play exemplifies the " act unity " law. Each act contains a separate and clearly defined incident, which stands out above the other incidents, and advances the action as well. The first act deals with the story of the inheritance, the second, that of the renunciation. — Notice how each of the last three acts contains a unified story, and how each grows logically out of the preceding. It is highly interesting to note, in this study of the Russians, how the accepted rules of dramatic technique have been adhered to by some of the most iconoclastic of playwrights; it is merely an indication of the essential Tightness of these laws, it shows that rules of this sort are not arbitrary, but are in the main the inevitable result of what has been found right and proper and effective in the past. The innovator should try to rid himself of rules, but not until he knows what the rules are, and how they have been applied in the past; in many cases, he will find that essentially he has in his apparently revolutionary attempt changed but little. AUGUST STRINDBERG August Strindberg, Sweden's greatest dramatist, was born at Stockholm in 1849. At an early age he entered the University of Upsala, but was unable to support himself and continue his studies at the same time; in 1870, however, he returned to the University. He then began writing plays, and in 1872 an impor- tant drama, " Master Olof " was offered for produc- tion,but it was for six years continually refused by the managers. The play, when it finally appeared, is said to have inaugurated Sweden's dramatic renascence. Strindberg turned his hand to many things in these early years; he was schoolmaster, journalist, drama- tist, writer of scientific and political treatises, and of short stories. In 1883 he left Sweden and traveled extensively in Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy, meantime publishing volumes of short stories, novels, and plays. The production of " The Father " in 1887 established his reputation as one of the most powerful dramatists of Europe. From that time on, his best plays, together with five autobiographical novels, followed. As a result of great intellectual strain and the painful proceedings incident to his divorce, Strindberg was forced to retire to a pri- vate sanitarium for over a year, but in 1897 he applied himself anew with added vigor to his work, and pub- 72 AUGUST STRINDBEEG 73 lished a surprisingly large number of plays. He also established his Intimate Theater at Stockholm, where only his own plays were produced. In 1897, also, Strindberg returned to Sweden, where he remained until his death in 1912. — He was married three times; each marriage ended in divorce. Strindberg, judged by the great majority of his works so far translated into English, is a dramatist endowed with a trenchant and searching power of analysis and remarkable insight into human nature; his chief plays are exact though narrow views of the feminine soul. His own experience was so unfor- tunate that his bitterness takes the form of a whole- sale indictment of the sex. So far as he goes, it must be admitted that he is in the main just, but he fails to observe a proper balance. In " The Father, " " Countess Julia ," " Creditor s," and " Comrades," he makes woman out a fiend incarnate. His greatest power lies in the portrayal of character, and the con- flicts of human minds ; he delights in showing the su- periority of one individual over another. " The Father " is a good example, but " Creditors " is per- haps the finest mental duel, so to speak, in the range of modern drama. PLAYS * Hermione (1869). The Outlaw (1871). XTHasteh Olof (1872). * These " main works " are taken from Mr. Edwin Bjorkman's edition of the Plays of August Strindberg (Scribner, 1912). 74 AUGUST STRINDBERG The Secret of the Guild (1880). Sir Bengt's Lady (1882). ^The Wanderings of Lucky-Per (1883). >^The Father (1887). Given in New York by Warner Oland 1912. ''The Comrades (1888). XMiss Julia (1888). Given in New York at matinees 1913. ^Creditors (1890). Tariah (1890). Given in New York at a matinee 1913. 7 r^THE WEAVERS A play in four acts. First published 1892. Trans - lated by Mary Morison . As one of Hauptmann's experiments in dra- matic form, " The Weavers " is highly significant. Instead of a hero, he has created a mob ; this mob is therefore the protagonist — or chief charac- ter ; — and if individuals emerge from the rank and file they are not thrust into the foreground to stay long. It is the weavers as a class that are ever before us, and the unity of the play is in them and 90 HAUPTMANN in them alone ; they are only parts of a larger pic- ture which will take shape as the story advances, and are not intended to be taken as important in- dividuals. 1. Hauptmann may be said to have created a new form of drama in " The Weavers," and that form is what may be designated as the tableau series form, with no hero but a community. As the play is not a close-knit entity, the first act is casual, and might open at almost any point; and since it starts with a picture, or part of a picture, there is hardly anything to be known of the past. The result is that no exposition is needed. The audience sees a state of affairs, it does not lend its attention and interest to a story or the beginning of a plot or intrigue. This first act merely es- tablishes the relation between the weavers and the manufacturers. There is no direct hint given in the first act as to what is to come in the second ; the first is a play in itself, a situation which does not necessarily have to be developed. It does, however, prepare for the revolt, by showing the discontent among the downtrodden people, and it also enlists the sympathy of the audience. 2. Act two is another picture, this time that of the homes of the weavers ; the effect produced is one of blackest misery and unrelieved poverty. Two points should be noticed: first, the dramatist HAUPTMANN 91 (ifevelops some characters, like Mother Baumert and Ansorge, but only to a certain extent, for fear of their overshadowing the chief business of the play, which is the presentation in concrete form of the oppression and struggles of the weavers ; and second, the plot — such as it is — is started by Jaeger. But this plot is not permitted to absorb the interest of the audience, it is rather brought in almost as an incident, and does not attain to great proportions until a large number of the weavers participate, later on. And when that happens, the plot and characters have an equal claim upon our attention. This act does look forward ; it throws out ten- tacles of interest, for when Ansorge says, "We'll stand it no longer! We'll stand it no longer! Come what may," the audience knows that trouble is ahead, and wants to see its result. 3. The third act carries the plot forward, and gives a further picture of the life of the weavers, this time a little less sordid than in the foregoing acts. The change of scene is made primarily in order to give variety to the whole picture, and also to furnish a likely gathering place for the in- stigators of the rebellion. The end of the act brings the plot to a higher degree of development, and increases the suspense ; Hornig's words, " It'll not surprise me if this ends badly," are clearly prophetic, and prepare for the next act. 92 HAUPTMANN 4. Between the third and fourth acts the rebel- lion has come to a head, and the weavers start on their warpath of depredation. The contrast in setting is again good ; this time we are in the lux- uriously furnished home of the capitalist. Soon we are aware of the presence of the wild crowd out- side, and know that the revolt is making quick headway. The entrance of Jaeger as a prisoner, his subsequent release by the mob, the evacuation of the house by its owners, the entrance of the weavers, the despoiling of the rich furnishings, all supply excellent dramatic action. By the end of the act, the weavers are like wild animals, whom nothing can curb. Here, then, is the culmination of the action : the climax. What more is expected.'' Clearly, the result of what has happened. Will the weavers conquer.? 5. The last act must terminate the rebellion, but the mere ending, in the defeat of the strikers, is not sufficient to fiU an entire act; there must be something further. Hauptmann has therefore in- troduced an incident that will supply the need. The " reactionary " weaver is accidentally shot. The purpose of this is doubtless to drive home the irony of fate, in this case the uselessness of revolt. This bit of action is very skilfully interwoven, and leaves us with a keen appreciation of the wrongs of the weavers, by reason of its vividness — also because it is the last incident of the play. While HAUPTMANN 93 it is true that we sympathize with the weavers as a class up to the last act, we lack the personal ele- ment. For example, we may read in a newspaper that five thousand people die of the famine, but until we see the mother dying in an effort to feed her child, or the father killing his family outright rather than see them starve — until we see these things individually — -they will not touch us. K HANNELE A dream-poem in two parts. Originally published 1893. Translations by William Archer . Charles Henry Meltzer , and G. S. Bryan. " Hannele " is described by the author as a " dream-poem." With that description in mind, as well as the text which is prefixed to the begin- ning of the printed edition — " Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not. For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven" — there should be no difliculty in adopting, as it were, a sympathetic method of attack. 1. The play deals with the " assumption " of Hannele Mattern; everything is subsidiary there- fore to the character of and circumstances con- cerning the child. This centralizing process, whereby the interest is directed to and fixed upon a single figure, is the exact contrary to that em- ployed in " The Weavers," where an entire com- munity is the " hero." 94 HAUPTMANN Whereas in " The Weavers " no character was developed to the detriment of the others and to the picture as a whole, in " Hannele " there is noth- ing — no incident or character — which does not contribute to the delineation and eventual develop- ment of the little girl. 2. The division into two acts is unusual; the first is concerned with one part of Hannele's ill- ness, the last with her " assumption." The so- called " acts," or parts, have no well-defined unity, but serve the purpose of balancing and dividing the action. Using your knowledge of the principles of act division as applied to the plays already considered, put "Hannele" into three acts, then four, then five. What is the most satisfactory of these arrange- ments ? 3. The patent purpose of the sordid scene with which the play opens is to provide variety ; by this means contrast between the squalor of the alms- house and the purity and innocence of the child's vision is the more striking. This contrast is most ef- fective when Hannele first appears upon the scene, Gottwald protecting her; while Hanke, Hete, and Seidel quarrel among themselves. And at the end of the play there is a contrast, a bold relief to the sordidness of Hannele's entire existence: the tri- umph of the poetic, the highest ideal of the purity of childhood, summed up in the Stranger's Song. HAUPTMANN 95 4. William Archer * calls attention to the fact that " Hannele " has no " conflicting wills," and yet is a "moving drama." f The English critic undertakes to disprove the theory formulated by the French critic, Brunetiere,t that "the thea- ter in general is nothing but the place for the de- velopment of the human will, attacking the ob- stacles opposed to it by destiny, fortune, or cir- cumstances." Archer admits that this struggle of human wills against obstacles is one of the es- sentials of drama, but that it is not a necessary factor. In support of his statement, he cites " As You Like It," " Ghosts," and " Hannele," in which the struggle, if there is one, is of but minor impor- tance. Of what, then, does the " moving " quality in this play consist ? It is the result of the keenly sensitive touch which is felt to be the spirit of the work, one of sweetness created by the character of Hannele, and the triumph of her soul over her sordid environment. It is therefore the poet and the psychologist in Hauptmann, and not primarily the dramatic artist, that have risen above rules and regulations, so that in this play at least Brunetiere's statement is hardly less capable of application in spite of the apparent contradiction. * " Playmaking," chap, iii: "Dramatic and Undramatic." t See Introduction, present volume. J "Etudes Critiques," vol. vii, pp. 153 and 207; quoted in Archer. 96 HAUPTMANN The above discussion leads naturally to the question whether those qualities in Hauptmann, which have stood him in such stead in default of technical skill, could not have been used to better advantage in a story or a poem or a novel, where they would not have to be subjected to the ever- changing interpretations of the actor and the more or less brutal realism of the mechanics of the stage.* This is the crux of the matter; Has Hauptmann chosen the right medium ? Is " Han- nele " a play at all? < THE SUNKEN BELL A play in four acts. First published 1897. Trans- lated by jHharles Henry Meltzer . " The Sunken Bell " is without doubt Haupt- mann's best known play. It is not, however, his most representative piece of work: Hauptmann is so many-sided that three plays at least must be read in order to obtain some definite idea of his total output. 1. The question of influences,! nearly always a very precarious one to discuss, constantly arises * Mrs. Fiske's production of " Hannels." a few seasons ago, was one of rare Insight and beauty, so that the argu- ment does not in this case apply. t It is interesting to note in this connection that two English critics recently drew parallels between Galsworthy's " Silver Box " and Hauptmann's " Weaver^. " and spoke of the indebtedness of the English dramatist to the German. HAUPTMANN 97 in connection with the plays of the author under consideration, and it is at least safe to assert that " Before Dawn " shows distinct traces of Tolstoy, " Lonely Lives " and the " Sunken Be ll " of Ibsen. Even Goethe has been suggested as a probable source of Hauptmann's inspiration in the last- mentioned play. Maurice Huret has well said that " Henrik Ibsen was at once a naturalist and a symbolist. . . . This combination, though apparently contradictory, is effected in perfect harmony, which is the result of the labor of su- preme genius. Hauptmann was incapable of so great an effort." * Instead of welding into a har- monic whole the diverse elements of realism and poetry in " The Sunken Bell " — as Ibsen did in " Peer Gynt " — he has had recourse to a more primitive procedure: he places side by side scenes of everyday realism and scenes of faery romance ; much as Shakspere did in the " Midsummer Night's Dream." Whether Hauptmann pur- posely adopted this method or whether he was unable to attain the white heat necessary for that complete welding, is not easy to determine, nor very much worth while discussing. In a letter to a London paper Galsworthy replied that he had never read a line of Hauptmann, and that he had merely heard that "The Weavers" had something to do with a strike. *In "La Littfirature aUemande d'Aujourd'hui " (Per- rin, Paris, 1909). 98 HAUPTMANN 2. The eternal question of What is a play ? again arises in connection with " The Sunken Bell." Certain critics of the first rank declare that this play is good poetry but poor drama, others that it is good drama, as well as good poetry. It has been pointed out in the Introduction to the present Outline * that the standards are changing so rapidly nowadays that there is no criterion where- by to judge of the technical validity of a play. Mr. Clayton Hamilton f states that " A play is a story devised to be presented by actors on a stage before an audience." The same critic also de- clares (speaking of Browning's " Pippa Passes " and " The Sunken Bell ") that " These poems are not plays; and the innocent spectator, being told that they are, is made to believe that poetic drama must be necessarily a soporific thing." And yet, " The Sunken Bell " is " a story devised to be pre- sented by actors on a stage before an audience." We must conclude, then, that although it is a play, it is not a good play ; or else that the definition above quoted is not sufficiently inclusive. " The Sunken Bell " is not a good play in the sense that Sardou's " Divorfons " is a good play — a piece bien faite: — it lacks unity, the story is not well developed, it wants swiftness of action, and clarity. Nor is it a good play in the sense that Bernard Shaw's * See p. 6 ff. tin "The Theory of the Theatre," p. 3. HAUPTMANN 99 " Man and Superman " — a work which is not a " well-made play " — is good. Hauptmann's play is good because of a combination of qualities — some of which may indeed be unnecessary — ^psycho- logical interest, some dramatic poetry, as dis- tinguished from purely lyrical, a fairly well-con- structed plot, and the bodying forth of the truth in concrete form that the artist must ally himself with and understand Nature if he is to realize what is best in himself. 3. " The Sunken Bell " is, among other things, a study in temperament, the so-called " artistic temperament." In this play, the poet is chiefly interested in the psychological development of the artist, Heinrich. We are told that he is a great artist, but the fact is not made clear to us. A German critic * takes Hauptmann to task because Heinrich does nothing to prove that he is what he is claimed to be. He aptly remarks that the more and the better Heinrich speaks the less are we inclined to believe in him, for most true art- ists express themselves best through the medium of their chosen art. In the drama we must believe what we are told. A dramatist of necessity asks his audience to take certain things for granted — such as the lapse of time and the resultant fore- shortening of events, — and the audience, having * Prof. E. Sulger-Gebing, in " Gerhart Hauptmann '' (Teubner, 1909). 100 HAUPTMANN accepted these premises, is ready to give credence to what follows. In " The Sunken Bell," we must firmly believe that Heinrich is a true artist — otherwise the author has failed. This is a ques- tion which the student must answer for himself. Among the numerous studies in temperament, compare those in D'Annunzio's " Gioconda ," Ba- taille's " La Femme nue," * Hauptmann's " Mi- chael Kramer," Georges de Porto-Riche's " La Chance de Franfoise," and Hermann Bahr's " Das Konzert." f How do these authors make their artists "live"?| V DRAYMAN HENSCHEL A play in five acts. Originally published 1898. Translations by Marian A. Redlicb and Ludwig Lewisohn. " Drayman Henschel " has little in common with the two preceding plays ; it is not a picture of a community, nor is it poetic in form or supernat- ural in treatment. It is a realistic " folk " or " bourgeois " tragedy, a psychological study of * Not translated. It was produced in England under the title of "Dame Nature." t Not translated. Produced in an American adaptation — as " The Concert " — ^by David Belasco. t Further studies in temperament may be found in Tchekoffs "The Seagull." Sudermann's " Magda." and Brleux's "Manages d' Artistes." The Brieux play has not been translated. HAUPTMANN 101 the moral degeneration of a woman. Hanna is the central figure, the unity of the play. Henschel is merely the victim. 1. Hauptmann shows a series of steps in the demoralization of his chief character ; the ^ludience in this case may see her develop. Ibsen's method, in his later plays at least, is almost the reverse. He would doubtless have begun* this play at the fourth act, summed up the substance of the first three in a short exposition, and expanded the last two. This is what he did in the " Doll's House," " Ghosts," and " Rosmersholm." Much may be said in favor of both these methods, but in this particular case Hauptmann's gives the greater illusion of life, as we can believe what we actually see unfolding before our eyes more readily than we can what is told us at second-hand. 2. Hauptmann's method in this play demands a broader canvas, with more incidents and a greater number of characters than would the swift- moving and compact method of Ibsen. Haupt- mann has therefore introduced a number of super- numeraries into his story which serve no purpose but to create atmosphere and throw sidelights on Hanna's character and to a lesser extent aid the plot. In " Rosmersholm " each person forms an integral part of the story, and each at the end of •See Clayton Hamilton's article, "Where to Begin a Play," Bookman, January, 1913. 102 HAUPTMANN the play is satisfactorily disposed of ; in " Dray- man Henschel " the greater part are forgotten, merely subsiding, and gradually or abruptly pass~ ing into oblivion. Ibsen ties the loose threads, Hauptmann leaves them hanging in the air, Ibsen gives an illusion of greater compact unity, Haupt- mann that of life itself, where the loose threads are rarely gathered up, much less tied together. This statement applies only to the present play, for in " The Weaver s " all the characters are lost in the picture ; there is no satisfactory end to that play, properly speaking; in like manner, Ibsen introduces casual characters to advance the story of " Siaad " and " Peer Gynt." Find further instances of the application of these principles ; such instances are easily found in the plays of Bjornson and Strindberg. 3. The fifth act is in itself perhaps the most interesting in the play, especially as regards the mental evolution of Henschel, With great skill his character is developed from the beginning to the end of the act. An atmosphere of terror, a feeling of suspense, a haunting fear of impending tragedy, unite to make the scene an unforgettable one. Suicide as an expedient for closing a play has often been discussed, and its justification the sub- ject of a great deal of debate. If a dramatist gets his hero or heroine into trouble and is embarrassed HAUPTMANN 103 as to how to rid himself of them, suicide is the shortest way out of the dilemma. The suicides in " Hedda Gabler ," " The Man Who Was Dead," " The Lower Depths, " " The Seagull " —to men- tion only those plays which have so far been studied — are all natural results, not simple ex- pedients for the purpose of ending the plays; in each case the event is prepared for and worked up to. But the question arises, does not an over- constant use of this method — whether it be justi- fied or not — tend to lessen its horror? Gals - worthy's " Justice " and Masefield's " The Trag- edy of Nan " end each with a suicide, but in both cases the suicides seem inevitable: any other solu- tion would be false to life and to art. Still, the question remains. These instances are surely jus- tified. But what of the suicides that end Clyde Fitch's "The Climbers ," and Finero's "The Sec - ond Mrs. Tanqueray".^ SUDERMANN Hermann Sudermann was born September 30, 1857, at Matziken, in East Prussia, Germany. After at- tending school at Elbing and Tilsit he became at the age of fourteen a druggist's apprentice. His univer- sity training was received at Konigsberg and Berlin. Soon after his graduation from college, he entered the field of journalism, and from that into literary work of a higher order. His first important works were novels, several of which — " Dame C are." " gegina," and " Thp S ong of Songs " — are well known to English readers. In 1889 he produced his first play, " Die Ehre " (Honor), which met with great success. Sudermann is essentially a man of the theater, a dramatist by instinct ; he has little of the poetic beauty and deep insight into human character which consti- tute the chief charm of Hauptmann's work, but he has at his command all the tricks of the trade, a per- fected technique, that make him on the whole a greater dramatist than his celebrated contemporary. Of these two recognized leaders of the modern German stage, Hauptmann is the poet and idealist, Suder- mann — although not devoid of ideals and not at times without a certain beauty — is the craftsman. 104 SUDERMANN 105 PLAYS Honor (1889). New York frequently in German, in English mati- nee 1905. The Destrcction of Sodom (1891). New York in German 1892-3. 1C John the Baptist (1898). New York in German 1901, in English by Sothern and Marlowe 1906-7. "\^ The Three Heron's Feathers (1899). ^ St. John's Fires (1900). New York in German 1901, Boston in English, Jan- uary, 1904, by Nance O'Neil. / The Joy of Living (1902). New York in German 1903-4, in English by Mrs. Campbell 1902 and on tour. Storm-Brother Socrates (1903). Among the Stones (1905). 106 SUDERMANN XThe Flower Boat (1905). New York in German 1906-7. ><^RosEs: Streaks of Light, Margot, The Last Visit, and The Faraway Princess (1907). Children of the Strand (1910). The Beggar of Syracuse (1911). A Good Refutation (1912). New York in German October, 1913. All of the above which were given in German were at the Irving Place Theater, New York. " Home " is translated as " Magda " by C. E. A. Winslo w (Samuel French, 1911); " JVTorituri " (three one-act plays, " Teja," " Fritzchen," and " The Eter- nal Masculine'"), by Archibald Alexander (Scribner. 1910) ; " Moritmiy"-" Teja/lXth£_fi;gtoltheafegY£i- mention fid "np-ac Lplays), by Mary Harned (Poet- Lore, 1897); "John the Baptis t " by Beatrice Mar- sh all (Lane, 1908), and as " Johannes " by Mary Harned (Poet-Lore, 1899); " The Three Heron's Feathers " by H. T. Porter {Poet-Lore, 1900) ; "^The Fires of St. John," " translated and adapted by Charles Swic kard " (Luce, 1904^) , by Charlotte Por- ter and H. C. Porter {Poet-Lore, 1904) , and by G. E. Polk (Wilson, Mi inneapolis, 1905) ; " The Joy oT Living" by EditlPWhart o n (Scribner, 1903); " Roses " (fo ur one-act plays, " Streaks of Light," " ISargot," "The Last Visit," and "The Faraway Princess "), by Grace Frank (Scribner, 1909). References: E. E. Hale, Jr., " Dramatists ^ f_To^ day " ; Ashley Dukes, " Modern Dramatists " ; Otto Heller, " Studies in Modern German Literature " SUDERMANN 107 (Ginn, 1905). For "John the Baptist" see Kuno Francke's " Glimpses o f Moder n German Culture " CDodd, Mead. 1898') . — Magazines: Poet-Lore. Sum - mer. 1911 : Atlantic, vol. Ixxxi (p. 71); Westminster Review, vol. cliv (p. 553) ; Living Age, vol. ccxxxiv (p. 156); Critic, vol. xvii (p. 61) ; International Be - pip.m, vol. vi (p T4i0) ; Outlooh, vol. Ixvii (p. 74) 5 and Forum, vol. xxvi Co. 374'> . HONOR A play in four acts. " Honor " is of considerable historical importance : the first play of its author, it was among the first to be produced at the new German Free Theater (Freie Biihne) in 1889, and, together with Hauptmann's " Before Dawn " (1889), ushered in the new dramatic movement of " Youngest Germany." The Naturalist movement in literature, in which Tolstoy, Zola, Ibsen, and Strindberg were the leaders, bore fruit in France with the Theatre Libre, founded by Andre Antoine in 1887, and in the German theater above mentioned. The new movement aimed at two things: the delineation of character in as truthful a manner as possible, and the presentation of problems and theses directly affecting the society of the day. These ideas were by no means new, but the combina- tion of greater adherence to external details — usually " unpleasant " and often brutally shocking — and " purposefulness " was decidedly novel. 108 SUDERMANN 1. As nearly every literary work is the result of influences, it is pertinent to inquire into Sudermann's first dramatic experiment. Emile Augier, together with Alexandre Dumas fils, were the originators of the modem " social " play : " The Son of Giboyer, " "Madame Caverlet," and " The House of Fourchambault " are pictures of middle-class life as well as social documents, each carrying with it a definite thesis or " moral." The " Demi-Monde, " " Claude's Wife ," and " Madame Aubray's Ideas," of Dumas fils, were written primarily to prove a thesis, preach a social sermon. Sudermann's "Honor," therefore, is not origi- nal in treatment or idea, but the fact that his play was written and produced in Germany in the late eighties was of national importance. The Ger- man drama at that time was at nearly its lowest ebb, and the infusion of new blood was greeted with more friendly criticism than the inherent value of the play merited. Honor was the subject of his story. Ibsen once said, " If, in placing upon the stage certain persons whom I have known or seen, certain facts of which I have been a witness or which have been related to me, and, in throwing an atmosphere of poetry over it all, I happen to awaken a soul within them, various ideas will take root in the minds of the different characters: that is the point of de- SUDERMANN 109 parture. I cannot help it if in my own brain, as I write, various ideas come to me. That is merely accessory; the first principle of a play is action, life." (From a conversation quoted by Prozor, the French translator of Ibsen. ) Is Sudermann more interested in the thesis than in the play as a dramatic entertainment.'' Did he write " Honor " as a stage piece, or did he write it in order to promulgate his ideas on honor.? The text will reveal his intentions. 2. Is " Honor " a thesis play In the sense that " Magda " is .J" Which is the better art, and why? Compare the two plays. 3. Trast is the " Raisonneur " of the piece. He exposes the author's ideas. How does he do this? Does he accomplish the author's ends skil- fully, or not? In his words and acts, does he gently insinuate the conception of honor which Sudermann wished the audience to get, or does he deal out in long speeches sections, as it were, of a tract? Compare the " Raisonneur s " in "The Great Galeotto, " "Magda," and " There AreCrime s and Crimes, " with Trast. To how great an extent may a dramatist legitimately project himself and his ideas through the agency of a " Raisonneur " ? 4. It has often been observed that the plays of the last few years tend to do away with the " big scene " at the end of the act. How has Suder- mann managed his " curtains " ? no SUDERMANN X MAGDA A play in four acts. Originally published 1893. Translated by fi. E. A . Winsl Ham Magda is one of the finest technical accomplish- ments in all modern drama ; practically every ele- ment of the well-made play — unity, clearness, and a well-defined struggle — is here skilfully adapted to a modem theme. 1. The entire first act is exposition, exposition of the best kind. The important characters are introduced, or — as in the case of Magda herself — so constantly spoken of that they are well known before they appear; the history of the past is unfolded, the spirit of the " home " makes itself felt almost immediately, and the struggle between the old and the new, between Schwartze and Mag- da, set in movement. Note that the play actually starts, the wheels are set going, the moment Schwartze (p. 45) tells Heffterdingt, " Then God's will be done." % While the opening act sets the scene, as it were, for the subsequent action, the second is con- cerned with Magda's homecoming and her recep- tion ; also her resolution to stay with her family. But, in the scene between her and Heffterdingt, more past history is revealed ; it will be used later in the play. This is preparation. Yet one thing further is accomplished by this scene : the stipula- SUDERMANN 111 tion that Magda shall not be questioned as to her past life. The family agree to this, and aU goes Well — up to the very last page of the act, where HefFterdingt (" Struck by a new thought ") says, "... Yes, I am sure she will confess everything herself." This line is sufficient to arouse the sus- picions of a careful auditor or reader. — Will she confess ? And if she does, what will be the result ? 3. The contrast between, the old and new orders, — ^between the old German idea of home and the new idea of individual development, begun in the first act, — is continued throughout the play ; in the first act, the spirit of the old was brought before us by means of conversation, in the second, it is set forth in the struggle between two persons — Schwartze and Magda — and in the third it is both discussed and " acted." Magda's playful banter, the little humorous touches in her scene with the servants, the provincial wonderment of Franziska and Mrs. Schwartze, all contribute to the central idea. In addition, the first few pages of the third act form an interlude between the rising action of the second and the tension that is to increase later in the third act. The scene between Magda and Marie (pp. 91-95) is a "bridging section" or connecting link between the " interlude " and the HefFterdingtrMagda and the Schwattze-Magd'a colloquies, which are followed by further scenes of varying tension, through that between Magda and 112 SUDERMANN Von Keller, to the culminating point in the act, in which Schwartze and his " erring " daughter go into the former's room, each having " something to say " to the other. 4<. So far, the end of each act has been emo- tionally higher than the beginning, as well as tenser than the end of the preceding. The first, second, and third acts have each culminated in a crisis ; while the end of the third act was the great- est crisis — that fraught with the utmost impor- tance to the chief characters — in the play : that was the beginning of the climax. But the actual climax occurs off-stage in the interval between the third and fourth acts. This is a more effective method than as if the clash had occurred upon the stage, because we see the beginning, imagine the struggle, are ignorant for a few moments of its outcome, and when the curtain rises on the last act, are still in suspense. In this way, there is no relaxation of pressure. The climax started in one act, is car- ried over into the next and does not end until Schwartze enters (p. 130), as we see, defeated.* • Another good example of this is in William C. De Mille's play, "The Woman." A cross-examination is begun at the end of the second act, the curtain falls, and when it rises on the last act, the examination is still in progress, but is nearly at an end. The culminating point, however, is not reached until a little later in the act. Here, then, the climax, begun at the end of the penultimate act, does not end until well on into the last. SUDEEMANN 113 From that point on, the action subsides quickly to the catastrophe, where (p. 155) it rises momen- tarily, then falls to the " curtain." •*■ FEITZCHEN A drama in one act (in "Morituri"). Originally published 1897. Translated by Archibald Alex- ande r. The one-act play * is concerned with a single incident as a rule, and aims at " totality of ef- fect " ; its exposition is briefer, and its action usu- ally swifter than in plays of more than one act. 1. Like certain others of Sudermann's plays — *' Honor " and, to a lesser extent, "Magda_" — *' Fritzchen " deals with the question of honor. It is tragedy of ironic circumstances. The utter futility of the sacrifice of a promising young man to the conventions of the German code of honor is driven home with great power and vividness. Observe that there is no struggle, no opposing wills : only a situation from which there is no es- cape. Fritz is the victim of his father's training and of the " laws " of honor to which he is sub- ject. 2. "Fritzchen " is one of the best examples of the one-act play, because of its unity, its swiftness, and its power to create a single, dominant, lasting impression. * See Bookman, April, 1913. 114 SUDERMANN A comparison of this play with Bernard Shaw's "Press Cuttings" (1909) , called a "topical sketch," shows the superiority of the German over the English — or Irish^ — play. Shaw crowds half a dozen incidents into his sketch, Sudermann but one; Shaw's work lacks unity, Sudermann's gives its very essence. The one-act play, a condensed form, should suggest, just as the longer play develops. The one-act play is too short to allow of very much development, either of story or character: it must present without comment what it sets out to present, and take the auditor at once to the heart of the subject. In a longer play the dra- matist has time to prepare the scene for the action that is to come ; in the shorter he must sketch the scene in a few words or by means of a deft bit of " business," and proceed at once to work. In the preface to his one-act plays in the volume entitled " Embers " (1911), Mr. George Middleton speaks of his plays as being " studies in consequences and readjustments, being, in fact, a further expression of some preceding situation. Each play is, there- fore, the epitome of a larger drama, which is sug- gested in the background." WEDEKIND Frank Wedekind was born in Hanover, 1864. He was forced to study law, though his natural inclination was for writing, which he found time at an early age to do. In Zurich, where he later continued his studies, he came into contact with some of the " Moderns," among them Hauptmann and Strindberg. In 1888, after the death of his father, Wedekind went to Mu- nich, and thence visited London, Paris, and " all the centers of European culture, all the sinks of its per- versity and crookedness. He squandered his money and his beliefs recklessly. In 1 891 he returned again to Munich." * A few years later he was imprisoned for lese majeste, was soon released and became a vaudeville performer, then acted in his own plays, and eventually settled in Munich, after his marriage in 1908. Wedekind is of no school, he recognizes no estab- lished laws, he sets at defiance morality and accepted belief; some of his plays contain scenes that "would sicken a police reporter," while the most innocuous often contain scenes that are sickeningly brutal. Yet withal, he is a genius — if by that term we mean one who has the art of presenting life and character, of ' Maximilian Harden, quoted by Pollard, "Masks and Minstrels." 115 116 WEDEKIND creating illusion^ one capable at times of producing a thing of power and beauty. If this is granted, then Wedekind is an exceptional genius. His unparalleled audacity, his reckless iconoclasm, his absolute disre- gard for accepted forms in art, cannot fail to command respect. He has been well called a great Denier; he is an inspired pessimist. PLAYS /TThe Tenor (1900). The Marquis of Keith (1901). -tSucH Is Life (1902). Pandora's Box (1904). ^The Awakening of Spring (1905). Produced, German Theater, New York, 1912, for two or three performances. The Dance op Death (1906). The Love Potion (1907). The Young World (1907). -VThe Earth Spirit (1907). Music (1908). Oaha (1908). Censorship (1908). Hidalla (1908). The Philosopher's Stone (1909). At the Last Ditch (1910). " The Tenor." a s "The Heart of a Tenor." i s adapted by Andre Tridon {The Smart Set, June , IQlg^l ; " Such is Life " is translated by Francis J. ^iegler (Brown Bros., 1912) ; " The Awakening of Sprinp^ " by the same CBrown Bros.. 1910.) WEDEKIND 117 References : Ashley Dukes, "JModem Dramatists" ; Perciva] Pnllarfl, " 'jyfaslfs fli^fl ]V[i nstrels of New Ger- man y." — Magazines: Current T.itf.rat.ure, vol. xly _ (p. 204). See also the introduction to the English version of the " Awakening of Sp ring." >C SUCH IS LIFE A play in five acts. First published 1902. English version by Francis J. Ziegler. 1. This play is written with no distinct unity of action ; yet the character of the King forms a nu- cleus that gives a certain unified impression to the work. Wedekind has no regard for developing the play as a story or a framework for character- ization, he merely strings together a series of scenes and says what he wants to say ; when he is through he rings down the curtain. Yet, compared with the " Awakening of Spring ," " Such is Life, " is conventional in treat- ment. The former is a series of disjointed con- versations, some brutally naturalistic, some homi- letic, and others supernatural. There is little se- lection of material, no arrangement with a view to dramatic effectiveness, and no emotional modula- tion. In the latter play there is at least coher- ence, for it relates in almost chronological order — and in chronicle form — the fortunes of the de- throned King. 2. The play is a cynical laugh at Man. One of 118 WEDEKIND the characters in the " Awakening of Spr ing " says " the living are not worth compassion" ; their petty ambitions, Wedekind seems to say, their sys- tems of caste, their ideals even, are worth but a laugh. Here is the King, he is reduced to beg- gary, and has finally become jester at his own court. When he declares that he is the King and starts to adduce the proofs — " too late, too late — Such is life ! " — he dies. A comparison of Wedekind's play with Strind- berg's " Dream Flay " and " Lucky Fehr " will bring out some interesting points. What is the essential difi'erence between Wedekind and Strind- berg in their treatment of somewhat similar themes ? Structurally, and as to the idea or phi- losophy set forth in them? SCHNITZLER Arthur Schnitzler was born at Vienna in 1862. He was graduated from the University in that city in 1885, and has ever since devoted himself to the prac- tice of Medicine, together with the writing of novels, short stories, and plays. Schnitzler's plays are the epitome of the highly cultivated and rather superficial life of the aristocratic classes of present-day Vienna. They treat, with grace and charm, of the young well-bred lover and his mistress, in an ever-changing succession. In some of the more characteristic plays — ^like " Anatol " and " Roundels " — ^the subject is the breaking-off point of the relation between the two, and in others the tragic, or rather the pathetic side is seen — as in " The Leg - acy " and " Light-o'-I.ove . With his quiet cynicism and reminiscent moodiness, he is " content to take as his theme only a few scenes from life, and even in those few scenes he recurs continually to a single passage." His philosophy of life might well be expressed in one of his own lines, " We all play parts, happy he who knows it." PLAYS The Fairy Tale (1895). >^ Anatol (1895). 119 120 SCHNITZLER Five episodes from " Anatol," produced. Little Theater, New York, 1913. 'f-LiGHT-o'-LovE (1896). Produced, German Theater, New York, 1896; in English as " The Reckoning " 1907. Free Game (1897). "^The Legacy (1899). "^The Green Cockatoo ) 4 Paracelsus V three one-act plays. xThe Companion (1899) j " The Green Cockatoo," produced. New York, in German 1907-8; in English by Mrs. Fiske on tour 1910. The Veil op Beatrice (IQOO). ■^Living Hours +The Woman with the Dagger Literature The Last Masks Produced in New York in German 1907-8. Roundels (1903). fiCnE Lonely Way (1904). XIntermezzo (1905). The Call op Life (1906). Puppet Plays: The Puppet Player, Brave Cassian, The Great Puppet Show (1906). ik^ouNTESs Mizzi (1909). Young Medahdus (I910). JCPropessor Bernhardi (1912). Produced in New York in German 1914. "Anatol" is paraphrased by Granville Barker (Kennerley, 1911) ; " Light-o'-Love " is translated ■ four one-act plays. SCHNITZLER 121 b y Bayard Quincv Morgan (The Drama. Ana 1912) ; "The Legacy" bv Mary L. Stephenson (Poet- Lore. 1911"); " The Green Cockatoo, Paracelsus, and The Companion." in one volume, by Horace B. Sam - uel (Gay and Hancock, London, 1913) , the " Qreen Cockatoo " as " The Duke and the Actress " by Hans Weysz (Poet-Lore, 1910) ; " Living Hours " by Helen Tracy Porter (Poet-Lore. 190g) ; " The Lady with the p^gggy" by H ^Ieq Ty^^c y Fprtey (.Ppet-lThe Emancipated Woman (1898). Georgette Lemeunier (1898). The Torrent (1899). A Prince's Education (1900). The Clearing (in collaboration with L. Descaves) (1900). The Seesaw (1901). -VThe Other Danger (1902). The Return from Jerusalem (1903). Produced by Mme. Simone in the United States in an adaptation by Owen Johnson^ 1912-13. The Escalade (1904). Birds of Passage (with L. Descaves) (1904). To Appear (1906). The Patroness (1908). Moliere's Household (1912). The Women Scouts (1913). References: The Drama, August, 191 3^ " Three Modern Plays from the French" (Holt). X THE OTHER DANGER A comedy in four acts. First published 1902. Trans - lated by Charlotte Tenney David (in The Drama, August, 1913, and in " Three Modern Plays from the French." Holt. 1914). " The Other Danger " belongs to those plays of its author which treat in a serious manner the eternal problem of sex. This time the play is a study in MAURICE DONNAY 147 the struggle of the mother, with her lover and her daughter. The colors are darker than Donnay as a rule uses, but there is much in the work to recall the charmingly sentimental author of " Lovers." It is curious to watch this dramatist, who is as a rule not preoccupied with theses, attacking one of the most tragic of situations. The critic Jules Lemaitre once said that what brought Donnay closer to life than most of his contemporaries was his comparative dis- regard of form. " The Other Danger " is not a " well- made " play : it is hardly unified, and yet it is effec- tive, and when it was produced, it enjoyed a con- siderable degree of success. 1. In what respects is " The Other Danger " not a well-made play? Take act by act, and in- dicate where Donnay departs from the precepts of Scribe and Sardou. Are his transgressions in the nature of omissions or has he added material which is from the standpoint of the perfect tech- nician superfluous? 2. Could the entire first act be left out? If it were, could the material therein contained be placed, without serious prejudice to the author's ideas and the play itself, in the exposition of what is now the second act? Or might the first and second acts be melted into one? What would be lost by that process? 3. Some critics have urged that Donnay, feel- ing that his theme was repellent — which it is — 148 MAURICE DONNAY occupied as much time as possible in leading up to the climax. Is this true? Is Donnay more concerned with the play than the theme? If so, what are the proofs? 4. In this play, the author has pleased to show us Madeleine first at the age of twelve, then six- teen, then nearly eighteen. Ibsen's method would probably have been to show her only as the young lady who is looking for a husband — a " jeune fille a marier." Would Ibsen's catastrophic- drama process improve the French play, had Donnay chosen to adopt it? What is gained by his allowing us to ^ see two stages in the girl's development, before the play, for her, really begins ? 5. In the theater we must believe. If an author in a serious play — ^that is, in anything but a farce, in which he frankly asks us to assume certain impossibilities — fails to impress us with the fact that what is happening is so, the play will cer- tainly fail to touch us. In the present play, can we believe, in spite of the clever and ingenious arguments brought forward by Freydieres, that Madeleine cannot possibly do without him? Note carefully how the author attempts to make this situation credible. 6. There is a good deal of atmosphere created throughout the play, especially at the beginning of the first of its three acts. Much of this is not MAURICE DONNAY 149 pertinent to the plot and does very little toward the development of character, but often there is a clever welding of plot-progress and atmosphere. Note in each instance how the various threads of pertinent interest are woven into the " atmos- pheric " scenes. HERVIEU Paul Hervieu was born in 1857 at Neuilly, near Paris. He studied for the Bar, and passed his exam- inations at the age of twenty. After a few years' practice and after refusing a diplomatic postj he set to writing short stories and novels, which appeared in the early 'eighties. His first play, " Point de Lende- main," a short adaptation of a story, was produced in 1 890, and five years later " The Nippers " appeared, firmly establishing Hervieu's reputation. He has continued to write for the stage, at the rate of one play in about every two years, and his latest play marks a distinct step in advance. He was elected to the French Academy in 1900. The plays of Hervieu are perhaps the nearest ap- proach to true tragedy of any of our time; they are also what the French call " thesis plays." With his faultless logic, clear and direct methods of writing, and admirable sincerity, he comments on and criti- cises those phases of life that seem to need correct- ing — ^the law, chiefly, and its relation to man and woman in the married state. " Les Tenailles " (The Nippers) is the story of a woman who tries to leave her husband and get a divorce; the husband refuses, until some years later his wife tells him, in a dispute, that he is not the father of the child. Whereupon she refuses to be divorced, in spite of her husband's insist- 150 HERVIEU 151 ence. The child binds them together. "We are only two miserable beings^" she says, " and misery knows none but equals." " La Course du Flambeau " (The Passing of the Torch) shows the sacrifice of one generation for the next; " Le Dedale " (The Laby- rinth) proves the thesis that the child is the everlast- ing bond between man and wife. The best plays of Hervieu— " Le Dedale /' " Les Tenailles, " "La Course du Flambeau " — rightfully place their author, in Mr. Huneker's words, as " the present master-psy- chologist of the French stage." PLAYS Point de Lendemain * (1890). Words Remain (1892). + The Nippers (1895). The Law of Man (1897). The Enigma (1901). Produced in New York by Miss Olga Nethersole. The Passing op the Torch (1901). Produced in Chicago by The Drama Players, 1912. Theroigne de Mericourt (1902). HThe Labyrinth (1903). Produced in New York by Miss Nethersole 1905. J^The Awakening (1905). Given by Miss Nethersole. JCMODESTY (one act) (1908). ^Now Thyself (1909). Produced by Arnold Daly, New York, 19IO. Bagatelle (1912)- * A proverbial expression meaning " without conse- quence," or "with no after-thought." 152 HERVIEU " The Nip pers " is translated as " In Chains " by Ysidor Asck enas y (Poet-Lore, 190.9) , and as " En - chained "_ by the same (The Dramatist, 1910). " The Labyrin t h " is translated by Barrett H. Clark and Lander MacClintock (Huebsch, 1913) ; and " Modesty " by Barrett H Clark (Samuel French, 1913). References: Huneker, " I conoclasts " ; Archer, " Playmaking " ; introduction to the translation of " The Labyrinth ." — Magazines: International Re- view, vol. vii (p. 265) ; Critic, vol. xxxvii (p. 158). -f -THE LABYRINTH A drama in five act s. First published 1903. Trans- lated by Barrett H. Clark and Lander MacClintock., 1. "What is a tragedy? It Is a play every part of which aims to create suspense, deep think- ing, and pity. It is accompanied no longer, as of old, with magnificent draperies ; it is a thing of the day, logical, prosaic, no longer bloody . . . the ways of Fate are no longer manifested, as with the Greeks, in dreams, visions, or presentiments. Now- adays we try to show how the struggle for exist- ence bears down inexorably upon those who are imprudent, too weak to defend themselves, those whose passions are stronger than their will power." This is what M. Hervieu says about tragedy ; and this play is considered a good exam- HERVIEU 153 pie of such. Why? What is the tragic element in the "Labyrinth"? With the author's own text as a basis, we might infer that it is tragic because (1) there was imprudence in the making of the divorce laws of France, (2) because the people concerned are, being human, too weak to defend themselves, and (3) "their passions are stronger than their will power." — The child inevitably forms the binding link* between Max and Mari- anne, in spite of the fact that the two are entirely incompatible ; circumstances arise that make it im- possible for these parents to live as man and wife. What is to become of the child? The tragedy is the child's tragedy, yet the mother is the greater sufferer. 2. Francisque Sarcey, one of the greatest French critics of the last century, brought into current use a phrase which is quite untranslatable but, as I shall point out, the meaning of which is easy to show : " Scene a faire." Literally, a " scene which is made necessary by the exigencies of the plot." Archer t calls it the "Obligatory scene," and this may be used as a good equivalent. He says, " An obligatory scene is one which the audience (more or less clearly and consciously) foresees and desires, and the absence of which it * The same theme is treated in Strindberg's "The Link" and in Brieux's "La Berceau" (The Cradle). t " Playmaking," chap. xiii. 154 HEEVIEU may with reason resent." In Henry Arthur Jones's " Mrs. Dane's Defence," the examination scene in the third act is the obligatory scene; in the "Doll's House," it is the final conversation between Nora and Torvald; in " A Gauntlet " (second version), it is the final scene. It is always the scene which if left out would occasion a very noticeable breach. In " The Labyrinth," the obligatory scene is that between Max and Mari- anne, which ends the third act. This seems in- evitable; it is moreover vital, logical, and, from what had preceded it, to be expected. Not perhaps the outcome, but the clash, the struggle. One interesting question arises at this juncture: Where is the climax? At the end of the third act or the fourth? That question may be answered by consulting the last two acts. If these, the fourth at least, keep up the suspense, and contain radically new material, and if, beginning only with the fifth act, the dinouement, or unraveling begins, then the climax is at the end of the fourth. Does the fourth act rise or fall? Does it picture the result of the foregoing action, or does it carry on the un- resolved action up to a still higher point? Deter- mine that, and you will find the climax. Returning to the obligatory scene question, look for such scenes in the following plays: Pinero's "His House in Order" and "Mid-Channel," HERVIEU 155 Shaw's " Candida. " and Rudolf Besier's " Don. " There are clearly defined scenes a faire in all of these plays. 3. We have said that the denouement, in most cases the last act of a play, is the most difficult for the dramatist. The weakest part of the " Laby- rinth " is the last two acts. Most critics are not satisfied with the solution, and they call M. Her- vieu to task for disposing of Max and Guillaume as he does. It is true that their death seems at first a rather facile dramatic expedient, but it is equally true that as yet there has been no satis- factory alternative suggested. One critic * thinks it would be best to omit the last act. But this would be too inconclusive ; the audience ought to have some hint as to the fate of the persons in whom they have interested themselves. To leave Marianne in her unbearable " labyrinth," and tlie two men at each other's throats, would have been highly unsatisfactory; yet it would be impossible for Marianne to return to either Max or Guil- laume. That is clear, and it would be equally im- possible to kill Marianne, leaving the child to Max. The men must be got out of the way, both of them. That being the only possible solution of the prob- lem, Hervieu has accomplished his task in a mas- terly fashion. If you will conceive the situation, *Paul Flat, in his second volume of "'Figures du Theatre Contemporain " (Sansot, 1913). 156 HERVIEU you will see that Max and Guillaume are bound sooner or later to meet, and that one will kill the other. But that would be worse yet; for either the husband or the father of the child would sur- vive. Therefore, by killing both, the author has merely compressed into a conclusive incident what is possible, probable, and practically inevitable. BRIEUX Eugene Brieux, the son of a carpenter, was born in Paris in 1858. He showed an early liking for litera- ture, and soon went into the field of journalism. He was for some years editor of the Nouvelliste at Rouen, and it was in that city that he wrote his earlier plays, sending them to Paris for production. One of the first of these, " Menages d'Artistes," was accepted and produced by Antoine at the Theatre Libre (1890) and two years later the same manager brought forth the young dramatist's first important success, " Blan- chette." Eeturning to Paris, as soon as he could make a living there, he married and devoted himself to the writing of that series of plays to which he now owes his international fame. In 19IO he was made a mem- ber of the French Academy. Brieux and Hervieu are the best exponents of the thesis play in France. Hervieu, we have seen, at- tacks certain phases of the law, especially those re- garding the marriage relation. He attacks, however, in a cold and absolutely logical way, proving each step in his argument. Brieux attacks many institu- tions and prejudices; he declares * himself the enemy * ". . . My method — if such it can be called — consists of crying out against every abuse of power. It is a fact that all forms of power, all authority, arouse my indigna- 157 158 BRIEUX of every " abuse of power " and all authority, for he believes that men are too frail to sit in judgment over their fellow-beings. He attacks society because it will not give young girls an opportunity of earning an honest living by teaching (" Blanchette ") ; he lays bare the evils of the political " system " (" The Ma- chine ") ; of charity and its abuse (" The Philan- thropists ") ; of science and its abuse (" The Eva- sion ") ; of marriage arrangements ("The Three Daughters of M. Dupont"); of the attitude of se- crecy concerning the nature, effects, and cure of the so-called unmentionable (venereal) diseases and ren- ovates and brings to light the truth of the matter (" Damaged Goods ") ; in the " Red Robe " he shows how certain parts of the legal system are inherently bad. In " Maternity " he declares war on those who fail to regard motherhood as sacred, something to be protected for the good of the race. In each play, he criticises some aspect of a living question. His pur- pose is always to treat in a sincere and direct manner every plague-sore that he believes can be treated. Of necessity he is often brutally outspoken; he must be in order to make himself beard and believed. He says : * " We [the dramatists] must have an idea in our plays . . . taken from the life about us, from among the sufferings of our fellow-beings." tion, because in human hands they develop sooner or later into tyranny." Extract from letter to the author, Jan. 5, 1912. * In the Revue Bleue, quoted by Bertrand (E. Brieux, Sansot, 1910). BRIEUX 159 PLAYS Bernard Palissy (in collaboration with G. Salandri) (1880). The Divorce Office (in collaboration with G. Salandri) (1880). Artists' Families (1890). Dcrame's Daughter (1890). M. DE Reboval (not published) (1892). -fBLANCHETTE (1892). The Brood (1893). The Machine (1894). The Blue Rose (one act) (1895). The Philanthropists (1897)- •fTHE Escape (1897). -\The Three Daughters of M. Dupont (1899)- Produced by Laurence Irving in New York, and on tour 1910. -+The School for Mothers-in-law (from " The Brood/' one act) (1898). Racing Results (1898). The Cradle (1898). -fTHE Red Robe (1900). Produced in New York in German 1903, in French by Rejane 1904. The Substitutes (1901). i^)AMAGED Goods (1902). Produced in a number of cities in America 1913- 14 by Richard Bennett. Mr. Bennett first used the translation by John Pollock, later one by Benjamin F. Blanchard (unpublished). The Little Friend (1902). 160 BRIEUX ■f Maternity (1st version) (1904). f- (2nd version only in English IQH)- The Deserter (collaboration with Jean Sigaux) (1904). The Armature (dramatized from Hervieu's novel of the same name) (1905). The May Beetles (Les Hannetons) (1906). Produced by Laurence Irving in New York 1909j first as " The Incubus " and later as " The Af- finity." The Frenchwoman (1907). Simone (1908). Suzette (1909). Faith (1912). The Independent Woman (1912). " The Philanthropists " is translated by Lucas Ma- let (Duckworth, London) ; " The Three D jan^ hters of M. Dupont" by St. John Hanki n; " jDamaged Goods " by John Pollock; " Maternity " (first version) by Mrs . Ber nard Shaw , and (second version) by John Pol- lock, published in a volume, " with a preface by Ber- nard Shaw " (Brentano, 1911). The same publishers announce for 1914 his " Red Robe," " Faith " and " The Independent Woman " ; " Blanchette," and " The JEscape " with preface by H. L. Mencke n (Luce, 1913). References: Shaw's preface to " Three Plays by Brieux" (Brentano. 1911"); " The Plays of Eugene B rieux" bv P. V. Thomas (A. C. Fifield. London , 1913) . Magazines: Atlantic, vol. xc (p. 79") ; Con- temporary Review, vol. Ixxxi (p. 343) ; Forum, vol. BRIEUX 161 xliii (p. 678) ; and vol. xlvii (p. 405) ; Nation, vol. xciii (p. 149) ; Drama, August, 1913. X THE THREE DAUGHTERS OF M. DUFONT A comedy in four acts. First p ublis hed 1 899. Trans - lated by St. John Hankin. 1. "The Three Daughters of M. Dupont" is not Brieux's best play, but it is perhaps as truly representative as anything he has written. The good and bad qualities of this dramatist are more apparent here than in almost any other of his plays. This is a thesis play par excellence; the author wishes to demonstrate or prove a definite theme or thesis. In the " Three Daughters of M. Du- pont," he wishes to expose the evil side of the present French system of marriage in its bearing on women. There are three points which he makes and he creates three characters, each illustrating one point. Let us see how every side of the ques- tion is handled, and whether the author chooses to suggest any solution to his problem, or merely to show a state of affairs. 2. The exposition is concerned first with the case of Caroline, and when we have received sufficient information to enable us to distinguish her and her story later, Julie enters. Notice how clearly (p. 162 BRIEUX 82) these characters are drawn and differentiated one from the other. Caroline believes that Cour- thezon has succeeded in his invention " because she prayed for it," and Julie we learn has been to see Madame Leseigneur, for she only goes " to houses where there are children." These indications are followed by many others (pp. 82-83) until there is not the slightest danger that the audience will for- get what it is needful they should have well in mind. The next character to be introduced is not the re- maining daughter, but M. Dupont. Brieux might have brought Angele in as a subject of conversa- tion, but there are two reasons against this pro- cedure: (1) Angele is not usually mentioned within the family circle, and (2) the scene needed variety. The introduction or even the mention of a third daughter so early in the act, would tend to make the play even more diagrammatic than it is. Therefore we learn of the project to marry oif Julie, and that the " intended's " parents, the Mairauts, are coming to arrange the marriage. Then (p. 90) Angele is spoken of in a natural way, and her story told. — The formal proposal for Julie's hand occupies the rest of the first act. 3. When Bernard Shaw says * that " in that great comedy which Balzac calls the * comedy of humanity,' to be played for the amusement of the gods rather than that of the French public, there is * Preface to " Three Plays by Brieux," BRIEUX 163 no summit in the barren plain that stretches from Mount Moliere to our times until we reach Brieux," he must refer to such scenes as that (pp. 97-107) in which the Mairauts and the Duponts make ar- rangements for their children's union. This par- ticular scene recalls Moliere and Labiche, and if he had written no others should certainly entitle Brieux to rank as a writer of true comedy. Compare with scenes similarly treated, in Mo- liere's " L'Avare " (The Miser) and Labiche's " La Poudre aux Yeux " (Dust in the Eyes). 4<. The second act brings us face to face with Julie's tragedy ; this is }ier act. When she says to her husband, " The real evil is that our parents married us as they did marry us. . . . And here we are chained to one another," the case of Julie is nearly disposed of. And when, later on, it is clear that because of the selfishness and sen- suality of her husband she is not permitted to have children, her tragedy is complete, 5. The subsequent acts are concerned with the cases of Angele, who was forced to leave the fam- ily because of a " youthful slip " and become a prostitute in Paris, and of Caroline, who, because of the dowry system has lost her chances of mar- riage. — Julie too has been disposed of. The last act brings the story to a close — a pessimistic, cyn- ical close. The lives of the two elder sisters are over, their fate sealed ; Julie at least had a chance. 164 BRIEUX and we are given to understand that she will leave her husband later on, when she has an opportunity. " And since to pay for bread to eat and clothes to wear and a roof to cover me I must either give myself to a husband I hate or to a lover whom, perhaps, I may love, I choose the lover." With these words, Julie's chapter closes. The " happy ending," Julie's reconciliation with her husband, is the bitterest part of the play ; Julie ostensibly re- turns to " duty," but she is determined to escape it as soon as she can. The end of one of Brieux's earliest plays, " Blanchette ," contains a similarly " happy " ca- tastrophe: the eager young girl who refuses to marry a peasant in the first act, is in the last, ow- ing to circumstances over which she has no con- trol, forced to do so. ROSTAND Edmond Rostand^ the most celebrated of modern French dramatists^ was born in 1868, at Marseilles. His early schooling was received in his native city. He came to Paris and entered the Lycee Stanislas; after his graduation he studied law and received the degree of " licencid." His first work of any note was a volume of poems, " Les Musardises," which ap- peared in 1890. Although these refined and skil- fully written verses attracted some little attention, the poet did not become well known for a few years to come. In 1894 his first play, with the exception of an unimportant one-act trifle, was produced at the Comedie Frangaise ; " Les Romanesques," by its charm, and delicate satire, captivated the public and such particular and conservative critics as Sarcey and Le- maitre. This little comedy was followed by " La Princesse Lnintainp.,. " which Sarah Bernhardt played in 1895; the same actress also produced another play, " La Samaritaine," two years later. By the middle of the year 1897, Rostand was recognized as a poet of some distinction and a writer of charming but by no means remarkable plays. By the end of that year he was famous in France and by the end of the following he was a world-wide celebrity. On December 26, 1897, " Cyrano de Bergerac," with Constant Coquelin 165 166 ROSTAND in the title role, was produced at the Porte St. Martin Theater in Paris. " Cyrano " was the greatest success of modern times. The critics were unanimous in their praise ; Emile Faguet, a careful and in some ways con- servative critic, writes : " Mon Dieu ! M. Rostand, how deeply I appreciate the fact that you exist ! " " L'Aiglon," played by Bernhardt, appeared in 1900. The following year the poet was elected to the French Academy. Owing to ill-health he left soon after for the South ; there, near the Spanish border, he built his villa, Arnaga, where he still resides. — Since 1902, re- ports were current to the effect that a new play, to be called " Chantecler," was in preparation. After in- numerable delays, due to author, actors, and mana- gers, and owing further to the death of Coquelin, who was to have played the principal part, " Chantecler " did not appear until February, 1910. The play had been too much advertised, and in consequence the audience on the first night was disappointed and not a little puzzled. The production was not a great success financially, though most of the critics thought it in no way inferior to the earlier works. — ^A little later (April 20, 1910) Bernhardt produced " Le Bois Sacre," a pantomime accompanied by a poem. M. Rostand has been hailed as the prophet of a great Romantic revival, but since he has no important followers, it is as well to consider his work inde- pendently. He is, like Maeterlinck, of no school; he has, or had — up to the production of " Chantecler " — unlike Maeterlinck, no very distinct philosophy of life. His plays are poetic, romantic, charming, and witty; ROSTAND 167 his is a healthy, human view of life. In " Chante- cler " he paints his ideal: devotion, faith, love. PLAYS The Red Glove (1888). (Not published.) The Two Piehrots (1891). (Not published.) ^HE Romancers (1894). Produced in New York at a matinee, in German 1904-5. KI'he Princess Faraway (1895). Produced in New York as " My Lady of Dreams " by Mme. Simone 1912. The Woman op Samaria (1897). Produced in New York by Mme. Bernhardt I9II. >^ Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). First produced in New York in English by Rich- ard Mansfield 1897, in French by Coquelin and Bernhardt 1900, in German 1898-9. ?^Chantecler (1910). Produced in the United States by Maude Adams 1910. The Sacred Wood (I91O). " The Romancers " is translated by Mar^ — Hendef- (Dmiblfiday, Pa e ;e, 1899 L_ by George Flem ing_aa_ " The Fantasticks " (Heinemann ) ; there is also a 168 ROSTAND prose translation published by Samuel French ; " The Princess Faraway " by Charles Renauld (Stokes, 1899); " Cyran o de Bergerac " by Gertrude Hall (Donbleday. Pagey 1898) , b y Gladys Thomas and M. F. Guillemand (R. H. RusseilT 1900), by Charles' Renauld (Stokes, 1898), by Howard Thayer Kings- bury (1898), and by Helen B.Dole (New York,n.d.) ; " X'Aiglon" by Louis N. Parker (R. H. Russell, 1900); " Chantecler " by Gertrude HalL (Duffield, 1900). References: E. E. Hale, Jr., " Dramatists of T o- day " ; Augustin Filon, " Moder n French Dra ma " (Chapman and Hall, 1898), and G. K. Chesterton, "Five Types" (Holt, 1911). — Magazines: Arena, yol. xxxiv (p. 225); North American Review, vol. clxxii (p. 794) ; Critic, vol. xxxix (p. 437) ; Edinburgh Reviero, vol. cxcii (p. 307) ; McClure's, vol. xiv (p. 437). For bibliography, see " Modern Drama and Opera : A Reading List " (Boston Book Co., 1911). X CYRANO DE BERGERAC A heroic comedy in five acts. First published 1897. Tran sIaEons" "indicated above. 1. " Cyrano de Bergerac " is one of the most celebrated of modern plays ; no drama of the past twenty years has met with such unquestioned suc- cess. And this success may justly be attributed to its splendid characterization of the protagonist and its perfect realization of the spirit of romance. ROSTAND 169 The poetry is not a prime factor, for the play has succeeded in many translations. The exposition is a triumph ; it would be difficult to name another play in which the period, the his- torical " milieu " are so deftly brought before us. Compare by way of contrast, the wholly adequate but cold and direct exposition of " Hedda Gabler." Closely alhed to the subject of exposition, and often a part of it, is the question of the first en- trance of the principal character. This is usually placed some minutes after the rise of the curtain in the first act, because (1) the attention required to grasp the main facts of the exposition must not be diverted by the appearance of the " star," (2) the " star " must be prepared for, and (3) he — or she — must appear at an effective moment.* Avoid- ing the conventional entrance — as, for instance, a dramatic appearance at the back of the stage — ' Rostand brings in Cyrano unperceived and finally, when it is feared that he is absent, a voice from the multitude shouts, "Rascal, have I not forbid- den you to appear for a month ? " Soon " a hand holding a cane rises up over the heads of the spec- tators," then " the cane is shaken," and at length Cyrano " stands up suddenly, standing on a chair, his arms crossed, his beaver cocked fiercely, his * Compare the opening acts of Dumas fils' "La Dame aux Camilla s " (Camille), Pinero's "The Second Mrs . Tanquer ay," Shaw's "Candida, " an d Besier's "Don." 170 ROSTAND moustache bristling, his nose terrible to see." A novel entrance and very eiFective because of its utter unexpectedness, both to the audience on the stage and to that in the theater. 2. In all Rostand's plays are to be found long and elaborate speeches, tirades, that serve as veri- table " tours de force " for the actors who recite them ; the best of these are in " Cyrano," " L'Ai- glon," and " Chantecler." In the first and last of these the speeches were written for Coquelin, in the second for Bernhardt. That is to say, they were deliberately intended for these actors because of their ability to declaim them in a highly eflFective manner. Every play is a collaboration. There can be no play without actors, and the actors are of little use without a play. M. Rostand, like most dramatists, writes for his actors, with one eye of course on the audience; in this connection, Coquelin and Bern- hardt have been of invaluable service to him. Coquelin was perfectly aware of his own powers and shortcomings, and the poet wrote more or less to order, to fit ; Coquelin could deliver long speeches full of bravado, humorous and pathetic, and such speeches did Rostand write for him. Coquelin, in " Cyrano," wanted a death scene, and a death scene was prepared for him. In " L'Aiglon," Bernhardt wanted tirades and she wished to die; Rostand provided what was needful. — This coUab- ROSTAND 171 oration is extremely helpful for author and actor, and in the cases we are now considering, quite justifiable and completely successful. Shakspere did the same thing, and practically every modern dramatist, especially the Americans of the present day, has at least the actor or actress in view whom he wishes to interpret the principal characters in his play. In certain of the plays of Henry Arthur Jones — " Mrs. Dane's Defenc e," '* The Liars," " The Case of Rebellious Susan " — there are roles known as " Wyndham " roles, written especially for Sir Charles ; many of Sardou's plays — " La Tosca," " Theodora," " Gismonda," " Clrap^tre," "La Sorci&re" (The Sorceress) — ^were written to order for Bernhardt; most of Clyde Fitch's plays were written for particular actresses — " The Truth " for Clara Bloodgood, "Her Own Way " for Maxine Elliott, and " The Stubborn- ness of Geraldine " for Mary Mannering. Owing to the " star " system in America, it is often the case that the public comes to speak of " Mrs. Fiske's play " or " Otis Skinner's," rather than that of the author.* — ^But collaboration may have * The practice is so common in this country that a few random instances will suffice: Augustus Thomas has found in John Mason one of his finest interpreters, and the prin- cipal r61es in " The Witching Hour " and " As a Man Thinlfc '■ might well be called Mason parts. Edward Shel- don has done much the same thing for Mrs. Fiske, in "Salvation NeU" and "The High Road." 172 EOSTAND a disastrous effect on both collaborators : the play may suffer because of over-emphasis on the prin- cipal character and the actor place too much im- portance upon himself and his role. Sardou was a poorer dramatist because of his association with Bernhardt, while that actress, great as she is, was led to sacrifice the play to her own individuality, to the detriment of both the play and, to a lesser ex- tent, her own art. Richard Mansfield ruined many good plays — " Julius Cassar " among them — because he considered that Richard Mansfield was more important than the work he was supposed to interpret. 3. " Cyrano " is a richly varied and highly elab- orated work ; the great number of scenes and huge cast constitute a picture of great extent. But there is unity throughout, in the figure of Cyrano. When he is not on the stage the memory of him remains, a speech or a " gesture," and if we are not thinking of what he did last we are looking forward to what he will do next. Take the scenes — ^like that which opens the sec- ond act, — and discover in what way the author keeps the figure of Cyrano in the minds of the audience. 4. One of the laws of dramatic technique — ^it has many exceptions — is, Never keep a secret from the audience. The reason for this is clear: an ROSTAND 173 audience has only a little over two hours to enjoy the foreshortened events of perhaps a lifetime, and curiosity, pure and simple, plays too unimportant a part in their evening's entertainment. If a se- cret is long withheld from them,* they become im- patient. Paul Hervieu's " The Enigma " keeps a secret to the end, and when it is known, there is nothing but the solution to satisfy us; the time spent in wondering who is guilty (one of two women is unfaithful to her husband) might much better have been employed in the enjoyment of character delineation. Charles Lamb's play " Mr. H." kept the mystery of its hero's name until the very last, and when the revelation is made — his name is Hogsflesh — there is little satisfaction. Further, when once an audience learns the secret — as they did in the case of Lamb's play after the first night — the element of surprise, upon which the play is based, is gone. Little surprises and unforeseen events, however, are quite legitimate ; the long-lost relative, the dis- covery of a forgotten letter, may be used with im- punity — if any one should dare to employ such relics of " Sardoodledom " in this sophisticated age! — and they were unquestionably dramatic in their day. The point to be borne in mind is that * See Archer, " Playmaking," chap, xvii ("Keeping a Secret"), and the same critic's article, "The God-like Play- goer," London Morning Leader, September 24, 1910. 174 ROSTAND these little surprises are pleasant, and quite legiti- mate, so long as they do not interfere with the more serious business of the plot or characteriza- tion. In Jules Verne's " Tour of the World in 80 Days " (the dramatization, which was lately re- vived in Paris ; one of the most popular plays of the last century) there is a splendid instance of sur- prise: the eighty days are up, and Fogg has ap- parently lost his wager. At the last moment he learns that he has gained a day in his tour, because of his race " with the sun," — a fact forgotten by him and by the audience ; the surprise is genuine and the pleasure spontaneous. In " Cyrano " (Act IV) Roxane's entrance is quite unexpected and is a surprise, but as her coming is not of prime importance, and as her identity is not long hidden, there is practically no curiosity, only a momentary surprise. These are examples where the audience is kept in ignorance, and is really surprised ; their attention is not forced away from the play itself, and consequently it does not suffer. If, however, a secret is kept from the characters, but is known to the audience, our enjoyment is the greater. We in the audience know that Hamlet is going to fail: it is foreordained, and we know that CEdipus will struggle in vain against the decrees of Fate — but neither Hamlet nor CEdipus is aware of his impending tragedy. That knowledge on the part of the audience gives them the feeling of ROSTAND 175 superiority of which Mr. Archer speaks, and makes each individual a " God-like Spectator." 6. Why should Cyrano die.'' The play is called a " heroic comedy," and yet it ends in death. First, it might be urged that Coquelin wished a part in which he could die, but Rostand is too great an artist to spoil his play for the sake of the personal desire to please even so distinguished an actor as his friend Coquelin. Further, the death of Cyrano is hardly an ordinary death ; it is rather the apotheosis of his heroic life. He was ever un- lucky, it was his life to " be the prompter — and be forgotten," and his death is a fitting end to his life ; and yet — and this consoles us for his death — he bears away " unsmirched " his " panache " — ^his plume : the symbol of his honor. Still, is the death of Cyrano logical.'' If Ros- tand had had free sway would he have killed his hero ? When he came to write " Chantecler," and por- tray a character similar to that of Cyrano, he let him live and triumph. K CHANTECLER A play in four acts. First published IQIO. Trans- lated by Gertrude Hall. When " Chantecler " appeared, the verdict seemed to be that it was not up to the author's 176 ROSTAND standard, and it was not so great a success as most of the earlier plays. To the public the play was confusing. This was largely due to the symbolism and partly to the very brilliant quality of its style, which was more involved and much more difficult than that used in any of the other plays. But the critics * have for the most part by now agreed that " Chantecler " is in no way inferior to " Cyrano " and " L'Aiglon." It is certainly superior to these plays in that it cflPers a criticism of life; it deals with human as- pirations and struggles, and is not primarily con- cerned with a story. It is a modern play, the only one Rostand ever wrote, and marks an epoch in his spiritual and artistic development ; it proves that during the ten years between the production "L'Aiglon" and that of "Chantecler" he was thinking about humanity. In that the poetry is as inspired as that of " Cyrano " and " L'Aiglon " — in spite of the " occasional faults " of which M. * Emile Faguet, in a letter to the author, says, " Chante- cler appears to me to be a work, in general, of high and noble inspiration. There is a constant aspiration toward the sublime. Certain parts, like the Hymn to the Sun and Chantecler's Profession of Faith, are full of great lyrical beauty, in spite of occasional faults. The bad qualities of the play are that it is too long, too 'filled out,' that there is too much 'preciosity,' too much wit, too many jokes, puns, plays on words, etc. Altogether, it is a very interesting work, quite worthy of . . . its author. . . ." (Paris, August, 1910). ROSTAND 177 Faguet speaks — ^" Chantecler " is because of its deeper ethical import, and its clearer insight into human character, Rostand's finest achievement. In brief, " Chantecler " is, in the author's own words, the " drama of human endeavor grappling with life." 1. There arises first the question, Has the poet selected the very best medium of expression for his ideas ? Rostand has so well answered this question and explained his intentions, that I shall merely quote his words in full :* " I wished to write a mod- ern play in verse. Now the lyrical qualities of a poetic production do not go well with the modern suit and the commonplace frock coat. It needs the additional costume. One must turn back for this two or three centuries, at least, or be obliged to set the play in countries of which the customs, lan- guage, and interests are very far from our own. But a poet may have the desire to express modern ideas with a modern vocabulary, to allude to hap- penings of the day the most Parisian, to laugh as one laughs on the boulevard in 1910, and to think as one thinks in France in the twentieth century. A problem difficult to solve! The sight of my barnyard at Cambo immediately offered me a so- lution. Why, here was the costume dreamt of, — if one can say so! — here indeed was the means of * Quoted from " The Story of Chantecler," by Marco P. Liberma (Moflfat, Yard, 1910). 178 ROSTAND remaining modern, and at the same time that of being picturesque and lyrical. Characters garbed in animal dress, expressing themselves like human beings, — like the Parisians of the day. What a find! And furthermore, what an opportunity to speak of things in nature, to be deeply moved by flowers, birds, the bits of grass, or the insect — and what a setting! — No, really, the poet could not wish for a more beautiful theme ! " 2. With the above justification of the use of his medium, it is useless for us to discuss the question further. In order to do what Rostand wished to do, his adoption of it was the only course open to him. Let us see how he has succeeded. The play contains nothing very novel in technical treat- ment ; its merits are largely lyrical and poetic. As we are concerned here mainly with the technical side of the question, we shall inquire into how the author has done his work, built his play, and de- veloped his ideas. The exposition is somewhat helped by the Pre- lude, or prologue : this creates atmosphere. It is indeed almost wholly " atmospheric." The expo- sition proper then merely adds to and rounds out the " milieu," and then introduces the characters. Note that there is practically nothing in the past that needs to be known, that the action starts on the stage, before our eyes. The Turkey and the Blackbird are soon sketched out, then Chantecler ROSTAND 179 comes, sings his Hymn to the Sun: Patou sounds the note of warning and foreshadows Chantecler's struggle, sowing seeds of doubt in his mind. The Pheasant Hen arrives, Chantecler is captivated by her brilliant plumage, and the love motif has be- gun. There remains only the setting in motion of the wheels of action — the opposing forces; — these opposing forces are the birds of the night, together with the Blackbird, all conspiring against Chantecler. — What will happen to him? S. Of the themes announced in the first act, two are developed in the second: the conspiracy against Chantecler and the love of Chantecler and the Pheasant Hen. — Chantecler voices his profes- sion of faith to her, and tells her eventually his secret. Then further threads are stretched for additional acts to tangle and tighten, and later unravel. 4*. The third act is an elaborate exposition of the fatuousness of the enemies of Chantecler. Chantecler is the poet, the worker, the embodiment of all that is best in the French nation, and his enemies are the " Blagueurs," the faddists, the philistines. The " Guinea-hen's Reception " is the height of f addism ; into the midst of this comes the real enemy of Chantecler, the mercenary who will overcome him by mere physical force. The fight between the two is the climax of the play, and Chantecler's triumphant moment — ^when he pro^ 180 EOSTAND tects the barnyard against the Hawk — its cuhni- nating point. — But he must leave his old barnyard, " to save his soul." The struggle is over, and the opposing forces, chief among them the fighting cock who in a fury cut one claw with the other, are vanquished. — There remains now only the de- nouement. What will Chantecler do? How will his love for the Pheasant Hen end .'' The last act, we know, will answer these questions. 5. The Pheasant Hen's jealousy of Chante- cler's power, and his own idea that his song causes the sun to rise, lead her to put Chantecler's faith to the test. The momentary disillusion is a bitter disappointment, for the sun rises independently of Chantecler's " Cocorico ! ", it is also cruel for him to hear a voice sweeter than his own, that of the Nightingale, but his faith in himself and his own small mission, and finally that he is worth the sac- rifice of the Pheasant Hen, renew his self-confi- dence, and leave him bigger and stronger than he was in his earlier and parochial surroundings, the unquestioned lord of the little barnyard which was but a small and unimportant comer of the world. MAETERLINCK Maurice Maeterlinck •«ras born of a Flemish family of ancient descent, at Ghent, Belgium, in 1862. In accordance with the wishes of his parents he studied for the law, and practised for some time after his graduation, in his native city. But in 1886 he left Bel- gium for Paris, and there formed the acquaintance of some writers who were later to exercise considerable influence over him; among these was Villiers de L'Isle Adam. He it was, according to Maeterlinck, directed him " toward the spiritual, poetic, and mysterious side of things." In 1889, after his return to Belgium on the death of his father, he published his first works, a volume of poems — " Serres Chaudes " — and the " Princesse Maleine," a play which called forth the extravagant praise of Octave Mirbeau, who called its author " A Belgian Shakspere." Until 1 896 he spent most of his time in Belgium writing plays, a few poems, and making translations from the English. In that year he returned to Paris, leaving Belgium permanently. From then on he has devoted himself to his life-work, which comprises a number of philo- sophical works, the best-known of which are " Wisdom and Destiny." " The Treasure of the Humbl e," " The Buried Temple," and " The Life of the Bee." Maeterlinck, although he writes in French, does not 181 182 MAETERLINCK belong to what is loosely termed the French school of dramatists ; * he is a writer singularly apart and inde- pendent. He is in some respects the disciple of Poe and Emersonj both of whom played an important part in his development. Judging from some of his works, he might be classified as a Symbolist; yet, con- sidering his total output, he is of no school. He occupies a unique position in modern drama and litera- ture, as playwright, mystic, symbolist, and philosopher. Briefly, he has tried to express moods, sub-conscious and half-realized feelings, and in order to do so he has created the so-called " Static " drama, the drama of situation and atmosphere. In " The Treasure of the Humble " he makes clear his position regarding this new form : " I have grown to believe that an old man, seated in his arm- chair, waiting patiently, with his lamp beside him; giving unconscious ear to all the eternal laws that reign about his house, interpreting, without compre- hending, the silence of doors and windows and the quivering voice of the light, submitting with bent head to the presence of his soul and his destiny — an old man who conceives not that all the powers of this world, like so many heedful servants, are mingling and keeping vigil in his room, who suspects not that the very sun itself is supporting in space the little * Unfortunately, the great mass of representative French drama is still untranslated. Because of their inaccessibility to English readers, such important dramatists as Capus, Bernstein, and Bataille, are not represented in the present volume. The Drama, however, will soon publish a play of Capus. MAETEELINCK 183 table against which he leans, or that every star in heaven and every fiber of the soul are directly con- cerned in the movement of an eyelid that closes, or a thought that springs to birth — I have grown to believe that he, motionless as he is, does yet live in reality a deeper, more human, and more universal, life than the lover who strangles his mistress, the captain who con- quers in battle, or 'the husband who avenges his honor.' " Maeterlinck's later development has made necessary a modification of the statement that his chief contri- bution to the modern drama is the invention of the Static play. He himself realizes the futility of the pigeon-holing system in literature, and in a letter to the author * makes clear his own ideas on the sub- ject: "You must not attach too great importance to the expression ' Static ' ; it was an invention, a theory of my youth, worth what most literary theories are worth — that is, almost nothing. Whether a play be static, or dynamic, symbolistic, or realistic, is of lit- tle consequence. What matters is that it be well written, well thought out, human and, if possible, superhuman, in the deepest significance of the term. The rest is mere rhetoric." Maeterlinck is perhaps a little too modest, but this statement is only a fur- ther proof of his own development. * Dated, Nice, 8 November, 1913. 184 MAETERLINCK PLAYS + The Princess Maleine (1889). -4 The Blind (1890). Produced in New York by Sargent's American Academy of Dramatic Arts 1908. •fTHE Intruder (1890). Produced in New York by Sargent's American Academy of Dramatic Arts 1909. "fTHE Seven Princesses (1891). •fPELLEAS AND MeLISANDE (1892). Produced in New York as a play by Mrs. Patrick Campbell 1902, and in operatic form with De- bussy's music by Hammerstein 1908. •^Alladine and Palomides (1894). 4 Interior (1894). •^The Death op Tintagiles (1894). First Produced in New York by Julius Hoppe's Progressive Stage Society ; later at a matinee, by Sargent's American Academy of Dramatic Arts 1914. -fAOLAVAINE AND SeLYSETTE (1896). Ardiane * AND Barbe-bleue (1901). Produced in New York as an opera with Dukas's music 1911. •^Sister Beatrice (1901). J|-MoNNA Vanna (1903). Produced in New York, 1903, by Bertha Kalisch. In Boston as opera with Fevrier's music 1913. * This spelling is that of the authorized translation. In the original the name is spelled " Ariane." MAETERLINCK 185 ■fjOYZELLE (1903). -^HE Blue Bird (1908). Produced at the New Theater, New York, 1910. -(Mary Magdalene (1913). Produced at the New Theatre, New York, by Olga Nethersole 1911. " The Princess Maleine " is translated by Gerard Harry (Heinemann, 1892), by Richard Hovey (Stone and Kimball. 18Q4 : DufEeld, 1906; (Dodd, Mead, 1911); " The Blind" by Richard Hovey (Dodd, Mead, 1911), and as "The Sightless" by Laurence Alma-Tadema (Scott, London, n.d.) ; " The Intruder " by William Wilson (Heinemann, 1892) and by Rich - ard Hovey (Dodd, Mead, 1911); " The Seven Prin- cesses " by Richard Hovey (Dodd, Mead, 1911), and by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke {Poet-Lore, 1894) ; " Pelleas and Melisande " by Laurence Alma- Tadema (Scott, London, n.d.), by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke {Poet-Lore, 1894), and by Rich- ard Hnvpv rrinrlrl MpafI 1011) ; " AUadine and Palo- mides " by Alfred Sutro (Gowans and Gray, London, 1911) and by Richard Hovey (Dodd. Mead. 1911^ ; " Interior," as " Home " by Richard Hovey (Dodd. Mead, Igll ); " The Death of Tintagiles " by Alfre , d Sutro (Gowans and Gray, igil) , and by Richard Hovey (Do< ^<1- Mpad. 1011^: " Aglavaine and Sely - sette" by Alfred Sutro (Dodd, Mead, 1911), and in Poet-Lore, 1Q09: " Ardiane and Barbe-bleue " by Bernard Miall (Dodd, Mead, 19Q2) ; " Sister Bea - trice" by Bernard Miall (Dodd. Mead. 1902") ; " Monna Vanna " by Alfred Sutro (Dodd, Mead, 186 MAETERLINCK 1907) J by A. I. duP. Coleman (Harpers, 1904), and in Poet-Lore : " Jovzelle " by Clarence Stratton (Poet-Lore. 1.Q05), and by A. Teixeira de Mattos (Dodd, Mead, 1907) ; " The Blue Bird" by Alex- ander Teixeira de Mattos (Dodd, Mead, 1909 — ^with an additional act, 1912) ; " Mary Magdalene " by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (Dodd, Mead, 1910). In the United States Dodd, Mead and Co. publish translations of the complete dramatic works. " Al- ladine and Palomides," " Interior," and " The Death of Tintagiles " are included in one volume (Gowans and Gray, 1911), with an introduction by H. Gran- ville Barker. Nearly all the above translations con- tain introductions, with much valuable biographical and critical matter. References: Montrose J. Moses. " Maurice Mae - terlinck: A Study" (Duffield, 1911); Edward Thomas, " Maurice Maeterlinck " (Dodd, Mead, 1911) ; shorter studies in: W. L. Courtney, " Tho Development of Maurice Maeterlinck, and Other Sketches of Foreign Writers " (Richards, 1904) ; Ash- ley Dukes, "Modern Dramatists "; E. E. Hale, Jr., "Dramatists of To-day"; Archibald Henderson, " Interpreters of Life and the Modern Spirit " (Ken- nerley, 1905); James Huneker, " I conoclasts " ; Arthur Symons, " The Symbolist Movement in Litera - ture " (Heinemann, 1900) ; Edwin Bjorkman, "Voices of To-morrow" (Kennerley, 1913 ) ; Maurice Maeterlinck, " The Modern Drama " (in his " The Double Garden," Dodd, Mead, 1904). — Magazines: Mme. Maeterlinck, in Fortnightly, vol. xciii (p. 48). MAETERLINCK 187 Moses's " Life." and " Modern Drama and Opera : A Reading List" (Boston Book Co., Boston, 1911), contain extensive bibliographies. XTHE INTRUDER A play in one act. First published 1890. Trans- lated by Richard Hovey. 1. This little play is one of the most striking examples of the " atmosphere " drama of modem times. Maeterlinck's object is to create the feel- ing of the approach of death ; death is the protag- onist, the principal character, and although it never appears on 'the stage, it is the most impor- tant " character " in the play. The Modern Drama is the drama of exceptions, for few rules can apply to any great portion of it. In " The Intruder " there is no struggle, only a mood ; there is little development and practically no action. It is a " static " drama of mood. 2. We have seen how dialogue should advance the plot, or reveal character, or — to a lesser extent — create atmosphere. In this play it rather tells what plot there is and merely sketches the princi- pal characters ; but for the most part it is em- ployed to create atmosphere. When the Father (p. 10, Dodd, Mead edition) says, "We need have no more anxiety. She is out of danger — ^" the t The English translation appeared in 1910; the French original in 1913. 188 MAETERLINCK speech is purely exposition of fact or opinion, without further embellishment ; when the Uncle (p. 11) says, " You know quite well your father-in- law likes to alarm us needlessly," he tells us some- thing of the character of the Grandfather; and when (p. 20) the Grandfather says, "It seems to me that the cold comes into the room," and the Daughter answers, " There is a little wind in the garden, grandfather, and the rose leaves are fall- ing," that is atmosphere, pure and simple. Those lines create a mood and they have very little to do either with plot or character. 3. Distinguish between the speeches which create atmosphere and those which do not. i FELLEAS AND MELISANDE A play in five acts. First published 1892 . Trans- lated by Richard Hove y, Charlotte Porter, and Helen A. Clarke; and Laurence Alma-Tadema. 1. " Pelleas and Melisande " is the first of Mae- terlinck's plays to contain a distinct and well-de- veloped plot. " The Princess Maleine " was a phantasmagoria, disjointed and obscure; " The In- truder," "The Blind," and "The Seven Prin- cesses " were " Static " mood-pictures without stories. " Pelleas and Melisande," besides show- ing a great advance in plot construction, contains unmistakable indications of development of the MAETEELINCK 189 power to delineate character. What were mere marionettes in the earlier plays, so strange and far-away that they could evince little else than wonder, in this play become flesh and blood. Melisande is a human being, and our sympathies are aroused by her misfortunes. 1. This play is a turning point in the dra- matic career of the author. He realizes that the drama cannot be static and living at once, he feels the shortcomings of his earlier efforts. In order fully to understand this progress the student must note carefully what parts of " Pel- leas and Melisande " belong to the " early " period, and what are new. Compare " The Intruder " with the present play, and note wherein the later differs from it. Then, in connection with " Monna Vanna, " note the greater care taken to draw char- acter than in " Pelleas and Melisande." In " The Intruder " do you find any external incident, important in and for itself, which would be visible in a stage representation ; rather than as a mere indication of what is going on in the mind of the character. J* What scenes in " Pelleas and Melisande " are independent of the rest of the play, interesting and effective? In " The Blue Bird " do you notice any tech- nical advance over " Pelleas and Melisande " ? Over Monna Vanna? 2. This play is so evanescent in mood, so sat- 190 MAETERLINCK urated with romance, that it suffers from analysis. The suggestions here given should therefore be carried out only after a complete and sympathetic reading. Like most of Maeterlinck's plays, it is more interesting as a study of atmosphere, an evocation of the subconscious self, than as acted drama. Lamb once remarked that " King Lear " was too great to be played; an old man in a false beard, his ravings accompanied by rumblings of thunder made by beating upon a sheet of tin, could not but spoil the effect of transcendent greatness produced by a reading of the play. The case of Maeterlinck is somewhat analogous. One false note struck by an actor in a play like " The In- truder " or " Pelleas and Melisande " might spoil the effect of the entire scene. Many scenes in " The Blue Bird," even in the well-intentioned pro- ductions in America and France, werenearly ruined ; the moment " The Land of Memory " is put on the stage (and the " set " designed for the Art The- ater of Moscow is thoroughly adequate) Maeter- linck's " Land of Memory," the one created in the imagination of the intelligent reader, vanishes. " The Kingdom of the Future," as played by children and women acting as children, often verges on the ridiculous. Some plays suffer from presentation. Are they, then, plays.'' According to our definition, a play MAETERLINCK 191 must be presented by actors on a stage, before an audience. We must conclude that such works as "Pelleas and Melisande" and "The Blue Bird" are plays, but that the art of acting and stage management is not yet able to cope with certain problems, in spite of the splendid pioneer work of Gordon Craig, Max Reinhardt, Stanislavsky, and Meyerkhold — the last two, directors of the Art Theater of Moscow.* y- MONNA VANNA A play in three acts. First published 1903. Trans - lated by Alfred Sutro. In " Monna Vanna " Maeterlinck entered the realm of the actual acting drama.f He had for- merly held that action was not necessary for a play, but, influenced either by his own experience or by the actress Georgette Leblanc — now Madame Mae- terlinck — ^he declares that " There are no words * Numerous designs and plans of new theaters and new methods of stage management are to be found in "L'Art Th6atral Moderne," par Jacques Rouch6 (Edouard Cor- n€ly, Paris, 1910). See also "Die Revolution des Theaters," Georg Fuchs (Georg Miiller, Leipzig and Munchen, 1909), and " The New Spirit in Drama and Art " by Huntley Carter (Palmer, London, 1913). t Maeterlinck himself realizes this diange of attitude ; in a letter to the author(Nice, November, 1911), he speaks of " Pelleas et Melisande " as being in his " first " and " Monna Vanna " his " second manner." 192 MAETERLINCK so profound, so noble and admirable, but they will soon weary us if they leave the situation un- changed, if they lead to no action, bring about no decisive conflict, or hasten no definite solution." * 1. In this play, then, there is a very definite struggle, one of the eternal struggles, that between love and duty. But the interest lies largely in the central figure, in the character of Monna Vanna. She is the first complete full-length por- trait in the plays of Maeterlinck. The plot, back- ground, and struggle are therefore employed only as a means of letting us know more of her, to bring to light further and deeper knowledge of the inmost recesses of her spiritual being. The sacri- fice which she is called upon to make, for instance, reveals what may be termed her " civic conscience," her renunciation of personal happiness for the good of her people ; each act will be found to test her mind and heart, and each scene in which she appears adds to our knowledge of her. It is she who interests us, not the situations in which she figures. There is what may seem a contradiction of this in the second act, in the tent scene. Sus- pense adds greatly to the interest of the scene ; we are of course anxious to see how the scene will end, but we are more anxious to see how Monna Vanna will act, and what effect Prinzivalle will produce * Quoted by Montrose J. Moses, "Maurice Maeterlinck; A Study." p. 119. MAETERLINCK 193 upon her, and what effect she upon him. The scene is skilfully managed, in that dramatic sus- pense and character delineation are so interwoven that we are scarcely aware which is which; it is only after a somewhat detailed analysis that we can distinguish the component elements. 2. To a lesser extent Maeterlinck discusses morality in his play ; this is outside the strict con- fines of the present study, but it may be interesting to note what Arthur Symons ( i n " Flays. Actin g. and Music ") has to say on the subject: " Here is a play in which almost every character is noble, in which treachery becomes a virtue, a lie becomes more vital than truth, and only what we are ac- customed to call virtue shows itself mean, petty, and even criminal. And it is most like life, as life really is, in this : that at any moment the whole course of the action might be changed, the position of every character altered, or even reversed, by a mere decision of the will, open to each, that the choice could be otherwise." 3. The climax occurs, as might have been ex- pected, at the end of the second act, but note that the third is remarkably well sustained. The ten- sion is by no means released as the curtain rises for the last time ; we must know how Guido will re- ceive his wife on her return. The scene we expect is a " scene a faire," not the " scene a faire " (that was in the preceding act) but a lesser one; it is 194 MAETERLINCK eagerly awaited, and we should have reason for complaint against the dramatist were we deprived of it. Notice how suspense is created and sus- tained: the crowd is in great excitement as their savior enters the city, and this excitement is com- municated to the audience through Marco. This second-hand retailing of incidents is a common ex- pedient, often used in plays where races or fights occurring off-stage are told of by one who is visible to the audience. It is a step beyond the Messenger in Greek drama, who tells what has happened rather than, as a present spectator, what is actually happening at the time. The lat- ter method is more vivid, and is very convenient, as well as stimulating to the dramatic imagination of the audience. Note further that after the crowd is admitted, the tension is still maintained, as Guido sends the populace home preparatory to his questioning of Vanna. Then comes the obliga- tory scene, fuU of surprises, full of the subtle touches of the interplay of character upon char- acter, ever tense and throbbing with excitement. Then comes the scene between Vanna and her hus- band alone — this is still in the obligatory scene. Guido still persists in his wilful belief that his wife is " guilty." The action rises to the point where Guido condemns Prinzivalle to prison ; Monna Vanna sees the futility of endeavoring to per- suade her husband that she " is untouched," lies MAETERLINCK 195 and declares that "he [Prinzivalle] belongs to her," begging that she also be incarcerated. The action has taken another turn, with no fall in in- terest, but rather a tightening of the strings of tension ; the outcome becomes more and more prob- lematical. But when (p. 276) Vanna tells Marco, " Father, he is mine ; you shall answer for him . . . . (She looks fixedly at him.) You under- stand," the play is over. Guido the blind, utterly incapable of believing in the virtue that is not that dictated by convention, in woman's highest virtue, has lost his wife because of his smallness of soul; she has gone to one who is more fitted to love and understand her. " Yes," she says, " it has been a bad dream . . . but the beautiful one will begin again. The beautiful one will begin " X THE BLUE BIRD A fairy play in six acts. First published 1908. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattes . If " The Blue Bird " is not Maeterlinck's great- est play it is undeniably his best known, mainly by reason of the more or less adequate presentations on our stage. But there is a great deal — ^most, in fact — that is lost through the best of produc- tions, which can only be obtained by careful read- ing and study of the text. . . • There is so much in the play, and it may be regarded from so many 196 MAETERLINCK angles of vision, that it is difficult not to find some- thing beautiful in the most cursory reading. It is a play for children only in that its picturesque externals are attractive ; it is actually an allegor- ical and symbolical drama, full of philosophical questionings and high reasoning. It asks eternal questions: Whence do we come? Whither are we going? What is death? What is happiness? The answer may be somewhat vague, but the ques- tions are squarely put. The answer may be that unselfish love, or sacrifice, is true happiness ; it may be that the poet is not quite sure himself, but the question is all-important. 1. Maeterlinck is a symbolist;* he is a writer who expresses thoughts in the form of concrete images, because he believes that in no other way could these thoughts be so well expressed. In some cases it may be necessary to have the key to the symbol — as in a great deal of the work of Blake, Mallarme, and Yeats — ^but the best sym- bolism is of the obvious sort. In " The Blue Bird," the bird is Happiness personified if the Dog is man's friend, the Cat his enemy, and so on. This symbolism is explained in the two essays re- ferred to in the footnote below; there is no need * See Arthur Symons, " The Symbolist Movement in Lit- erature" (Heinemann, 1900). t Henry Rose, in his " Maeterlinck's Symbolism " (Dodd, Mead, 1911), declares that the "Blue Bird" is the symbol of "celestial truth.'' See also Poet-Lore, vol. xxii. No. 6. MAETERLINCK 197 to identify the other characters here, the impor- tant point is to consider whether the author has chosen his best, his only medium. Try to imagine the wandering of Tyltyl and Mytyl incorporated in a verse drama of conventional structure, or in a realistic drama — like one of Ibsen's; — treat the subject in any other way than that which the poet has chosen to treat it; what would the play lose? Compare the use of symbolism in " The Blue Bird " with that of Rostand's " Chantecler " ; how close is the connection between the Cat and the Blackbird, the Dog and Patou? 2. The exposition is remarkable. The few lines on the first page (p. 15) make clear the situation, the time, and give something of the character of the children. Mytyl? Tyltyl Tyltyl? Mytyl Are you asleep ? Tyltyl Are you? Mytyl Tyltyl No; how can I be asleep when I'm talking to you? 198 MAETERLINCK We have already the masculine and rather patro- nizing attitude of the boy. Mytyl Say, is this Christmas Day? Tyltyl Not yet; not till to-morrow. But Father Christ- mas won't bring us anything this year. Mytyl Why not? Tyltyl I heard mummy say that she couldn't go to town to tell him. — But he will come next year Mytyl Is next year far off? The time is Christmas Eve, the family is poor, but "in no way poverty-stricken," for the chil- dren get Christmas presents every other year, A little later, Mytyl and Tyltyl " get up, run to one of the windows, climb on the stool, and throw back the shutters," And again Tyltyl asserts his su- periority. " We can see everything ! " he says, but Mytyl, " who can hardly find room on the stool," replies, " I can't." Still farther on (p. 19), we seem to get an indication of the theme of the play. MAETERLINCK 199 Mytyl What are those people doing who are making such a noise? Tyltyl They're the musicians. Mytyl Are they angry? Tyltyl No; but it's hard work. Here are people then seeking happiness through the hard work of others. Turn now to the end of the play : happiness is about us, the author demon- strates, and we do not have to " work hard " for it. With what you have learned of the methods and ends of exposition, trace carefully that of " The Blue Bird," differentiating atmosphere, the story of the past, character, and preparation. Where does the exposition stop and the action proper begin ? S. In nearly every play so far studied there has been a logically developed story with a plot that moved, or " marched." Is there such in " The Blue Bird.'' " Does the interest lie in the story, in the external events? If so, does each act develop out of the preceding.'' What is the unity of the play? D'ANNUNZIO Gabriele D'Annunzio was born in 1863 at Pescara in the Abruzzi, Italy. He showed an early predilec- tion for poetry, and while at school he published his first verses, at the age of sixteen. After a short schooling in Tuscany, he went to Eome and directed his energies to the writing of poetry and short stories. After the breaking up of the circle to which the young poet belonged, he became a journalist, and published in the Tribuna some of his best work. His first novel, " II Piacere," appeared in 1889; this was followed by other novels — " L'Innocente " and " Giovanni Epis- copo " — and later by " II Trionfo della Morte " and " II Fuoco," all of which spread his fame abroad. The plays date from the late 'nineties, the " Dream of a Spring Morning " appearing in 1897. With Sarah Bernhardt's production of " The Dead City, " D'An- nunzio's power as a dramatist began to be univer- sally recognized — a " decadent " to be sure, yet a pow- erful one. He has recently made Paris his home, and his three latest plays have been written in French, and produced by French actors in Paris. D'Annunzio is recognized as the greatest force in modern Italian literature; in the fields of lyrical poetry, prose fiction, and the drama, he has not yet been surpassed by his own countrymen. Fogazzaro 200 D'ANNUNZIO 201 was as great a novelistj but his plays are of little importance; Giacosa's novels are conceded to be in- ferior to his plays, while the latter lack that lyric power which in D'Annunzio is everywhere manifest. D'Annunzio is the perfect type of esthete, his is the religion of beauty: what is beautiful is good. In " Gioconda " (Act I, Scene 3) Cosimo Dalbo says " . . .so much sorrow shall not have been suffered in vain, so much evil shall not have been useless, if one thing so beautiful remains over, to be added to the ornament of life." And Lucio Settala replies, " It is true. I sometimes think of the fate of one whose ship and all that was in it went down in a storm. On a day as calm as this, he took a boat and a net, and he re- turned to the place of the shipwreck, hoping to draw something out of the depths. And, after much labor, he drew on shore a statue. And the statue was so beautiful that he wept for joy to see it again; and he sat down on the sea-shore to gaze upon it, and was content with that gain, and would seek nothing more : ... I forgot the rest ! " — The man on the sea-shore is D'Annunzio himself; he sees what is beautiful, in character, in setting, in style. We may not agree with him, but we are forced to admit that his aspira- tions are for what is best in sheer poetic beauty. His choice of subject is often "unpleasant"; in the " Dead City " it is incest, and in the " Dream of an Autumn Sunset " and " The Ship " the themes are no less revolting. It is for this reason that D'Annunzio is called " decadent " ; he is undoubtedly morbid, ab- normal, and at times almost hysterical, but the fine 202 D'ANNUNZIO feeling for the perfection of style, the skilful treat- ment of those phases of life which he has chosen to depict, are ample recompense for any incidental or even inherent unpleasantness in subject. PLAYS ■+The Dream of a Spring Morning (1897). •fTHE Dream of an Autumn Sunset (1898). -^A GlOCONDA (1899). Produced in Italian in New York by Duse 1902; given a few performances in French by Mme. Yorska 1914. +The Dead City (1898). Produced in New York by Duse 1902. Glory (1899). -VFrancesca da Rimini (1901). Produced in New York by Duse 1902. "rTHE Daughter op Jorio (1904). Greater than Death (1907). The Ship (1908). Fedra (1909). The Light Under the Bushel (1909). The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (1912). PiSANELLA, OR THE PeRFUMED DeATH (1913). The Honeysuckle (1914). " The Dream of a Spring Morning " is translated jjy Anna Schenck (Poet-Lore, 1902^ ; "Jhe Dream of gj a_ Autumn Sunset " by Anna. Schenck (Poet-Lore , 190 4) ; " La Gioconda " by Arthur Symons (Russell, 1902) ; " Tl 2g T^''"'^ ^'^^7 " bv G. Mantellini (Laird. D'ANNUNZIO 203 Chicago. l.Q02\ and by Arthur Symons (Heinemann, 1902) J " FrancRsca da Eimini " by Arthur Symnn s (Stokes, 1902) ; " The Daughter of Jorio " by Char-, lotte Porter, Pietro Isola, and Alice Henry (Little , Brown, 1907; also Poet-Lore. 19111 : "The Ship" {Poet-Lore, 1909). References: James Huneker, "Iconoclasts" ; Ashley Dukes, " Modern Dramatists " ; Addison Mc- Leod, " Plays and Players of Modern Italy " (Ser- gei, 1912) ; W. L. Courtney, " The Development of Maurice Maeterlinck, and Other Sketches of Foreign Writers " (Grant Richards, 1904) ;_ Arthur Symons, " Studies in Prose and Verse " (Heinemann, 1904 ) ; Oscar Heermann, " Living Dramatists " (Brentano, 1905). — Magasines: Poet-Lore , vol. xix, Nos. 1 and 2 ; Bookman, vol. iii (p. 18); Critic, vol. xlvii (p. 27), and vol. xlv (p. 137), and vol. xli (p. 103) ; Dial, vol. xxxiv (p. 7); Fortnightly, vol. Ixxiv (p. 391 ). See also " Modern Drama and Opera : A Reading List " (Boston Book Co., 1911) for bibliography, as well as the introductions to the translations of " The Dead City ", and " The Daughter of Jorio. " >f. GIOCONDA A tragedy in four acts. First published 1899- Trans- lated by Arthur Symons. il. The first act is an admirable piece of con- struction: clear-cut and natural in exposition; moving, and unified. Character is exposed, the past unfolded, almost before the reader is aware 204, D'ANNUNZIO that he is learning anything; and the play has begun in earnest by the time the curtain falls. A first act should never leave one in doubt as to what sort of play he is seeing; it should let him know whether he is to see comedy or tragedy, farce or melodrama. Such indications are nearly always made early in the course of the action or exposition of the first act. In " Gioconda," Silvia Settala's words (p. 5) foreshadow the serious turn affairs will later take : " Then, do you know, a breath passed, a vapor, a mere nothing, and cast down everything, and the anxiety came back, and the dread, and the tremor ! " These lines and the spirit in which they are spoken, forebode evil; the more so as everything is so apparently calm for the remainder of the act. We feel instinctively that this is the calm before the tempest. Were the play to turn out well, complications would have immediately set in, and a happy event would be foreshadowed; instead, all is outward happiness, which we may take as a foreshadowing of evil. — This indication is necessary, as the audience must know where to place its sympathies, and in what frame of mind to listen to the play ; otherwise, it might be unsettled, bewildered. 2. Although the first act is a definite unit of action in itself, it leaves us a little curious to know the precise direction that the action will take; a trained reader or listener will vaguely anticipate a D'ANNUNZIO 205 struggle between Silvia and the opposing forces: in this case, the object of Lucio's former love. The second act should reveal unmistakably this struggle, let us know the contending parties, and show us at least the alternative possibilities and probable direction of the plot. As we are told (in the original edition, not the translation) that the play is a tragedy, it is not difficult to surmise that the peaceful relations as seen in the first act be- tween Silvia and Lucio will be broken off in tragic fashion — just how, the next three acts will show. The second act opens with a note of warning. Gioconda, the model, is heard from, and Lucio's " No, no, no," preceded by the stage direction " (With a shudder of dread) " (p. 44), leaves lit- tle room for speculation as to the direction the story will take: Lucio will return to his mistress. With great rapidity the struggle becomes more clearly defined. The conversation between Lucio and Cosimo, culminating in the former's long speech (pp. 64-59), begins to make us aware of the inevitability of Lucio's relapse, that Gioconda is still his " ideal." Lucio's love for her is the result of his personality, it is deeply imbedded in his soul ; because of this fatal attraction, and in spite of his " good " resolutions, Lucio will bring suffer- ing upon himself, his wife, and family. — ^A further element in the struggle is introduced as Silvia (p. 70) resolves to meet Gioconda and try to get 206 D'ANNUNZIO the key of Lucio's studio from her ; the obligatory scene is anticipated, the struggle in its culmina- tion, the climax. The next act must be taken up with the contest. 3. The studio, where else.'' Note that Gioconda is not introduced at once ; the scene must begin at low tension and work up to a big " situation." Silvia states the case at once (p. 93) to her rival, " One of us two is the intruder. Which.'' " — and the scene begins. Silvia argues eloquently, pas- sionately, but Gioconda is confident in her strength, until Silvia tells her to go; that pre- cipitates the actual struggle, which ends in the at- tempted destruction of the statue, and the " lacer- ating cry from Silvia, torn by agony from her very vitals " (p. 109). This is the climax. A short staccato scene, with Lucio and Francesco, ends the act. Again the outcome is uncertain. 4. The struggle is over; between the third and fourth acts Lucio has succumbed to his old love and gone away with Gioconda. D'Annunzio's descrip- tion of Silvia (p. 113) tells the story: " Silvia Set- tala appears on the threshold, from the inner room ; she pauses ; takes several steps towards the window; looks into the distance, looks about her with infinitely sad eyes." And we know at once what has happened. " Silvia may make her home a haven of peace ; she may tend and nurse her hus- band when the other woman drives him to attempt D'ANNUNZIO , 207 self-destruction ; she may fondle him with caresses and words of love as beautiful as ever flowed from woman's lips ; she may lie for his sake ; she may sacrifice her beautiful hands to save his statue from the violence of her rival — she may do all this and more, yet the other conquers all along the line, for she is the mate of his being, his body, his ego, and Silvia's love is but the placid affection which neither satisfies nor inspires the high-strung, in- satiable soul of the creative artist." * This last act is in many ways an ideal one. First, it carries the story to a logical conclusion; second, it sustains the interest up to the end; third, it gradually brings us back to the level whence it began ; and finally, it contains that gentle chastening or cleansing element — in this case, the tragedy and sweetness of mother-love, combined with sympathetic care — that gives to true tragedy a lasting quality and brings it close to what is best in life. The scene that closes the play is terrible, but its terror inspires the further element of pity, not revulsion : this is true tragic beauty. Compare the rather unemphatic ending of " Gio- conda " with the tense and decidedly emphatic last act of Echegaray's " Madman or Saint " (p. 2M, present volume). *J. T. Grein, in "Premieres of the Year" (John Mac- queen, London, 1900). GIACOSA Giuseppe Giacosa* was born at CoUeretto Parella, Italy, in 1847. After studying for the Law in Turin, he began at once the career of a man of letters ; this was early in the 'seventies. He " resided during the first part of his literary career in Turin and later at Milan. He came to America in 1891." • • . Dur- ing the last years of his life and up to the time of his death he was director of the magazine La Lettura. He died in the town where he was born in I906. It is impossible to make an extensive study of the modern Italian drama in English, as the works of only three or four authors are translated, and of these a number of D'Annunzio's are still untranslated, and all but two of Giacosa's. But in spite of French in- fluence — which has done much to harm, and somewhat to benefit, the Italian drama — ^there are a number of original and interesting playwrights : f Roberto Bracco,J E. A. Butti, Giannino Antona-Traverse, Sem * For the material contained in most of this sketch of Giacosa, I am indebted to Stanley Astrado Smith, whose article on Giacosa appeared in The Drama, May, 1913. t Jean Dornis has written (in French) a very complete work on the contemporary Italian drama, "Le Theatre Italien d'aujourd'hui" (Calmann-L^vy, Paris). % Poet-Lore contains translations of " Phantasms " and " The Hidden Spring" (1908 and 1907) . SOS GIACOSA 209 Benelli, Marco Praga, and Gerolamo Rovetta, are among this number.* But, taking into account the sum-total of their dramatic work, D'Annunzio and Gia- cosa are undoubtedly the most important exponents of the modern Italian drama. Giacosa it was who, more than any other, infused a true Italian element into his best plays ; he did much to free the stage of his country from French adaptations and pseudo-French " tri- angle " plays. " As the Leaves " was rightfully hailed by the Italian press as epoch-making, and to its influence many serious and original works may be traced. PLAYS A Game of Chess (1872). An Old Story (1872). To A Dog That Licks Ashes Do Not Confide Flour t (1872). Don't Say Flour Unless You Have It in the SackI (1872). Bank Affairs (1873). The Sons of the Marquis Arturo (1874). Sad Doubts (1874). Gallant Intrigues (1874). The Triumph of Love (1875). Nocturnal Surprises (1875). A Candidate (1875). Teresa (1875). Mountain Showers (1876). •See Addison McLeod, "Plays and Players of Modern Italy" (Sergei, 1912). t Common Italian proverbs. 210 GIACOSA The Brothehs-at-Arms (1877). The Red Count (1880). The Thread (1883). The Siren (1883). A Surrender to Discretion (1885). The Honorable Ercole Mallardi (1885). Sad Loves (1888). VThe Lady op Challont (1891). Produced in New York by Mme. Bernhardt 1891. ^The Rights of the Soul (1894). S.As the Leaves (1900). T^The Stronger (1904). Besides the above are the libretti (in collaboration with Luigi lUica) for " LaBoheme" (1896), " Tosca " (1899), and " Madame Butterfly " (1903); together with numerous other one-act plays. Translations of " jVs the Leaves " and " X^'^ i Stronger " are published in The Drama (February, 1911, and May, 1913).* An adaptation of " A Game of Chess " by Barrett H. Clark is published by Sam- uel French (1913). References; Stanley Astrado Smith (The.Dra'ma . May, 1913) ; Add ison McLeod, " Plays and Players of Modern Italy" (Sergei, 1912). * Mitchell Kennerley announces the publication of " Three Plays by Giuseppe Giacosa " ( "Like Falling Leaves. " " The Stron^r. " and " Sacred Ground," translated by Edith and Allan UpdegraflF). GIACOSA 211 • ^ AS THE LEAVES A comedy in four acts. First published 19OO. Trans- lation in The Drama. 1. "As the Leaves " may well be considered one of the finest examples of the modem social comedy. Its truth to life, its strong yet sympathetic treat- ment of phases of life that are common to most of humanity, and its mastery of construction — all combine to " take us out of ourselves," to create the illusion that we are participating in an actual family struggle. Starting at a level with life, the action gradually mounts from crisis to crisis, and finally falls back to life again, leaving us with a sense of having experienced something exhilarat- ing, ennobling, helpful. In studying the play, notice the natural and ex- tremely skilful manner in which incident follows in- cident, how one situation grows out of the preced- ing, and how the entire work springs into existence as life itself, and not as if conjured into being at the will of even a great craftsman. The skill of the dramatist is hardly noticed, so admirably has he covered his footmarks. 2. The play is so well constructed, that a too detailed analysis of its component parts might prevent our enjoying it as a whole, for a first read- ing, however. Read it therefore in the same spirit as you would go to the theater: for the pure en- 212 GIACOSA joyment of the story, and afterwards analyze it and inquire into the methods employed to give it its consistency and charm. A word as to the characterization. As is right, no character is essentially bad or good, and in his treatment Giacosa's warm-hearted sympathy and interest in humanity are keenly felt. We feel sorry for Tommy and Giulia, as well as for Rosani and Nennele; and if Tommy is snobbish, Nennele is stubborn, if Giulia is frivolous, Gio- vanni is at times weak; while even the delightful Massimo has a too pronounced tendency to preach. The situation, too, is an admirable one — this re- versal of the family fortunes — and serves well to bring out the essential characteristics of each of the persons involved. Since action is one of the essentials of a good play, each of these persons must do something, and since all are acting under unusual stress, we see new sides and a further de- velopment of their characters. Again, Giacosa shows his skill; he knew precisely where to begin his play. 3. Every play — and every act in every play — ought to advance (1) either the story or (2) the development of the characters. As a section of life cannot be lived or observed without leaving us better or worse, so a play or an act of a play af- fects us, for better or for worse. The end should be either higher or lower than the beginning; we GIACOSA 213 must be either elevated or degraded. Much de- pends upon the dramatist for this effect — some on the auditor. In " As the Leaves " the end of each act leaves one on a higher level than the beginning : he knows more of the motives of the characters, of their doings and their thoughts, than at the be- ginning. The first act, for example, shows us the family preparing to go away ; we know nothing of them. Before the end of the act, the essential traits of Tommy, Nennele, Giulia, and, to a certain extent, of Rosani, are clearly outlined. Trace this development in the case of each of the succeeding acts. 4. The last act is short. — ^Why is this. J* First, there is little material, and the author has a wholesome aversion to " stringing out " his last act. Second, a dramatic reason: a short scene, if it have movement and suspense, is very effective on the stage. Nennele, discouraged at the apparent loss of Massimo, at the weakness of Tommy and her step-mother, has determined to take her own life. Her suicide would have been too tragical an outcome, especially as the father is not so weak as Nennele thought him, and as Massimo " did under- stand," and did come back to her. — Nor is the " happy " ending a concession to the audience ; in this case, it is almost as inevitable as are the re- spective suicides in " Mid-Channel " or " Hedda Gabler." After Tommy and Giulia drift and fall 214 GIACOSA away " as the leaves," something definite is re- quired to end the play: Aristotle's rule is appli- cable to all art forms, for there must be a begin- ning, a middle, and an end. A slice of life, in order to be a work of art, must be secure at each end, so to speak, and not be left suspended in mid-air. ECHEGARAY Jose Echegaray, the chief exponent of the modern Spanish drama, was born in Madrid in 1832. Ever an apt pupil, at an early age he showed a distinct in- clination for mathematics and the exact sciences; although he was attracted to the study of science, he showed a great liking for literature and the theater, and in later years he read widely in the drama of the modern nations of Europe. He was graduated in 1853 from the Escuela de Caminos, with high honors, and became a tutor of mathematics. Not long afterward, he was made a professor of that sub- ject in the school from which he graduated. From that time on, his interests widened ; he studied Politi- cal Economy, Philosophy, Geology, and Politics. Besides these pursuits, he engaged in those of Engi- neering and Physics, and was recognized as an author- ity. At the age of thirty-two he wrote a play, but laid it aside, deeming it unworthy; but his interest in drama was steadily increasing. He was appointed Minister for the Colonies, under the government fol- lowing the Revolution of 1868, and his political duties prevented further development of his dramatic genius. Five years later he was proscribed, forced to leave the country, and go to France, where he wrote his first play that was produced, " El Libro Talonario." On 215 216 ECHEGARAY his return to Spain in 1874^ it was presented, but did not attract great attention. His first success was "En el Pnfio la Espada " (1875), and was followed by a long series of tragedies, comedies, and thesis plays. " Spaniards declare that for more than 200 years their drama has not brought forth a serious rival to this man. And there can hardly be a doubt that, in any selection of names of the great dramatists Lope de Vega and Calderon de la Barca will find the place nearest to themselves occupied by Jose Eche- garay." * The Spanish drama of to-day is of more importance than is commonly thought.f Echegaray and Gal- dos, both living, and the latter still writing, are of world-wide repute, and occupy a high position among contemporary dramatists, while there are half a dozen other Spaniards — as yet untranslated — who are pro- ducing work of great originality; Jacinto Benavente, Angel Guimera, Sierra, and . Serafin and his brother Joaquin Quintero, are among these. Their work is as a whole witty, refined, and careftilly finished. It is just, however, that only the two principal writers should be here considered; of the two Echegaray, in the realm of the drama, is the greater. • See Introduction to Graham's translation of "Thp. Son of Don Juan" (Roberts Bros ., Boston, 1895). t Miss Elizabeth Wallace, author ot' the article (A tlantic Monthly, vol. oil, p. 357) on "The Spanish Drama of To-day," has kindly supplied me with most of the above information. ECHEGARAY 217 PLAYS The Chkck Book (1874). The Wife op the Avenger (1874). KThe Great Galeotto (1874). Produced in New York in 1900, in German by Kainz 1891. In 1909 Mr. Faversham and Miss Julie Opp produced a very free version entitled " The World and His Wife." The Last Night (1875). At the Hilt of the Sword (1875). The Beginning and the End (1876). Madman or Saint (1877). What Cannot Be Told (1877). Before the Pillar and the Cross (1878). In Pursuit of an Ideal (1878). Sometimes Below (1878). In the Bosom of Death (1879). Shoreless Sea (1879). Death on the Lips (1880). Harold the Norman (1881). The Two Curiosity Mongers (1882). Conflict Between Two Duties (1882). A Miracle in Egypt (1883). In Supposing Evil. Will You Guess? (1884). The Pest of Otranto (1884). Happy Life, Sad Death (1885). Lysander the Bandit (1886). Evil Race (1886). Two Fanaticisms (1887). Reality and Delirium (1887). The Son of Steel and the Son of Flesh (1888), 218 ECHEGARAY The Sublime in the Commonplace (1888). Everlasting Source of Troubles (1889). The Extremists (1889). Ever Ridiculous (1890). The Embryo Critic (1891). Comedy Without Denouement (1891). K The Son of Don Juan (1892). Sic vos, non vobis, or The Last Alms (1892). X Mariana (1892). Produced in New York by Mrs. Patrick Campbell 1902. The Power of Impotence (1893). At the Sea-Shore (1893). The Enraged Lady (1894). Try Who Washes (1895). The Stigmata (1895). Wild Love (1896). Calumny as a Chastisement (1897). The Doubt (1898). The Man in Black (1898). The Silence of Death (1898). KThe Madman Divine (1900). Accursed Heritages (1902). The Steps of a Throne (1903). The Unstable One (1903). Letting Oneself Be Dragged Along (1905). A number of one-act plays, adaptations, transla- tions, operas, etc., have been omitted from the above list. For a complete list see Henri de Curzon, " Le Theatre de Jose Echegaray " (Librairie Fischbaeher, Paris, 1912). ECHEGARAY 219 " Madman or Saint " is translated by Ruth Lan- sing (Poet-Lore, 1912"), by Hannah Lynch as " Follv, or Saintliness " (Lane. London, 1895) ; " The Great Galeoto " by Hannah Lynch, in the same volume, as " Folly or Saintliness," and later separately (Double- day) and in an adaptation, " The W orld and His Wife," by C. F. Nirdlinger (Kennerley, 1908) _; " The, Son of Don Juan," by James Stewart (Roberts Bros.. Boston, 1895); " Mariana " by the same (Roberts Bros.. 1895"). a nd by Fredico Sarda and Carlos D. S . Wu ppermann (Moods Publishing Co., New York._ 1909 1; " The Man in Black " by Ellen Watson (Uni- versal Anthology, vol. xxvii) ; and " Thp Mfirlma,Ti Divine " by Elizabeth JHoward West (Poet-Lore. 1.908). References: The introductions to the Lynch and Stewart translations give much material; for special articles see Atlantic, vol. cii (p. 357) ; Poet-Lore, vol . xii (p. 405) , vol. XX (p. 218") ; Contemporary Revietv , vol. Ixiv (p. 576) ; Review of Reviews, vol. xxxi (p. 613). For individual criticisms see Bernard Shaw's " Dramatic Opinions and Essays " (Brentano, 1907)., and C. F. Nirdlinger, " Masks and Mummers " (De Witt Publishing House, New York, 1899) . X MADMAN OR SAINT * A drama in three acts. First published 1877. .Trans- lated by Ruth Lansing . 1. In order to understand much in the Spanish drama, some knowledge of Spanish traditions of * American translation is referred to, as the English volume is out of print and difficult of access. 220 ECHEGARAY chivalry, family and personal honor, is neces- sary. This is especially true of Spain's great- est and most representative dramatist, Calde- ron (1600-1681); honor may be said to be the principal character in many of Spain's greatest plays, of all ages. In Calderon's " Physician of His Own Honor" (1633) "a lover has wandered about in her [the heroine's] vicinity — she must die." Echegaray, in " Madman or Saint," treats the question from the standpoint of honor in re- lation to the family name. Unless the reader understands that this matter of honor is little short of an obsession with the Spaniards, he can have little sympathy with their drama. 2. " Madman or Saint " illustrates as few other plays* do the principle of suspense. From the end of the first act to the very end of the last, the action rises steadily; never until the final curtain falls does Don Lorenzo's fate become a certainty. Let us examine into the means employed to attain this end. Lorenzo tells the Duchess (p. 182, Poet-Lore translation) "this marriage is impossible"; the struggle begins, and the outcome is very prob- lematical. The contending parties are known at once : Lorenzo is on one side, and in all probability Angela, Inez, Edward, and Thomas are against * Brieux's " La Robe Rouge " (The Red Robe) is, how- ever, one of these. ECHEGARAY 221 Mm. Early in the second act (p, 183) Edward foreshadows the outcome, In his words: "Lorenzo shall give in if we have to put a gag and strait- jacket on him." Then (same page) the struggle has begun to be defined, as Edward says, " We must either take Mr. Lorenzo as a joke or shut him up in an asylum." The question arises, Is Lo- renzo a madman or is he a saint? A little later (p. 184) the Duchess heightens the interest by doubting Lorenzo's motives, as she declares that " to be the grandchild of a humble nurse, an ac- complice in having usurped a social position, is the future of that poor girl, if what Mr. Lorenzo says is so." Again, Edward (p. 187) brings the mat- ter to a clearer issue : . . . " everything de- pends on Mr. Lorenzo." Then follow a series of dialogues between Lorenzo and his opponents — ^in the dramatic sense: those who want something in direct opposition to his wishes. Lorenzo's sense of honor and his love for his daughter and wife are the real contending forces ; he himself cares little for the external forces — Edward, the Duch- ess, and Thomas. Through all these scenes the struggle becomes sharper, the issues stand out more plainly. For a moment (p. 192.) Lorenzo seems to waver (" What is truth.? What is false- hood.? ") Then (p. 193) his love for Inez and Angela is almost too much for him : " But you, be- loved women, you, my Inez, why must you go be- 222 ECHEGARAY fore me, marking with your tears the road my feet must stain with blood? I alone, so be it, but not you. My God, help me, for the light of my con- science is dying down, my will is failing, despair is taking possession of my mind." The entrance of Jane takes his mind away from his doubts, and he regains strength to carry out his resolu- tion. We have already seen that it is unwise to keep a secret from the audience; no further justification of the principle can be seen than that which is at hand. Knowing Lorenzo's determi- nation to give up his family name, Jane destroys the only proof (p. 196) upon which Lorenzo can base his assertion that his is not the name which rightfully belongs to him. The stage direction reads : " Throws letter into the fire and bends down to watch it burn." The audience therefore, as Jane soon dies, is the only party let into this se- cret, and assumes its " God-like attitude," await- ing the outcome; the strings draw tighter round Lorenzo, and his ultimate hope, he sees, will be the justification of his actions through the proof of the letter. His opponents will soon resort to des- perate methods. The tension therefore grows with every scene, as the outcome becomes more and more uncertain. If the destruction of the letter and the substitution of the blank were un- known to every one, including, and above all, the audience, the suspense would be greatly lessened; ECHEGARAY 223 we, as interested spectators of the misfortunes and struggles of humanity should have lost the " look- ing-forwardness," as it were, given by a fore- knowledge of the catastrophe. If Lorenzo has the proof, or if he thinks he has it, there is little doubt that he will adduce it at the necessary moment, and all will be well ; but if we know he does not have it, another element of suspense is added, and the ten- sion is therefore much greater. Again, we are forced to ask. What will happen? Jane's deaths bed denial of the story furthers the case against Lorenzo, who is momentarily defeated. He is sure, though, because he has the proof, which he will bring forth when the time is ripe. Lorenzo's opponents, seeing him bent on the fulfilment of his determination, resolve that they will conquer, and Thomas brings in the alienist and his assistants ; Lorenzo must be taken away if he is mad — and it seems that such is the case : seems, that is, to all but the audience. Still further suspense is gained (p. 204!) as Lorenzo makes sure that his letter is in its place. From this point on the letter becomes the center of interest, and the climax, or crux, of the entire play is plainly in view: Lorenzo is either sane, and in consequence, a saint (but he must give ample proof of his sanity), or else (lacking proof of this) he is mad. Everything depends on the proof, and the proof is the letter. Now the audience knows the letter is gone, and wants to see 224 ECHEGARAY how Lorenzo will behave when he learns this, and how his family and friends will behave toward him. The tension is greater than ever before. Con- sider, now, how much of this emotional stress would have been lost had we known nothing of the de- struction of the letter; at the end of the play we should have experienced a shock of surprise, that is all ; now, every moment, we are feeling emotions that are fundamental in the drama, emotions for which we pay and which we wish to have, and would be ill-content without: curiosity and sus- pense. Note (p. 215) how a last touch is added to the pathos of Lorenzo's position, in his words, " I almost pity the traitors. The security of my triumph sustains me." Then (p. 217) comes the highest point in the play (bottom of p. 217, and top of following page) ; this is the veritable climax. The denouement is meteoric, and occupies only two pages. Lorenzo is conquered by force of cir- cumstances, and is taken away as a madman; this is the catastrophe. 3. Compare this play, for subject-matter and treatment, with Ibsen's " An Enemy of the Peo- ple." Contrast the ending of each, and the con- clusions reached. ECHEGARAY 225 y THE GREAT GALEOTTO A play in three acts and a prologue. First published 1874. Translated by Han nah Lynch. " The Great Galeotto " is one of the finest examples of the thesis play. The thesis is made clear in the Prologue and during the course of the play proper is never lost sight of, yet never are the situations or the characters in any way strained to the detriment of the truth, or the verisimilitude of the story. Theme and plot go hand in hand, and are so admi- rably welded that if either were developed more than it is, the play would suffer as an artistic unit. The skill with which the thesis is handled is the more remarkable when we consider that Echegaray had very little experience at the time he was writing. Augier and Dumas fils, the originators of the Aodem thesis play, were still at work, and were both to write some of their most characteristic pieces, while Ibsen had hardly begun his social plays. 1. Compare the Prologue of the " Great Galeotto " with that of Andreyeff's "Anathema " and Alexandre Bisson's " Madame X " (La Femme X).* Of what use is the introductory act? Why does not the author either call it the first act or, omitting it entirely, introduce the material ♦ Untranslated. The play has been produced in the United States, notably by Sarah Bernhardt and Dorothy Donnelly. 226 ECHEGARAY into the exposition of his next (and consequently first) act? 2. For psychological and artistic reasons, we are now aware, a dramatist must vary his scenes. Study Echegaray's methods in the second act. 5. In the Nirdlinger version (" The World and His Wife," published by Kennerley) , new char- acters are introduced, and the time of the play has been changed. Compare the original with this stage version. Which is the better, and why.'' 4. At the time when this play was written, the sohloquy and aside had not gone out of style ; yet how does Echegaray handle these.? Had Pinero, for instance, been writing the play, in what way could he have modified the dialogue so as to do away with these " worn-out conventions " .'' 6. Which is structurally the better play, " The Great Galeotto " or " Madman or Saint ".? Con- sider the works as stories; which is the more ef- fectively presented.'' Which, on the stage (so far as you are able to visualize them), would be more interesting to the average audience? 6. Echegaray's theme is universal: the tongue of more or less innocent gossip does incomparable harm. In her little one-act comedy " Spreading the News " (Maunsel, Dublin), Lady Gregory treats much the same theme, but from its comic side. In what other respects are the plays similar? 7. Does the author consider the Prologue as ECHEGARAY 227 his first act? That is, does he include in it all the exposition proper, and build from it to the de- velopment and climax? See Question 1, present discussion. 8. If some characters had of necessity to be eliminated from the play, which would go first, with the least injury to the whole? Has Eche- garay practised that economy in the number of characters which is so essential to the drama? GALDOS Benito Perez Galdos, like Echegaray, is one of Spain's foremost writers; though better known as a novelist — " Marianela " and " Doria Perfecta " are celebrated ; yet his plays have nevertheless placed him in the front rank of dramatists. He was born in the Canary Islands, at Las Palmas, in 1845. At an early age he went to Madrid, with the intention of studying law, but finding this work unsuited to his taste, turned to journalism. He soon began writing fiction, and wrote a series of romances — National Episodes — that, with a further and subsequent series, have made his name known throughout his own country and Europe.* He did not turn to drama seriously until late in his career — ^the plays date from the early 'nineties to 1905. Galdos's plays are many of them dramatizations of * " In fecundity and in the power of creating characters, Perez-Gald6s vies with Balzac. Parallel with his immense achievement in historical fiction, Perez-Galdds published a collection of romances dealing with contemporary life, its social problems and religious difBculties. Of these the best- known, and perhaps the best, are 'Dofia Perfecta' (1876), 'Gloria' (1877), 'La Familla Leon Roch' (1878), 'Maria- nela' (1878), ' Fortunata y Jacinta ' (1887), and 'Angel Guerra' (1891)." From article Perez-Galdds, Benito; En- cyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. xxi, pp. 139-40. 228 GALDOS 229 his own novels, done by himself; some of them suffer because of this process, but those belonging to his later period are perhaps better, because the author knows better how to combine his knowledge of the drama with that of fiction, thereby giving his plays breadth and character. As throughout all Spanish literature, we find in the plays of this writer an insistence on the " Honor " theme ; in " The Grandfather " it is of great impor- tance. In fact, the play is built upon it. The novel ending of the play is something of a modern innova- tion. This will be considered in our more detailed study. PLAYS Reality (1892). Mad for the Sake of the Family (1893). The Duchess of St. Quentin (1894). The Condemned (1894). Will (1895). Dona Perfecta (1896). The Wild Beast (1896). -^Electha (1901). Soul and Life (1902). Mariucha (1903). -fTHE Grandfather (1904). Barbara (1905). Love and Science (1905). A translation of " Electra " is published in The Drama. May. 1911; and one of " The Grandfather" by Elizabeth Wallace in Poet-Lore, 1911- 230 GALDOS References: Drama. May. 1911 ; Atlantic, vol. cii (p. 358); Era, vol. x (p. 535") ; Critic, vol. xxxix (p . 213); and vol. xlv (p. 447). i^ THE GRANDFATHER A drama in five acts. First published 1904. Trans- lated by Elizabeth Wallace. 1. " The Grandfather," besides being a good acting play, is a psychological study of a revolu- tion in a man's soul. The struggle is clearly de- fined: it takes place in the mind of the Count. Which shall conquer : the honor of a noble lineage, or love for his granddaughter, independent of her birth .'^ There is a curious similarity of theme in " Silas Marner " and " The Grandfather " ; in the novel the consuming passion of the old man is replaced by the love for the child ; Galdos's theme may also be stated in the same terms. Compare further the novel and the play, and notice in what other respects the Spanish and Eng- lish underlying ideas are akin. 2. This play is not technically " up-to-date " ; the soliloquy, used in unnatural ways, is one indi- cation of the fact. The end of the first act (p. 180) is somewhat infelicitous; the Count's out- burst seems out of place. The problem before the dramatist was, how to let the audience know that Lucretia was " a monster of wickedness." . . . GALDOS 231 Many methods were open to him: conversation, cross-examination of friends — any but the one adopted. To have the Count suddenly burst forth with, " Poor foolish town, she who comes to you is a monster of wickedness ; an infamous forger : Do not welcome her ; stone her and throw her out," is certainly old-fashioned in the deprecatory sense of the term. See the end of the first act of Wilde's " Lady Windermere's Fan " for a similar situation, a little better handled. &. The girls Nell and Dolly form a delightful contrast to the old Count ; indeed, they supply the entire dramatic element of variety. Trace this out, and notice how at many of the important crises of each act they balance the other char- acters. They are furthermore the center of dra- matic interest throughout, for the great question as to which is the legitimate heiress to the old family name is always present, and the Count, to whose interest it is to know which is truly his granddaughter, forms the other balancing force. 4. As a review of the principles already taken up, consider the structure, dialogue, and charac- terization of " The Grandfather," and determine, so far as you are able, what plays of other nations it resembles ; whether it is a comedy, farce, melo- drama, social play, thesis play, or what, or whether it is a combination of two or more of these. 232 GALDOS 6. In Echegaray's " Madman or Saint " we con- sidered the principle of suspense. Compare Gal- dos's treatment of the same principle in this play, and determine whether Echegaray's or Galdos's treatment is superior. BIBLIOGRAPHY I. General reference works on the drama^ its the- ory, technique, and history: Archer, William. Playmaking, a Manual of Craftsmanship. Small, Maynard, 1912. ($2.00.) Archer, Frank. X How to Write a Good Play. Samuel French. ($1.75.) Caffin, Charles H. The Appreciation of the Drama. Baker and Taylor, 1908. ($1.50.) Courtney, W. L. X The Idea of Tragedy. Brentano, 1900. Craig, Gordon. On the Art of the Theatre. Charles H. Sergei, X* Chicago, 1912. ($2.00.) Freytag, Gustav. X'The Technique of the Drama. (Translated by Elias J. MacEwen.) Scott, Foresman & Co., 1895. ($1.50.) Hamilton, Clayton. A The Theory of the Theatre. Holt, I9IO. ($1.50.) K Studies in Stagecraft. Holt, 1914. ($1.50.) 333 234 BIBLIOGRAPHY Hennequin, Alfred. K The Art of Playwriting. Houghton Mifflin, 1890. ($1.00.) Hunt, Elizabeth R. The Play of To-day, Studies in Structure. Lane, 1913. ($1.50.) Matthews, Brander. The Development of the Drama. Scribner, 1903. ($1.50.) J( A Study of the Drama. Houghton Mifflin, 1910. ($1.50.) Meredith, George. ^ An Essay on Comedy, and the Uses of the Comic Spirit. Scribner, 1897. ($1.00.) Price, William T. X The Technique of the Drama. Brentano, 1892. ($1.50.) Analysis of Play Construction and Dramatic Principles. W. T. Price, 1908. ($5.00.) )^Thorndike, Ashley H. Tragedy. Houghton Mifflin, 1908. ($1.50.) Vaughn, C. E. Types of Tragic Drama. Macmillan, 1908. ($1.60.) jCWoODBRIDGE, ELIZABETH. The Drama, Its Law and Technique. AUyn and Bacon, 1898. (80c.) II. Books on the modern drama and the modern theater : Archer, William. )f About the Theatre. Unwin, London, 1886. BIBLIOGRAPHY 235 Archer, William, and Granville Barkkr. Scheme and Estimates for a National Theatre. Duffield, 1908. ($3.50.) JVBoRSA, Mario. The EnglishStage of To-day. Lane, 1908. ($2.50.) Carter, Huntley. The New Spirit in Drama and Art. Palmer, London. Dukes, Ashley. X Modern Dramatists. Sergei, 1912. ($1.50.) FiLON, AUGUSTIN. t The English Stage. Dodd, Mead, 1897. X^ Modern French Drama. Chapman and Hall, London, 1898. Hale, Edward Everett, jr. -^ Dramatists of To-day. Holt, 1905. (Revised 1912. $1.50.) Heller, Otto. X^ Studies in Modern German Literature. Ginn & Co., 1905. ($1.60.) Herts, Alice Minnie. The Children's Educational Theatre. Harper, 1912. ($1.25.) Howe, P. P. ^The Repertory Theatre. Kennerley, 1911. ($1.00.) Huneker, James. X* Iconoclasts. Scribner, 1905. ($1.50.) Jones, Henry Arthur. yThe Renascence of the English Drama. Mac- millan, 1895. ($1.50.) 236 BIBLIOGRAPHY The Foundations of a National Drama. Doran, 1913. ($2.50.) MacCarthy, Desmond. ^^ The Court Theatre, 1904-07. Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1907. Mackaye, Percy. The Playhouse and the Play. Macmillan, 1909. ($1.25.) The Civic Theatre. Kennerley, 1912. ($1.25.) McLeod, Addison. Plays and Players of Modern Italy. Sergei, 1912. ($2.75.) Martin, Secker. Dramatic Portraits, 1913. Matthews, Brander. )<' French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century. Scribner, 19O6. ($1.25.) Moses, Montrose J. XThe American Dramatist. Little, Brown, 1911. ($2.50.) Oliver, D. E. The English Stage. John Ouseley, London, 1912. Pollard, Percival. X Masks and Minstrels of New Germany. Luce, 1911. ($1.50.) Scott, Clement. KThe Drama of Yesterday and To-day. Mac- millan, 1899. Symons, Arthur. K Plays, Acting, and Music. Dutton, 1903. ($2.00.) BIBLIOGEAPHY 237 Weygandt, Cornelius. )C Irish Plays and Playwrights. Houghton Mif- flin, 1913. ($2.00.) WiTKOWSKI, GeORG. XThe German Drama of the Nineteenth Century. Holt, 1909. ($1.00.) For further bibliography as well as general history, see Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, article " Drama," and for special bibliography on the Thea- ter and on particular writers, see " The Index of Bib- liography," published by the Boston Book Co., Boston. III. Collected dramatic criticism: Archer, William. The Theatrical World. (5 vols.) Walter Scott, London, 1893-7. Eaton, Walter Prichard. -^The American Stage of To-day. Small, May- nard, 1908. ($1.50.) ^ At the New Theatre and Others. Small, May- nard, I9IO. ($1.50.) Grein, J. T. Dramatic Criticism. John Long, London, 1899. Premieres of the Year. Macqueen, London, 1900. Dramatic Criticism. Greening, London, 1901. Dramatic Criticism. Evelyn Nash, London, 1904. Hapgood, Norman. ^The Stage in America 1899-1900. Macmillan, 1901. ($1.75.) 238 BIBLIOGRAPHY Montague, C. E. X Dramatic Values. Macmillan, 1911. ($1.25.) NiRDLiNGER, Charles Frederick. XMasques and Mummers. DeWitt, 1899. Shaw, George Bernard. )^ Dramatic Opinions and Essays. (2 vols.) Brentano, 1906. ($2.50.) VWalbrook, H. M. Nights at the Play. W. J. Ham-Smith, London, 1911. Walkley, a. B. j( The Drama and Life. Brentano, London, 1911. ($1.75.) yFrames of Mind. Grant Richards, London, 1899. INDEX Aagot, 43 Achurch, Janet, 87 Act rnii^, 71 Action, 191 Actors, plays written for, 171 jEschylus, 3 "Aglavaine and S^lysette," Maeterlinck, 185 Alexander, Archibald, 106, 113 Alexinsky, Gr^goire, SO Alf, 46, 47 Alfieri, 4 " AUadine and Palomides," Maeterlinck, 185, 186 Alma-Tadema, Laurence, 185, 188 " Amoureuse.'' See " Lov- ing Wife, The " Amusement, 13, 14 "Anathema," Andreyeif, 66, 67, 68-71, 325 "Anatol," Schnitzler, 119, 130, 122 " And Pippa Dances," Hauptmann, 88 Andreyeff, Leonid, Biogra- phy, 66; Criticism, 66, 67; Literature on, 67, 68; Plays, list, 67; Play dis- cussed; "Anathema," 68- 71; Referred to, 235 AngMe, 162, 163 Ansorge, 91 Antoine, Andr^, 107, 129, 157 Antona/-Travers6, Giannino, 208 Archer, Wm., 9, 22, 24, 88, 93, 95, 153, 175 " Ardiane and Barhe- bleue," Maeterlinck, 185 Ariane. See Ardiane Aristocracy of to-day, 143 Aristotle, 3 Artistic temperament, 99, 100 "Artists' Families," Brieux, 157 " As a Man Thinks," Thomas, 171 "As the Leaves," Giacosa, 209, 210, 211, 214 " As You Like It," 9, 95 Asckenasy, Ysidor, 152 Ase, 29 Assumption, 93 « At the Hilt of the Sword," Echegaray, 316 Atmosphere, 148, 149, 187- 188 Augier, Emile, 5, 17, 108, 225 " Awakening of Spring; The," Wedekind, 9, 116, 117, 118 Background, 143 Bahr, Hermann, 100 Balzac, 162, 228 Bardach, Emilie, 37 Barker, H. Granville, 6, 120, 186 239 240 INDEX Bataille, 100, 123-124, 182 Baumert, Mother, 91 " Bear, A," Tchekoff, 61 Beaumarchais, S " Beaver Coat, The," Haupt- mann, 88 Becque, Henry, Biography, 129; Criticism, 129-130; Literature on, 131; Plays, list, 130; Play discussed: " The Crows," 131-135 " Before Dawn," Haupt- mann, 86, 86, 87, 88, 97, 107 Beginning a play, 101 Belasco, David, 100 Benavente, Jacinto, 216 Benelli, Sem, 209 Bernhardt, Sarah, 165, 166, 170, 171, 173, 200, 225 Bernstein, Herman, 6, 67, 68, 182 Besier, Rudolf, 155, 169 " Beyond Our Power,'' Bjornson, 41 Bibliography, general, 233 Bisson, Alex., 225 Bjorkman, Edwin, 41, 73, 75, 76, 77, 81, 121 Bjornson, Bjornstjerne, Bi- ography, 39 ; Literature on, 41, 42; Plays, list, 40, 41; Plays discussed: " Gauntlet, A," 44-47, "Leonarda," 42-44; Re- ferred to, 69 " Blanchette," Brieux, 133, 157, 158, 160, 164 "Blind, The," Maeterlinck, 9, 185, 188 Bloodgood, Clara, 171 Bloomfield, Leonard, 87 "Blue Bird, The," Maeter- linck, 38, 186, 189, 190, 195-199 Bourget, Paul, 142 Boyg, The, 31 Bracco, Roberto, 208 Brack, Judge, 35 Braekstad, H. L., 41 "Brand," Ibsen, 20, 26-38, 102 Bridging-over, 25, 26, 111, 132, 133 Brieux, Eugfene, Biography, 157; Criticism, 157-158; Literature on, 160-161 ; Plays, list, 159-160; Play discussed: "Three Daugh- ters of M. Dupont, The," 161-164; Referred to, 6, 19, 45, 100, 133, 153, 320 Browning, Robert, 8, 98 Brunetifere, quoted, 9, 95 Bryan, G. S., 88, 93 Butti, E. A., 208 Button Moulder, 31 CafBn, C. H., 36 Calderon, 4, 316, 330 Calderon, George, 61, 62 "Camille," Dumas fils, 8, 169 " Candida," Shaw, 155, 169 Capus, 132, 183 Caroline, 161-163 Carter, Huntley, 191 Catastrophe, 47 " Catherine," Lavedan, 143 " Catilina," Ibsen, 31, 33 "Cause of It All, The," Tolstoy, 50 Chambers, W. H. H., 61 " Chantecler," Rostand, 166, 167, 168, 170, 175-180, 197 Character, 73, 79, 130 Character and plot, 64, 65 Characterization, 69, 70 Chekov. See Tchekoff " Cherry Garden, The," Tchekoff, 61 " Cherry Orchard, The," Tchekoff, 9, 59, 60, 61 Child as a bond, 150, 153 INDEX 241 "CUldren of the Sun," Gorky, 55 Christensen, 46 " Christmas Homecoming," Von Hofmannsthal, 125 Clark, Barrett H., 137, 142, 152 210 Clarke, Helen A., 185, 188 " Claude's Wife," Dumas Ms, 108 " CMopdtre," Sardou, 171 Climax, 27, 35, 36, 43, 44, 57, 112, 154 "Climbers, The," Fitch, 103 Colborn, G. T., 41 Coleman, A. I. duP., 185 Collaboration of author and actor, 170-172 " Colleague Crampton,'' Hauptmann, 88 Colleville, Mme. de, 22 "Coming of Peace," Haupt- mann, 88 " Companion, The," Schnitz- ler, 121 " Comrades," Strindberg, 73, 75 " Concert, The," Bahr, 100 " Conflagration, The," Hauptmann, 88 Congreve, 5 Conscience, Struggle of, 82 Constantine, 62, 64 Coquelin, Constant, 165, 166, 170, 175 Corneille, 3 " Countess Julie," Strind- berg, 73, 75, 77 " Countess Mizzi," Schnitz- ler, 121 " Country House, A," Gorky, 55 Court scenes, 52, S3 " Cradle, The," Brieux, 153 Craig, Gordon, 191 Crime, 81, 82 "Crows, The," Becque, 129, 130, 131-135 Curel, F. de, 142 Curtains, 109 Curzon, Henri de, 218 Cynicism, 117, 118 " Cyrano de Bergerac," Rostand, 165, 166, 168- 175 "Damaged Goods," Brieux, 19, 158, 160 " Dame Nature," Bataille, 100 "Dance of Death, The," Strindberg, 76 D'Annunzio, Gabriele, Biog- raphy, 200; Criticism, 200- 202; Literature on, 203; Plays, list, 202; Play dis- cussed: "Gioconda," 203- 207; Referred to, 100, 208, 209 "Das Konzert," Bahr, 100 " Daughter of Jorio, The," D'Annunzio, 202-203 David, 69, 70 David, Charlotte T., 146 "Dead City, The," D'An- nunzio, 200, 201, 202 Death, 187 " Death and the Fool," Von Hofmannsthal, 125 " Death of Tintagiles," Maeterlinck, 185, 186 "Debit and Credit," Strind- berg, 76 Decadent, 200 Degeneration, 100, 101 Delano, Aline, 55 De Lepelin, 22 De Mille, Wm. C, 112 " Demi-Monde," Dumas fils, 108 " Creditors," Strindberg, 73, Dialogue, 62, 78, 79, 84, 122- 75 124, 187 242 INDEX " Die Ehre," Sudermann, 104. "Disraeli," Parker, 134 Divorce, 73, 150, 153; Rus- sian laws, 51 "Divor?ons," Sardou, 98 Dole, Helen B., 168 "Doll's House, A," Ibsen, 19, 20, 29, 31-34, 101, 154 " Don," Besier, 155, 169 Donnay, Maurice, Biography and criticism, 145; Litera- ture on, 146; Plays, list, 145-146; Play discussed: " The Other Danger," 146- 149; Referred to, 123, 132, 133 Donnelly, Dorothy, 225 Dorn, 62 Dornis, Jean, 208 Double standard, 44, 45 Drama. See Play " Drayman Henschel," Hauptmann, 88, 100-103 " Dream of an Autumn Sun- set, The," D'Annunzio, 201, 202 " Dream of a Spring Morn- ing, The," D'Annunzio, 200, 202 "Dream Play," Strindberg, 76, 118 "Duke and the Actress, The," Schnitzler, 121 Dumas flls, 5, 17, 108, 143, 169, 225 "Dust in the Eyes," La- biche, 163 " Easter," Strindberg, 76, 77 Echegaray, Jos6, Biography, 215; Criticism, 215-216; Literature on, 219; Plays, list, 217-218; Plays dis- cussed: "Great Galeotto, The," 225-227, "Madman or Saint," 219-224; Re- ferred to, 207, 232 " Edipus." See CEdipus Edwards, Osman, 41 Eisemann, Fred, 61 " El Libro Talonario," Eche- garay, 15-216 " Electra," Gald(5s, 229 "Electra," Von Hofmanns- thal, 125, 126-128 "Elga," Hauptmann, 88 Elizabeth, Age of, 4 Elliott, Maxine, 171 " Embers," Middleton, 114 Emerson, R. W., 182 Emotion and intellect, 9 Emphatic ending, 134, 135, 207 "Enchained," Hervieu, 152 Ending, 134-135, 207 " Enemy of the People, An," Ibsen, 18, 84, 224 English drama, 4 " Enigma, The," Hervieu, 173 Entrance of principal char- acter, 169-170 Erichsen, N., 75, 77 Esthete, 201 " Eternal Masculine, The," Sudermann, 106 Euripides, 3 Evarts, Mrs. M. E., 60 " Evasion, The," Brieux, 158 Exposition, 24, 43, 110, 169, " Facing Death," Strind- berg, 76, 77 Faguet, Emile, quoted on Rostand, 166, 176 "Faith," Brieux, 160 Falkner, 36 " Fantasticks, The," Ros- tand, 167 " Faraway Princess, The," Sudermann, 106 Farquhar, S INDEX 243 "Father, The," Strindberg, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77-81 "Faust," Goethe, 68 Fedia, S3 FeU, Marian, 61, 62 "Festival of Peace, The," Hauptmann, 87 "Fires of St. John, The," Sudermann, 106 "First Distiller, The," Tol- stoy, 60 Fiske, Mrs. Minnie Mad- dern, 96, 171 Fitch, Clyde, 103, 171 Flat, Paul, 155 Fleming, Geo., 167 Fogazzaro, 200-201 " Folly or Salntliness," Echegaray, 219 Foreshadowing, 25, 27, 33, 63, 204 " Francesca da Kimini," D'Annunzio, 202 Frank, Grace, 106 Franziska, 111 French Academy, 150, 157, 166 French characters, 70 French court, 45 French drama, 3, 182 French Naturalistic School, 129 Freydiferes, 148 " Fritzchen," Sudermann, 106, 113-114 "Fruits of Culture, The," Tolstoy, 50 " Fruits of Enlightenment, The," Tolstoy, 50 Fuchs, Georg, 191 " Fuhrmann Henchel," Hauptmann, 88 Galdds, Benito Perez, Biog- raphy, 228; Criticism, 228- 229; Literature on, 230; Plays, list, 229; Play dis- cussed; "The Grandfa- ther," 230-232; Referred to, 216 Galsworthy, 96, 103, 122, 131, 134 "Game of Chess, A," Gia- cosa, 210 "Gauntlet, A," Bjornson, 25, 26, 40, 41, 42, 44-47, 154 " Gceography and Love," Bjornson, 41 George, 35 George de Porto-Riche, 100, 139 Georges, 138 German drama in the 80's, 108 German Free Theater, 107 " Getting Married," Shaw, 9 "Ghosts," Ibsen, 9, 19, 95, 101 " Gioconda," D'Annunzio^ 100, 202, 203-207 Giocosa, Giuseppe, Biogra- phy, 208; Criticism, 208- 209; Literature on, 210; Plays, list, 209-210; Play discussed: "As the Leaves," 211-214; Re- ferred to, 201 "Gismonda," Sardou, 171 Goethe, 68, 97 Goldoni, 5 Goldsmith, 5 Gorky, Maxim, Biography, 54; Criticism, 64; Litera- ture on, 56; Plays, list, 54, 55; Play discussed: "The Lower Depths," 55- 58 Gosse, quoted on Ibsen, 37 Gottwald, 68 Goudiss, Dr. A., 67 " Grandfather, The," Gal- d(5s, 229, 230-232 " Great Galeotto, The," 244, INDEX Echegaray, 68, 219, 225- 227 Greek drama, 3 "Green Cockatoo," Schnitz- ler, 121 Gregory, Lady, 226 Grein, J. T., 207 Guido, 193, 195 Guillaume, 155 Guillemand, M. F., 168 Guimera, Angel, 216 Hagbart, 43 Hakon, 23 Hall, Gertrude, 168, 175 Hamilton, Clayton, Defini- tion of a play, 98; Quoted, 7, 9, 11 " Hamlet," 27, 174 Hankin, St. John, 160, 161 " Hannele," Hauptmann, 9, 58, 88, 93-96 Happiness, 69, 196 Harden, Maximilian, 115 Harned, Mary, 75, 76, 88, 106 Harness, 134 Harry, Gerard, 185 Hauptmann, Gerhart, Biog- raphy, 85; Criticism, 85, 86; Literature on, 88, 89; Plays, list, 86, 87; Plays discussed : " Drayman Henschel," 100-103, " Han- nele," 93-96, " Sunken Bell, The," 96-100, "Weavers, The," 89-93; Referred to, 11, 58, 84 "Heart of a Tenor, The," Wedekind, 116 "Hedda Gabler," Ibsen, 21, 29, 30, 34-36, 63, 103, 143, 169 HefiFterdingt, 110, 111 Heinrich, 99, 100 Heller, Otto, 31 Helmer, 32-34 Hender, Mary, 167 Henry, Alice, 203 "Henry of Aue," Haupt- mann, 88 , Henschel. See " Drayman Henschel " " Her Own Way," Fitch, 171 Heredity, 29 Hervieu, Paul, Biography, ISO; Criticism, 150-151; Literature on, 152; Plays, list, 151; Play discussed: " The Labyrinth," 152- 156; Referred to, 6, 70, 123, 139, 140, 157, 173 " High Road, The," Sheldon, 171 Hilda, 38 "His House in Order," Pi- nero, 154 Hollander, L. W., 41 Home, 110 " Home," Maeterlinck, 185 " Home," Sudermann. See "Magda" Honor, 108, 113, 220, 229 "Honor," Sudermann, 107- 109 Hopkins, Edwin, 55 House, Roy T., 61, 87 " House of Fourchambault, The," Augier, 108 Hovey, Richard, 185, 187, 188 Howard, Velma S., 76 Huneker, 151 Huret, Maurice, quoted on Ibsen and Hauptmann, 97 Husband and wife, 138-140 Ibsen, Henrik, Biography, 17; Criticism, 17-19; Lit- erature on, 22, 23; Plays, list of, 19-22; Plays dis- cussed: " Brand," 26-28, "Doll's House, A,'= 31-34, " Hedda Gabler," 34-36, INDEX 245 " Master Builder, The," 36-38, "Peer Gynt," 28- 31, " Pretenders, The," 23- 26; Quoted on action in drama, 108, 109; Referred to, 5, 20, 29, 31, 33, 63, 84, 97, 101, 103, 143, 148, 224, 325 "Ibsen Secret, The," Lee, 28 Incest, 12, 301 "In Chains," Hervieu, 140, 153 " In the Depths," Gorlqr, 55 " Independent Woman, The," Brieux, 133, 160 " Infected Family, The," "^ Tolstoy, 50 Influences, 96 Insanity, 77, 79 Intellect and emotion, 9 " Interior," Maeterlinck, 9, 185, 186 " Intermezzo," Schnitzler, 131 "Intruder, The," Maeter- linck, 9, 185, 187-188, 189, 190 " Iris," Pinero, 44 Irving, Laurence, 55 Irving Place Theater, 87, 106 Isola, Pietro, 303 Italian drama, 4, 208-209 Italian Molifere, 6 " Ivanov," Tchekoff, 61 Jaeger, 91, 92 Jerome, J. K., 58 " Johannes," Sudermann, 106 "John the Baptist," Suder- mann, 106 Jones, Henry A., 35, 44, 154, 171 Jorio. See "Daughter of Jorio" "Joy of Living," Suder- mann, 106 "Joyzelle," Maeterlinck, 185 " Julia," Strindberg, 75 Julie, 161-164 "Julie," Strindberg, 75 " Justice," Galsworthy, 25, 53, 103, 122 Kayden, Eugene M., 67 Kennedy, C. R., 68 " King Hunger," Andreyeff, 67 " King Lear," 43, 190 Kingsbury, H. T., 168 Klara, 135 "Know Thyself," Hervieu, 70 Kostoloff, 56, 57 Krogstad, 33 "La Berceau." See "Cra- dle, The " Labiche, Eugfene, 65, 163 " Laboremus," Bjornson, 41 "Labyrinth, The," Hervieu, 139, 140, 151, 152-156 " La Chance de Fran^oise,"' Georges de Porto-Riche, 100 "La Douloureuse," Donnay, 133 "Lady Windermere's Fan," Wilde, 26, 44, 123, 231 "Lady with the Dagger, The," Schnitzler, 121 "La Femme nue," Bataille, 100 " L'Aiglon," Rostand, 166, 168, 170 Lamb, Chas., 173, 190 Lansing, Ruth, 319 " La Parisienne," Becque, 139, 130, 132 "La Poudre aux Yeux." See "Dust in the Eyes" "Last Visit, The," Suder- mann, 106 246 INDEX "Latest Fad, The," Lave- dan, 141 " La Tosca," Sardou, 171 "Laura," 78-81 "L'Avare." See "Miser, The" Lavedan, Henri, Biography and criticism, 141 ; Litera- ture on, 142; Plays, list, 141-142; Play discussed: " The Prince d'Aurec," 142-144; Referred to, 132 "League of Youth," Ibsen, 37 Leblanc, Georgette. See Maeterlinck, Madame Le Bon, Gustave, quoted, 8, 10 "Le D6dale." See "Laby- rinth, The" Lee, Jennette, 28 "Legacy, The," Schnitzler, 119, 121 Lemattre, Jules, Biography, 136; Literature on, 137; Plays, list, 137; Play dis- cussed: "The Pardon," 137-140; Referred to, 147 "L'Emigr^," Bourget, 142 " Leonardo," Bjornson, 40, . 41, 42-44, 69 " Les Fossiles," Cure!, 142 Lessing, 5 "Lesson in Marriage, A," Bjornson, 41 " Les Tenailles." See " Nip- pers, The" Lewlsohn, Ludwig, 87, 88, 100 " Liars, The," Jones, 35, 44 Liberma, M. F., 177 Life, 130 "Life of Man, The," An- dreyeff, 67 " Light-o'-Love," Schnitzler, 119, 120, 121-124 "Light That Shines in Darkness, The," Tolstoy, SO " Like Falling Leaves," Gla- cosa, 210 Lindekuh, 135 Linden, Mrs., 33 " Link, The," Strindberg, 76, 153 "Living Corpse, The," Tol- stoy, 50 "Living Hours," Schnitzler, 121 " Lonely Lives," Haupt- mann, 88, 97 " Lonely Way, The," Schnitz- ler, 121 Lope de Vega, 4 Lorenzo, 220-224 Love and duty, 192 "Love of One's Neighbor," Andreyeff, 67 "Lovers," Donnay, 145 " Loving Wife, The," Porto- Riche, 139, 140 "Lower Depths, The," Gor- ky, 65-68, 70, 103 Lucio, 204-207 "Lucky Pehr," Strindberg, 76, 118 Luka, 57, 58 Lynch, Hannah, 219, 225 " Lysistrata," Donnay, 145 " Macbeth," 13, 27 MacClintock, Lander, 152 " Machine, The," Brieux, 168 McLeod, Addison, 209, 210 "Madame Aubray's Ideas," Dumas flls, 108 " Madame Caverlet," An- gier, 108 "Madame X," Bisson, 53, 225 Madeleine, 148 " Madman Divine, The," Echegaray, 219 "Madman or Saint," Eche- INDEX 247 garay, 135, 207, 319-224, 226, 232 Maeterlinck, Maurice, Biog- raphy, 181-183; Criticism, 181-183; Literature on, 186-187; Plays, list, 184- 185; Plays discussed: "Blue Bird, The," 195- 199, " Intruder, The," 187- 188, " Monna Vanna," 191-195, " PeU6as and M6- lisande," 188-191; Re- ferred to, 9, 166 Maeterlinck, Mme., 191 " Magda," Sudermann, 27, 100, 105, 106, 110-113 Mairauts, 162, 163 Malet, Lucas, 160 " Man and Superman," Shaw, 81, 99 " Man in Black, The," Eche- garay, 219 "Man Who Was Dead, The," Tolstoy, 50, 51-53, 69, 70, 103 Mandell, M. S., 61 Mannering, Mary, 171 Mansfield, Richard, 173 Manson, 58 Mantellini, G., 202 Marco, 194 " Margot," Sudermann, 106 Margrete, 24 " Mariana," Echegaray, 219 Marianne, 153, 154, 155 Marie, 111 Marion, 83, 84 "Marquis de Priola, The," Lavedan, 141 Marriage, French, 161 " Marriage Proposal, A," TchekofF, 61 Marshall, Beatrice, 106 " Mary Magdalene," Maeter- linck, 186 "Mary, Queen of Scots," Bjbrnson, 41 Masefleld, 103 Masha, 62 Mason, John, 171 "Master Builder, The," Ib- sen, 21, 36-38 "Master Olof," Strindberg, 72 " Mate, The," Schnitzler, 121 " Maternity," Brieux, 53, 158, 160 Mattern, Hannele, 93 Maude, Aylmer, 50 Maude, Louise, 50 Maurice, 82, 83 Max, 153, 154, 155 Medvedenko, 62 M61isande, 189 Meltzer, C. H., 88, 93, 96 Manage k trois, 138-140 " Manages d' Artistes," Brieux, 100 Mencken, H. L., 160 Merckens, 131 Meyerkhold, 191 Miall, Bernard, 185 "Michael Kramer," Haupt- mann, 86, 87, 88, 100 " Mid-Caiannel," Pinero, 25, 154 " Middle Class, The," Gorky, 55 Middleton, Geo., 114 " Midsummer Night's Dream," 97 Mirbeau, Octave, 181 " Miser, The," Molifere, 163 " Miss Julia," Strindberg, 75 "Modesty," Hervieu, 162 Molifere, 133, 163 " Monna Vanna," Maeter- linck, 185, 189, 191-195 Moody, Wm. Vaughn, 43 Morgan, B. Q., 121 Morison, Mary, 88, 89 " Morituri," Sudermann, 106, 113 248 INDEX Moscow Art Theater, 190, 191 Moses, M. J., 28, 31 " Motherlove," Strindberg, 76 " Mr. H.," Lamb, 173 " Mrs. Dane's Defence," Jones, 164 " Music," Wedekind, 135 Mytyl, 197-199 " Nachtasyl," 55 Naturalist movement, 107 Naturalistic School, 129 " New System, The," Bjorn- son, 41 " Newly-Married Couple, The," Bjbrnson, 41 "Night Shelter, A," Gorky, 55 " Nihilist, The," Tolstoy, 60 Nina, 63 " Nippers, The," Hervieu, 133, 139, 140, 150, 151, 153 Nirdlinger, C. F., 219, 226 Nora, 32-34 North, Mrs., 46 Norwegians, 28, 29 Obligatory scene, 163-164, 194 (Edipus, 9, 12, 174 " Olaf Liljekrans," Ibsen, 21,22 Oland, E. and W., 75, 76, 77 One-act play, 113, 114 " One Family," Lavedan, 141 Opening scene, 68, 69 " Other Danger, The," Don- nay, 145, 146-149 "Outcast, The," Strindberg, 76 "Outlaw, The," Strindberg, 76, 77 Painting, 143 Papot, B6n6dict, 130, 131 " Paracelsus," Schnitzler, 121 " Pardon, The," Lemaitre, 137-140 " Pariah," Strindberg, 76, 77 Parker, Louis N., 134, 168 "Passing of the Third Floor Back, The," Jerome, 68 "Passing of the Torch, The," Hervieu, 161 Payne, Wm. M., 41 "Peer Gynt," Ibsen, 30, 23, 28-31, 97, 102 " Pell^as and Mflisande," Maeterlinck, 185, 188-191 Perez-Galdds. See Galdds " Philanthropists, The," Brieux, 158, 160 Phillips, Stephen, 6 "Physician of His Own Honor," Calderon, 220 "Pigeon, The," Galsworthy, 131 Pinero, Sir Arthur, 34, 25, 44, 61, 103, 131, 164, 169, 326 " Pippa Dances, And," Hauptmann, 88 "Pippa Passes," Browning, 98 Play, Definition, 6-11 ; Read- ing and seeing, 38; Time limit, 10; What consti- tutes, 3 Plot and character, 64, 65 Poe, E. A., 182 Poetry and drama, 98 " Point de Lendemain," Hervieu, 160 Polk, G. E., 106 Pollard, Percival, quoted on Von Hofmannsthal, 125 Pollock, John, 160 Porter, Charlotte, 106, 185, 188, 202-203 Porter, H. C, 106 INDEX 249 Porter, Helen T., 106, 121 Porto-Riche, 100, 139 "Power of Darkness," Tol- stoy, 50 Praga, Marco, 209 Presentation of plays, im- perfect, 190-191 " Press Cuttings," Shaw, 114 " Pretenders, The," Ibsen, 30, 23-26 " Pretty Sabine Woman, The," AndreyefF, 67 "Prince d'Aurec, The," La- vedan, 139, 141, 142-144 " Princess Faraway, The," Rostand, 165, 168 " Princess Maleine, The," Maeterli-'-k, 181, 185, 188 PrinzivaUe, 192, 194, 195 Problem play, 5 " Proposal, A," Tchekoff, 61 Pimch, 134 Quintero, Joaquin, 216 Racine, 3 Ragnhild, Lady, 24 Raisonneurs, 109 " Rats, The," Hauptmann, 88 Recht, Chas., 75 " Reconciliation, The," Hauptmann, 87 "Red Cock, The," Haupt- mann, 88 "Red Robe, The," Brieux, S3, 158, 160, 220 Redlich, Marian A., 88, 100 Reissner, 135 Renauld, Chas., 168 Repetition, 24 " Return from Jerusalem," Donnay, 123, 145 Reinhardt, Max, 191 Rhythm, 82, 83 Roberts, R. Ellis, 22 Roman drama, 3 " Romancers, The," Rostand, 165, 167 " Romeo and Juliet," 43 Rose, Henry, quoted on " The Blue Bird," 196 " Rose Bernd," Hauptmann, 88 " Ross Cavalier," Von Hof- mannsthal, 125 Rosen, Gen., 43 " Roses," Sudermann, 106 " Rosmersholm," Ibsen, 101 Rostand, Edmond, Biogra- phy, 165; Criticism, 165- 166; Literature on, 168; Plays, list, 167; Plays dis- cussed: " Chantecler," 175- 180, "Cyrano de Ber- gerac," 168-175; Quoted on " Chantecler," 177-178; Re- ferred to, 6 Rouch^, Jacques, 191 " Roundels," Schnitzler, 119 Rovetta, Gerolamo, 209 " Rudin," Turgenev, 58 Rules, 57, 71 Russian characters, 70 Russian literature, 50 " Sacred Ground," Giacosa, 210 "Sacred Wood, The," Ros- tand, 166 "Sad Woman, The," Don- nay, 145 Sahlberg, Aug., 41 "Salvation NeU," Sheldon, 171 Samuel, H. B., 121 " Samum," Strindberg, 76 Sarah, 69, 70 Sarcey, Francisque, 153 Sarda, Fredico, 319 Sardou, 5, 98, 134, 171 Satine, 57, 58 " Sawa," Andreyeff, 67 Sctoe k faire, 153-154, 193 250 INDEX Schenck, Anna, 203 Schiller, 5 Schnitzler, Arthur, Biogra- phy, 119; Criticism, 119; Literature on, 121; Plays, list, 119-120; Play dis- cussed: " Light-o'-Love," 121-124 " School for Scandal," 14, IS Schwartze, 110, 111, 112 Scribe, 5, 24, 134 " Seagull, The," Tchekoff, 60, 61, 62-65, 69, 70, 100, 103 " Second Mrs. Tanqueray, The," Pinero, 103, 169 Secret, keeping from the audience, 172-174 Seltzer, Thos., 67 Seneca, 3 Serafin, 216 "Servant in the House, The," Kennedy, S8 Settala, Silvia, 204-207 " Seven Princesses, The," Maeterlinck, 185, 188 Sex problem, 145, 146 Sexes, struggle of, 79 Shakspere, 4, 171 Sharp, R. F., 41 Shaw, Bernard, 6, 81, 98, 114, 155, 160, 162-163, 169 Shaw, Mrs. Bernard, 160 Sheldon, Edw., 171 Shelley, 8 Sheridan, 5, 14, 15 " Ship, The," D'Annunzio, 201, 203 Sierra, 216 " Lightless, The," Maeter- linck, 185 "Sigurd Slembe," Bjornson, 41 " Silas Marner," 230 Silvia, 204-207 "Silver Box, The," Gals- worthy, 63, 96 " Simoom," Strindberg, 76 Skule, 23 Smith, Stanley A., 208, 210 "Smug Citizen, The," Gor- ky, 55 Social play, 108 Solness, 38 "Son of Don Juan, The," Echegaray, 216, 219 " Son of Giboyer, The," Au- gier, 108 Sophocles, 3 " Sorceress, The," Sardou, 171 Sorin, 62 Spanish drama, 4, 216-216 Speeches, long, 170 " Spook Sonata, The," Strindberg, 77 " Spreading the News," Lady Gregory, 226 Stage management, 190, 191 Stanislavsky, 191 Star system, 171 Static drama, 182-183, 188 Stephenson, Mary L., 121 Stewart, Jas., 219 Stockmann, Dr., 18 " Stranger, The," 68 Stratton, Clarence, 185 Strauss, Richard, 126 "Streaks of Light," Suder- mann, 106 " Strife," Galsworthy, 134 Strindberg, August, Biog- raphy, 72, 73; Criticism, 73; Literature on, 77; Plays, list, 73-76; Trans- lations, 75-77; Plays dis- cussed: "Father, The," 77- 81, "There Are Crimes and Crimes," 81-84; Re- ferred to, 63, 153 " Stronger, The," Giacosa, 210 " Stronger, The," Strindberg, 76, 77 INDEX 251 Struggle, 9, 95, 192 " Stubbornness of Geraldine, The," Fitch, 171 "Such is Life," Wedekind, 116, 117-118 Sudermann, Hermann, Biog- raphy, 104; Criticism, 104; Literature on, 106, 107; Plays, list, 105, 106; Plays discussed: "Fritzchen," 113, 114, "Honor," 107- 109, "Magda," 110-113; Referred to, 100 Suicide, 53, 102, 103 Sulger-Gebing, cited on Hauptmann, 99 " Summer Folk," Gorky, 55 " Sunken Bell, The," Haupt- mann, 86, 87, 88, 96-100 Surprises, 83, 172-174 Suspense, 194, 220-224, 232 Sutro, Alfred, 185, 191 Suzanne, 138 Svava, 46, 47 Swan, Arthur, 75 "Swan Song, The," Tche- koflF, 61 " Swanwhite," Strindberg, 76 Swickard, Chas., 106 Symbolism, 28, 37, 38, 196, 197 Symons, Arthur, 126, 193, 196, 202, 203 Tableau series drama, 90 " Tanner," Shaw, 81 Tchekoff, Anton, Biography, 59, 60; Criticism, 60; Lit- erature on, 61; Plays, list, 60, 61; Play discussed: "The Seagull," 62-65; Referred to, 6, 69, 100 Technique, 34, 131 Teixeira de Mattos, A., 185, 186, 195 "Teja," Sudermann, 106 Temperament, 99, 100 "Tempest, The," 43 Tench, 134 " Tenor, The," Wedekind, 116 Tesman, Miss, 35 Theatre Libre, 107, 129, 157 " Th6dora," Sardou, 171 "There Are Crimes and Crimes," Strindberg, 63, 74, 75, 81-84 Therfese, 138 Thesis play, 44-47, 157, 161, 225 Third act, 84 Thomas, Aug., 171 Thomas, Gladys, 168 "Three Daughters of M. Dupont, The," Brieux, 70, 139, 160, 161-164 " Three Heron's Feathers, The," Sudermann, 106 " Thunderbolt, The," Pinero, 24, 131 Tilden, Freeman, 130 "To the Stars," AndreyefF, 66, 67 Tolstoy, Leo, Biography, 48, 49; Criticism, 49; Litera- ture on, 50; Plays, list, 49, 50; Play discussed: "The Man Who Was Dead," 50, 51-53; Referred to, 97 Toni, 123 "Tour of the World in 80 Days," Verne, 174 Tragedy, 152-153, 207 "Tragedy of Nan, The," Masefield, 103 Trast, 109 Treplef, 62, 63 Triangle, French, 138-140 Tridon, Andr6, 116 Trigorin, 63 "Truth, The." Fitch, 171 Turgenev, 58 252 INDEX "Two Nobilities, The," La- vedan, 142 "Two Plays by Tchekoff," 61 Tyltyl, 197-199 "Uncle Vanya," Tchekoff, 61 " Unemphatic ending," 134- 135, 207 Unity, 13, 14, 51 Updegraff, Allan, 310 Updegraff, Edith, 210 Vanbrugh, 5 Verne, Jules, 174 Victor, 52 Vigneron, 131 Von Hofmannsthal, Hugo, Biography, 125; Criticism, 125; Literature on, 126; Plays, list, 126; Play dis- cussed: "Electra," 126- 128 Von KeUer, 112 " Vultures, The," Becque, 130 Wallace, Elizabeth, 216, 229, 230 " Wanderings of Lucky-Per, The," Strindberg, 76 " Warrior's Mound, The," Ibsen, 21, 22 "Waste," Barker, 8 Watson, Ellen, 219 " Weavers, The," Haupt- mann, 9, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89- 93, 103 Wedekind, Frank, Biogra- phy, 115; Criticism, 115- 116; Literature on, 117; Plays, list, 116; Play dis- cussed: "Such is Life," 117-118; Referred to, 136 West, Elizabeth H., 219 Weysz, Hans, 121 Wharton, Edith, 106 Wheeler, C. E., 88 "When the New Wine Blooms," Bjornson, 41 " Wild Duck, The," Ibsen, 18 Wilde, Oscar, 44, 123, 231 Wilson, Wm., 185 Winslow, C. E. A., 106, 110 "Witching Hour," Thomas, 171 Wolfe, A. T., 55 Woman, Degeneration, 100, 101 ; Strindberg on, 73 "Woman, The," De Mille, 112 " Woman of No Impor- tance, A," 123 "Woman of Paris, The," Becque, 130, 132 "Woman of Samaria, The," Rostand, 165 Woman with a past, 42 "World and His Wife, The," Echegaray, 219, 226 Wuppermann, C. D. S., 219 Wyndham r61es, 171 Youngest Germany, 107 Ziegler, F. J., 75, 76, 116, 117, 136 SIXTH EDITION, ENLARGED AND WITH PORTRAITS HALE'S DRAMATISTS OF TO-DAY Rostand, Hauptmann, Sudermann, PiNERO, Shaw, Phillips, Maeterlinck By Prof. Edward Everett Hale, Jr., of Union College. With gilt top, $1.50 net; by mail, |i.6o. Since this work first appeared in 1905, Maeterlinck's Sister Beatrice, The Blue Bird and Mary Magdalene, Rostand's Chantecler and Pinero's Mid-Channel and The Thunder- bolt — among the notable plays by some of Dr. Hale's drama- tists — have been acted here. Discussions of them are added to this new edition, as are considerations of Bernard Shaw's and Stephen Phillips' latest plays. The author's papers on Hauptmann and Sudermann, with slight additions, with his "Note on Standards of Criticism," "Our Idea of Tragedy," and an appendix of all the plays of each author, with dates of their first performance or publication, complete the volume. Bookman : " He writes in a pleasant, free-and-easy way. ... He accepts things chiefly at their face value, but he describes them so ac- curately and agreeably that he recalls vividly to mind the plays we have seen and the pleasure we have found in them." iV«z(; Ybri Evening- Post : "It is not often nowadays that a theatrical b' )ok can be met with so free from gush and mere eulogy, or so weighted by common sense ... an excellent chronological appendix and full index . . . uncommonly useful for reference." Dial: " Noteworthy example of literary criticism in one of the most Interesting of literary fields. . . . Provides a varied menu of the most interesting character. . . . Prof. Hale establishes confidential relations with the reader from the start. . . . Very definite opinions, clearly reasoned and amply fortified by example. . . . Well worth reading a second time." New York Tribune: " Both instructive and entertaining." Brooklyn Ea^le: "A dramatic critic who is not just 'busting' him- self with Titanic intellectualities, but who is a readable dramatic critic. . . . Mr. Hale is a modest and sensible, as well as an acute and sound critic. . . . Most people will be surprised and delighted with Mr.. Hale's simplicity, perspicuity and ingenuousness." The Theatre: "A pleasing lightness of touch. . . . Very read- able book." HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK By GEORGE MIDDLETON NOWADAYS A Play in Three Acts $i.cx> net ; by mail, $i.o8. The first published full-length play by the author of Embers, already in its second edition, and Tradition and Other One-Act Flays. A comedy-drama of present-day conditions. It deals specifically with the conflicting demands made upon a mother by her conservative hus- band and her radical daughter which lead to a series of situations revealing the deep comedy of modern life as it affects " the family feeling." It is a quiet play with an unusual love story and is probably the first by an American dramatist which attempts to portray, in a sympathetic fashion, the real meaning of the so-called woman movement. EMBERS With The Failures, The Gargoyle, In His House, Madonna and The Man Masterful. 2nd printing. $1.35 net; by mail, f 1.43. These one-act plays of American Life To-day are perfectly practical for clever amateurs and especially available for club discussion and reading. Embers shows the influence of an ideal on a life; The Failures portrays what love may become in weak characters. The Gargoyle shows the pathos and insincerity of the literary temperament. In His House and The Man Masterful are intimate studies of marriage. Madonna is a delicate picture of a girl's psychology on her wedding eve. Prof. William Lyon Phelps of Yale: "The plays are admirable; the conversations have the true style of human speech, and show first-rafe economy of words, every syllable advancing the plot. The little dramas are full of cerebration, and I shall recommend them in my public lectures." TRADITION With On Bail, Mothers, Waiting, Their Wife and The Cheat of Pity. $1.35 net; by mail, $1.43. A companion volume to the above. Tradition deals with the attempt of the dominant though kindly man of the family to crush the artistic ambitions of his wife and daughter through their economic dependence. On Bail is a remorseless picture of a social parasite. Mothers shows the demands of society upon motherliness, while Waiting is a tender portrayal of a long delayed marriage due to traditional feelings. Their Wife is an ironical comedy in the miasma of intrigue; The Cheat of Pity gives an intimate stud^ of marriage and the relative claims of passion with pity and the habit of life. Clayton Hamilton in an extended notice in The Bookman: "All of these little pieces are admirable in technique: they are soundjy con- structed and written in natural and lucid dialogue. . . . He has sounded to the depths the souls of those eccentric and extraordinary women whom he has chosen to depict." HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK By Clayton Hamilton STUDIES IN STAGECRAFT (Just published.) $1.50 net Contents: The New Art of Making Plays, The Pictorial Stage, Thff PeSOjatiYSJiiraHia. The Drama of Illusion. The Modern Art of Stage Direction, A Plea for a New Type of Play, The Period of Pragmatism. T lafi T Jndramatic Drama. The Value of Stage Conventions, Th^ j^^ypernatural Drama ! i Irish National Theatre. The Per sonality of the Plav- ght. Themes and Stories of the !5tai~ Yesteryear, A Moving-Picture Play, "i^ i^he One-A ct flav in Amer|r!^„ Organizing an Audience. The Function of Dramatic Criticism . THE THEORY OF THE THEATRE 4th Printing. $1.50 net. The Theory of the Theatre. — What is a Play?— The Psvyhology of Theatre Audiences . — The Actor and the Dra- matist. — ^btage Conventions in Modern Times. — Economy o f Attention in Theatrical Performances . — Emph'asis in the Drama. — The Four Leading Types of Drama: Tragedy and Melodrama ; Comedy and Farce. — The Modern Social Drama Other Principles of Dramatic Criticism. — The Public and the Dramatist. — Dramatic Art and the Theatre Business. — Imitation and Suggestion in the Drama. — Dramatic Litey ^^- ture and Theatric Tqurnalism . — The Intention of Perform- ance.— i'he yuality of New Endeavor.— iThe Effect of Plays upon the Public. — Pleasant and ^ Unpleasant Pjays . — Themes in the Theatre. — The Function ot iirrayil'iklion, e^c., etc. Bookman: "Presents coherently a more substantial body of idea on the subject than perhaps elsewhere accessible.*' Boston Transcript: "At every moment of his discussion he has a firm grasp upon every phase of the subject." THE GERMAN DRAMA OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY By Georg Witkowski. Translated by Prof. L. E. Horning. Kleist, Grillparzer, Hebbel, Ludwig, Wildenbruch, Sudermann, Haupt- mann, and minor dramatists receive . attention. 12mo. $1.00. New York Times Review: "The translation of this brief, clear and logical account was an extremely happy idea. Nothing at the same time so comprehensive and^ terse has appeared on the subject, and it is a subject of increasing interest to the English-speaking public." HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Marjorie Patterion's THE DUST OF THE ROAD A vivid story of stage life by an actress. Her characters are hard-working, but humorous and clean-living. With col- ored frontispiece, $1.30 net. New York Tribune: "Her story would not be so vivid and convincing if its professional part, at least, had not been lived. The glamor of the stage^js found here where it should be, in the ambition of the young girl, in the fine enthusiasm of the manager. There is humor here, and pathos, friendship, loyalty, the vanity of which we hear so much." New York Sun: "In a particularly illuminating way, many points are. touched upon which will be read with interest in these days when the young daughters of families are bound to go forth and attack the world for themselves." READY AUGUST 29TH THREE MODERN PLAYS FROM THE FRENCH Lemaitre's The Pardon, and Lavedan's Prince D'Aurec, translated by Barrett H. Clark, with Donnay's The Other Danger, translated by Charlotte Tenney David, with an intro- duction to each author by Barrett H. Clark and a Preface by Clayton Hamilton. One volume. Probable price, $1.50 net. "The Pardon" is a brilliant three-act love comedy, with but three characters. "Prince D'Aurec" is a drama with an impoverished Prince, his wife, and a Jew money-lender as protagonists. It is full of telling satire on a decadent nobility. "The Other Danger" is a tensely emotional play, centering around a situation similar to Paula Tanqueray's, but the out- come is different. Alice Johnstone Walker's UTTLE PLAYS FROM AMERICAN HISTORY FOR YOUNG FOLK Probable price, $1.00 net. In Hiding the Regicides there are a number of brief and stirring episodes, concerning the pursuit of Colonels Whalley and Goff by the officers of Charles II at New Haven in old colony days. Mrs. Murray's Dinner Party, in three acts, is a lively comedy about a Patriot hostess and British Officers in Revolutionary Days. In the four Scenes from Lincoln's Time, the martyred President does not himself appear. They cover Lincoln's helping a little girl with her trunk, women preparing lint for the wounded, a visit to the White House of an important delegation from New York, and of the mother of a soldier boy sentenced to death — ^and the coming of the army of liberation to the darkeys. Tho big events are touched upon, the mounting of all these little plays is simplicity itself, and they have stood the test of frequent school performance! HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK