THE THEATRE
UNLIKELY DRAMA
Almon' every Sunday night in London now all through the winter you can, if you know where to go, see an interesting play pretty thoroughly produced. There are "Pleasant Sunday Evenings," there are "The Fellowship Players," there are "The Play Actors," there are "The Sunday Players," "The Stage Society," "The Three Hundred Club," and "The Phoenix Society," and probably half a dozen others. All these societies except "The Pleasant Sunday Evenings" produce a full length play in a regular theatre with a professional producer and cast, all this for one, or at most .for two performances. There were two characteristic plays produced, for instance, a few Sundays ago, Ben Jonson's Silent Woman and Robert Nichors Guilty Souls. These two plays and their productions were typical of the work of such societies as they at present exist.
But many and successful as these societies are, it has been suggested that the gaps left by the commercial theatre are even now not quite filled by them. It seems indeed, if we consider the work of these societies, that it is really only the playwright among the stage fraternity who gets the benefit of them. Hurried production by a scattered cast "For one night only" means that practically no " stunts " either in the way of acting or producing can be tried. Still less can complete new dresses for a whole play be bought, or very much done in the way of decor or stage devices.
Now, whether we ended by liking them or not, it would very much amuse us club goers to see on the stage some of the new expressionist methods of which we have read. I wanted to see them so much that I went to Paris on purpose. I would rather have seen them here. But to attempt expressionist methods even in the mildest way means novelty, and therefore difficulty. In the hurry of these productions to try new methods would be to ensure failure, and the really very talented actors and producers who work for the clubs can only show us what they already know by heart. Now, this has consequences ; for these societies are incidentally schools for young dramatists, where they see their own or their friends' plays produced and pick up practical hints as to what you can or cannot "get over" or what is or is not effective. In their next plays we see the results of what they have learnt. The difficulty is obviously that the next batch of plays by the "young men of promise" will have to be tackled with the reach-me-down methods to which their authors will have painfully adapted them. Thus our best young actors, authors, and producers are in danger of _ unwillingly stereotyping the easiest and most obvious stage methods instead of using those they would naturally prefer.
Another drawback to our London societies is, to my mind the formality of their performances. I should prefer, occa- sionally at any rate,-the atmosphere, say, of a large college hall, to that of a regular theatre—some place where the performers sat in the front row till their cue. After all, we are not quite the public, but members of a society. . A good many of us belong because we want ,to ,learn, more about the , art of the theatre ; we should like to ask the producer questions, to talk over the _play, with the people who have been studying it so clo-sely; some of us would like to he allowed sometimes to
attend rehearsals. Only a few of us would probably take advantage of these facilities, but in at least one of the plays produced by the society to which we belong we are almost sure to take a particular interest ; we want to study its con- struction or its psychology, or we specially admire and like it ; and if we are thus really interested the single formal perform- ance seems a little bleak.
Some points such as these have been rhised by a distinguished English actress, and also by a Russian lady, Mme. Pascar, who is now in London, and who was anxious to see something of our theatrical activities. She appears to be an actress and producer of experience, haviug. been director of the State Children's Theatre in Moscow, under the Bolsheviks, with whom, however, she now finds it impossible to work. In Russia clubs for theatrical production have been many, both before and after the revolution, and they have always been run on slightly different lines. Pat- terns, " echantillons," a single act or an episode are given rather than whole plays, and the performance takes place in a theatrical studio; The method seems to be, as a rule, that a certain set of people meet every so often in the studio. A play, or it may be a ballet or a pantomime, is chosen. and read and discussed and some representative or debatable portion of it is produced by the professional members of the Club. Only occasionally is a more ambitious performance attempted in a theatre and a wider public admitted.
Now, it is clear that in some such way it is possible to be very much more experimental than with a type,of organiza- tion where a whole play must be produced, and where it is essential that each experiment shall be at least bearable be- cause we must have a whole evening of it. The personnel of such a club would clearly have to include young actors, producers, scene painters, musicians, authors and critics ; and if possible established producers. The attraction of the club to its theatrical members, besides the scope it would give for actual work, would be the presence in friendly surroundings, if not often of managers, at least of critics and of people who would talk.
I wonder if such a club would be possible in London ? It could perhaps be affiliated to an existing society. For I think that divorced entirely from formal performances it might degenerate into a series of more or less agreeable and aimless parties. The finance might be a difficulty as in England people who care about anything except musical comedy are almost all poor. A studio fit to be such a theatrical workshop would be difficult to find, but if lent it would go far towards the solution of the financial trouble. The life of the secretary or director of the club would probably be a hard one, but if a studio and a director could be found, I think a good many people in London would enjoy such a club.
A. WiLmAms-ELLis.
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