LOST IDEALS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2253, 12 September 1914, Page 11

LOST IDEALS

ART FOB ART'S SAKE IN THE ' THEATRE. [By • 3YiTit;s.] In these degenerate days of the drama, the indictment against such degeneracy is proved when one has to plead for special privileges to explain cue ideals of a particular company which is essaying tho unusi.al. The first big ideal that the , average theatrical manager has is to make money— that is almost as obvious as the pyramids on the sands of -Egypt, and in achieving his purpose he very often degenerates and cheapens the "profession" until it loses all seablance of an artistic profession and becomes a'mere business. With flie theatrical manager a great parade is made of "art for art's sake," whilst he is raising corns on.his iris looking for "money-spimiere," irrespective of whether tliey breathe an artistio atmosphere or make demands upon the reason at every sentence and scene. There are those who prefer to make money with better class playseven if there be but a bare living in, them. Tlie genus is rare, I. admit, but' he does exist- in the Old .Country, and even in sordid America, where the dollar rules all things. About a year ago Mr. Hugh Buckler, known as a capable player, fancied that he would like to try his hand, at produicng the class of play that was being absolutely neglected—the class' of- play that would have been played had the Brough and Boucicault Company, of revered memory, been in existence. So he girded up his loins, found the' necessary backing, and ■ commenced business in an artistic way at the Little Theatre in Sydney, with a little play called "The Man on the Box." It proved quite.apalatable dish to those who were tired to death of loud, red and yellow melodrama, and nasal American farce, and for many weeks the Littl» Theatre 'was well filled with intelligent . audiencas, which recognised in Mr. Buckler's effort an effort to bring tlie public mind back to a realisation of tho charm, refinement, and dignified artistry of tlie drama in the pure: Having put his hand to' the plough..Mr/ Buckler, with a-company of hard-working_ enthusiasts, cut e\en a deeper furrow with "Fanny's First Play," by Bernard Shaw, the authorship oi which was kept a secret for quite a lon°; time after the play was produced_ in i^ondon. .though,,to. the critics the identity of the writer was never in doubt. ' "F.F.P." has been a very ; great success : in London, and in .Sydney that success'wasreneatjiS. "His House in Order" put. on the Little j Theatre company, which it held up to I the" time it left'for Now Zealand. This has been written to indicate in some measure what the Bucklpr-Paget Company stands for. P-s opening performance to-night will be "His House in Order," one of the most remarkable of the serious plays written' by Sir A. W. Pinero.