Play Going In Europe

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 394, 30 June 1928, Page 22

Play Going In Europe

Popularity of English Writers in Berlin PIRANDELLO’S LATEST In Paris, if the language is troublesome, English-speaking visitors can visit, the Theatre Albert 1., -where the English Players have been acting for the last 100 weeks. During that time they have produced between 30 and 40 plays, ranging from Shakespeare to Shaw, and including such recent London successes as “Potiphar’s Wife” and Compromising Daphne.” ‘‘White Cargo,” “The Ringer,” and, says the London correspondent of an Australian paper, Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock.” In Germany, it is also‘easy to find English plays, but they have been translated into German. Of the theatrical productions in Berlin last year 60 per cent, were by foreign authors. Bernard Shaw’s plays were at the head of the list with 261 performances. Federick Lonsdale’s “The Last of Mrs. Cheney” ran for 119 nights in Berlin. A production of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” at the Staats Theatre is described as "equal to England’s best.” The play is performed with a single set of curtains, and the costumes are of the simplest character, but Shaekspeare’s ideas make their full effect, and, in spite of a foreign tongue, the spoken verse is rhythmic and moving. At the Grosses Schauspielhaus, a Berlin theatre as large as the Albert Hall, “The Mikado” is being given with immense effect, thanks to some jazz additions which would have horrified Gilbert and Sullivan. The star is Max Pallenburg, in the part of Ko-ko, a comedian who is s© versatile that he has sung in grand ojwra and played the title role in Ibsen’s "John Gabriel Borkman.” The "Tit Willow” song, ] given by a man who can act and sing, is inspiring. The American plays, j “Broadway” and "Rose Marie,” are i also being given in Berlin at the mo I ment, and Galsworthy’s “Silver Box” i and “Escape” have had good seasons.

Somerset Maugham's “Constant Wife” is breaking all records at the Kammerspiele, the other chief success being Molnar’s “Play Without a Name,” which has filled the Tribune Theatre for 300 nights. “Production” is almost as important as playwriting in the German theatre. In this department the genius of the hour is Erwin Piscator, the successor

of Reinhardt, who is making theatre j history by his use of the film, gramo- j phone music, and similar devices as i aids to pure drama. Piscator’s latest j effort is a comedy by Leo Lania. en- j titled “Konjunktur,” which seeks to i show the Communists of Germany how i millionaires do the work of the world, j The scene is laid in an Albanian oilfield, so that Erwin Piscator has scope for his originality- Politics loom i largely in the German theatre now- ; adays. Some time ago the Radical Prussian Government brought Herr Jessner from Konigsberg that he might ' reorganise the Theatre Royal at Berlin. Jessner’s last production was a revival of Hauptmann’s “Die Weber,” in which insurgent weavers break into a millowner’s house and “gut” the drawing-room. The Nationalists and Royalists regard Herr Jessner as an iconoclast and the Communists regard him as a renegade, but to the Socialists Herr Jessner is a hero in art and his productions a political inspiration. Visitors who are not troubled by intellectual complexities expressed in a foreign language will find Pirandello’s latest play interesting. He calls it “La Nuova Colonia,” and it was produced at the Theatre Argentina in Rome a fortnight ago. Pirandello describes it as “a myth.” The prologue is played in the tavern of a southern seaport, where refugees from an island which is likely to be submerged have gathered. La Spera. a woman of the town, and Currao, her lover, revolt against the law of the mainland, and suggest that the refugees should return to the threatened island. Here they can begin a new life j in the great houses abandoned by the j rich inhabitants. On the island La

Spera is the only woman, and is accepted as a queen. But Crocco. tk villain, steals the only boat, and r» turns to the island with women for the other settlers. La Spera an herself dethroned and her lover, currao, is threatened with death. Existence on the island becomes a* anarchic and horrible as it was on mainland. In the last act Piran e makes play with La Spera’s motherlove for her girl child. When t island and its inhabitants are finally engulfed. La Spera is seen standu* upon a rock with her t iby. mnanrat “I am here, alone with you, my cfiiia. upon the waters.*' In Paris Henri Bernstein has f°j* lowed his “Le Venin,” which had * vear’s run at the Gymnase, with a revival of “Le Secret/’ Gabrielle lot, splendidly played by Simone, is a woman who cannot to see happiness in others, and w seems to be impelled by some f u - to destroy the joy of other peop wherever she finds it. A young ta ried couple, Henriette and Denis, come to her villa at Deauville, whereupon Gabrielle brings to the house Char Ponta, who, unknown to Denis, a been Henriette’s lover. Denis s 3® ousy fails to stand the test, altboug Henriette loves him with all her The poisonous duplicity of Gabrieuj in contrast with the pitiable ?mot of the suffering girl, gives nse scenes which Bernstein works 1 I with full dramatic effect. The episode is concerned with Gat>riell?_ realisation of her conduct and ier <-<’ fessiou to her husband, who can** * believe that the woman he lo *ed an admired could have planned ’he rujof another. This is “the secret the title. ,