Plays, Players, and Critics.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18890, 4 January 1927, Page 8

Plays, Players, and Critics.

What are the relative duties of a dramatic critic to the play and the players? The question, which opens up a rather wider discussion than perhaps Miss Constance Collier anticipated, was raised by this accomplished actress recently, when in an after-dinner speech she regretted the-apparent antagonism between actors and critics, and asked why it was that critics gave so much space to play and author and so little to the actors. Miss Collier is answered by a writer in the Christian Science Monitor, who begins by denying that there is any antagonism and goes on to explain why it is impossible to make a rule of equal treatment such as Miss Collier desires. The treatment of a revival is different from that of a new play. Aoritic who writes of a productiop of " Ham"let" may devote nearly the whole of his space to the players. The play is so well known that it is very difficult to say anything new about it; on the other hand the interpretation of the actor who plays Hamlet is of supreme importance. With a new play, however, the actor is of less importance. The critic has to consider " news "value"; his readers wish to . know what sort of a play it is. Consequently the critic, " limited probably to a few " hundred words, cannot possibly spare "half his space to the acting; and "were he to do so would satisfy few "of his readers excepting sometimes '•the players themselves." This writer's rough rule is: one-third to the telling of the story, one-third to comments on the play, and one-third to the acting. He admits there is a temptation to exceed this proportion for com-1 ment on the play, especially to men like William Archer and A. B. WalkIcy, whose tastos were at bottom almost as much literary as dramatic. He might have added that this is one reason why these writers were so readable. Creative work is of a higher order than interpretative work; consequently it is' more interesting to read about. If Beethoven were alive to-day and wrote a new violin concerto and Kreisler played it, would it not be reasonable to expect the critics to devote most of their space to an analysis of the music, and make the interpretation secondary? A point on which this critic touches very briefly is the decline of dominating personality in the theatre. It is significant that this decline has synchronised with a remarkable renaissance of drama. In the old days there were more actors and actresses whose art was often more important

than the plays in .which it was exercised. Irving in " The Bells " was a striking example. One of to-day is Martin Harvey in " The Only Way." The " star " system in those days produced great personalities, but it often had a vicious influence on the drama. To-day there are few ex-actors and actresses whose names alone are enough to draw audiences. The play is more important than it used to be, and the actor—qr at any rate, the principal actor—less so. One may sometimes regret the disappearance of men and women with the grand manner, players who gave the "great thrill," but on the whole the change is good for the drama and for its interpreters. Not only is the play nearer to its proper position in the theatre, but there is a better prospect of its receiving uniformly adequate interpretation. It is worth while mentioning another point, which is outside the scope of the Monitor's article, and that is

the pressure under which the critic works. It is difficult enough for the critic of a morning newspaper to go back to his office, after a notable performance of " Hamlet" and write an adequate notice in the brief time available; it is very much more difficult to go back and criticise the first performance of a play by Shaw or Galsworthy. Conceive the position of a critic called upon to deal with " Saint Joan" at such short notice. The ideal would be to hold notices over for a day, but that could be done only by agreement between newspapers. If it were clone, the player might receive more of the justice which Miss Collier thinks is denied him.