"THE TRAGEDY OF NAN."

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13679, 12 March 1910, Page 7

"THE TRAGEDY OF NAN."

Take this scene of English country lovers. Dick:- You be beautiful, Kan; you be beautiful. .\an: Ah, Mr Dick. Dick: You be beautiful. You be like a fairy. The roge. You bo beautiful jike in r_v dream. _ 'Nan: Ah! Let go my hands. Let go my hands. ~ , , , Dick- You bo beautiful. \our eyes. And yo-u face so pale. And your hair with the rose. O Nan, you be love.y. lou be lovely! Nan: O dm't! Don t! Dick: My love, my beloved. Nan: Ah! Dick- I love vcu. O Nan, I love you. Nan- Let ir.e'f-o. let mc fro, piea*e Dick: Do 'cc care for me.' Do cc love mc, Non? . ', . Nan: You don't know! lou don t know: You i":n't know about mc. Dick: I love you. N;:n • Ah; Ycu niustn t love mc. Dick: There be no queen "as a. beanty like yours. Nan. Nan: O let mc goDick: Mv love! My andsome. Nan: Oh; Dick. Dick: Nan, O Nan, do cc love mc? Nan: Ah! Dick: Dear sweet. Will cc marry mc." Do 'cc love mc? Nan: I love you, Dick.

Dick: My love! My pretty! Nan: My dear love. Dick : I'll make a scng for you, mv beautiful. Nan: You're iovins mc, that* song enough.

Dick: Nan, dear, let 1 take the pins out of your hair. Let m<* 'aye your a-ir aa loose. Your lovely hair. O >an, you bo a beautiful woman. , .... Nan: Ah, God! I wish I were beautiful. Dick: Dear love, you be. Nan: Mere beautiful. Then I'd aye more to give you. • Dick: Kiss mc. Kiss mo! Nan: There be my 'air, Dick. It bent much, after all. . Dick (kissinc the hair): Oh, beautiful. Beau-ti-Tul. My own "San. Nan: I am yours, beloved. Dick: When "shall us be married? When .hall us come together? Nan: Ah. my love! Now is enough. Now is enough. Dick: When eha'l us merry? Nan: Kiss mc. Dick: Shall it Michaelmis? Nan: Kiss mc. Kiss mc. Dick: My winsome. My beauty. Nan: I\ow loo?e mc, darlinpr. (They break). I have had my moment. 1 have been happy.

Now take Elizabethan drama: take Shakespeare; and find if you can. a scene better visualised, more dramatic, fuller of emotion.

It is a passage from John Masefield's "The Tragedy of Nan," a play of IDOB, just published (with others of Masefield's) by Grant Richards.

MASEFIELD'S PLAYS. A play, though made of passages, is not made b*_ them. Nan's tragedy has many highly dramatic episodes, many highly dramatic characters: but all or nearly all .ire used in the building of the piece, all tend towards the logical issue. There is a sincere attempt at tho Aristotelian catharsis—that shaking and purging of ©motions which is the root of tru© and moving drama. As far as a reader can judge, the attempt Ls successful, but the play is really a play for the stage, and cannot be fully appreciated till actors como to give

living strength to tho words of the text. One character, that of an old witless musician, is charged with poetry. In criticism, it might be urged that in "The Tragedy of Nan" as in the two shorter pieces that are given in a _ fresh and stimulating collection, the link between players and spectators is not the most binding. Th© action is in Gloucestershire in 1810, and Gloucestershire and 1810 are pictured so fully and so forcibly that they seem externalised to an audience of Australia and 1910. Tho -'universal appeal" is strong, yet perhaps not the strongest; and this possible defect is made certain and emphatic in "Tho Campden Wonder" and "Mrs Harrison," despite their vivid nature.

Maseficld was already favourably known as an earnest writer of prose and verso; but "The Tragedy of iSan" surpasses in power and accomplishment anything that w© know of his. Thero aro no actors in Australasia to interpret such a piece vvorthil}-; and the issue of an interpretation would lie on th© knees of the gallery "gods." Yet not as "intellectual," but as "drama" th.s is a tine play.

The Williamson management intends presently to, produce Galsworthy's "Strife," and for both Galsworthy and Granville Barker there is a great deal to say- that cannot be said for Shaw. Nevertheless, Shaw has his own merits —not essentially dramatic.