PLIGHT OF THE THEATRES

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 April 1927, Page 7

PLIGHT OF THE THEATRES

A SERIOUS DEPRESSION.

In his presidential address at the Manchester Playgoers’ Club, Mr Basil Dean, a London theatrical manager, who has been associated with the production of some of the best. plays seen in London in recent years, expressed the startling view that the present-day theatre is on its death bed. Mr Dean’s mournful prophecy referred specifically to the theatre in England, and in a lesser degree'to New York, where Mr Dean has also been associated with theatrical enterprises. In Australia, too, the theatre is in a bad way, although the conditions in. Australia are more favourable commercially than the conditions in England and (he United. Stales. In those countries theatrical managers produce new plays which cost then! thousands of pounds before the curtain is raised on the first performance. When a play fails and lias to be withdrawn after a run of a. few weeks, those financially concerned in its production lose heavily. But most of the plays produced in Australia are imported from England and America, and naturally theatrical managers in Australia buy only those plays which have been successful in I hose countries. They strictly avoid producing English and American plays which have failed in the country in which they were born. For six years theatrical business in England has been in a state of depression, though it it doubtful if at any time within the past hundred years the movement on the part of repertory companies and amateur companies to awaken interest in the drama has been more widespread. The introduction of the commercial speculator in theatrical business in England is put forward as one of the reasons for the lack of good plays, and the indifference of the intellectual section of the community to the theatre, because good plays are seldom produced. The commercial speculator knows next to nothing about, the drama, and cares less; he has no desire to encourage the production of good plays or to assist in cultivating a national pride in the drama and the theatre. His object is to make money and he is attracted to the theatre as a moneymaking enterprise by the fact that during the war, and in a lesser degrees since the war ended, enormous profits have been made out of successful theatrical productions in England. But with very few exceptions these successes have had nothing to do with drama. They have been musical comedies, revues, farces, “crook” plays, and similar productions which make no appeal to the intelligence of those interested in the art of the theatre. When the war broke out. it was generally expected in England that most of the theatres would have to close, as it was thought that, few people would care to go to the theatre while those who were nearest and dearest to them were facing death in the theatre of war. But for unexpected reasons, theatrical business in London and in England enjoyed a remarkable boom during the war, and for the two after the war ended, while money was plentiful. One of the chief reasons for the boom was that as the main theatre of the war was but a brief journey from London, thousands of men and officers on leave went to London tq enjoy their brief respite from the horrors of war. As a reaction from the hardships and dangers of the trenches, they sought amusement and excitement when on leave. They had money to spend, and as they knew that, when their leave expired they would have to go back to the front, and endure appalling conditions while facing death, they spent it with a free hand. The war created an industrial boom in England, and the benefits of the boom extended to the theatres in patronage of thousands of war workers of all classes. The unofficial attitude of the Government was to encourage the people to seek amusement, rather than brood over the horrors and hardships of the war. But the demand of the soldiers on leave in London, and of the war workers in England, was for light and amusing forms of theatrical entertainment. Fortunes were made out of revues, musical comedies and farces, but there was so little demand for intellectual drama that it was driven out of the expensive West End theatres, because it could not pay its way, and it sought refuge in a few suburban theatres. Owing to the competipn for West End theatres, wfrten any and every light and amusing entertainment could be certain of a succesful run, the rents of theatres were forced up. Theatres, which, in the pre-war days could be rented at £lOO to £l5O a week, brought in rents of £4OO to £6OO, and, and, in spite of the years of depression that have followed the continued presence of the commercial speculator in theatrical busines, has kept rents at such a high level that intellectual drama, which appeals only to a limited section of London’s playgoers, has had to keep to the cheap theatres in the suburbs. To a large extent, the patrons of London’s West End theatres are drawn from the ever-flowing stream of visitors to the great metropolis, and most of these visitors prefer light and amusing entertainment. The theatrical depression in England set in during the summer . of 1920, when the post-war industrial boom collapsed. It has continued without a. break, because trade depression Ims been continuous. Heavy taxation to meet the financial burdens created by the war has also been a factor in keeping people away from the theatre. Increased costs and increased wages have greatly increased the cost of producing plays, and this has also been a factor in adding to the large number of failures among the plays that have been produced in London. There have been a few big successes each year among the productions at London’s forty theatres in the West End, and the fact that fortunes can still be made out of productions that hit the public taste has kept the commercial speculator in the theatrical fiield. Fortunes have been lost as well, but the successes still attract men with money to risk.

The depression in theatrical business has been increased by theh competion ' of other forms of entertainment. The chief of these competions are the kinema and wireless broadcasting, but the dancing craze which set in after the war ended, and the increased popularity of outdooi' games especially tennis, have also had a damaging effect on theatrical business. These forms of competition have been more severely felt in England than in Australia, partly for climatic reasons. There are many people in England who prefer, to spenfl the wet winter evenings in the comfort of their own homes, ■ listening to a, wireless programme which costs tlienr an infinitesimal sum, rather than face the inclement weather by going out to a theatre. On the other hand, they prefer to attend outdoor entertainment, or to play tennis during the summer evenings, which are lengthened an

hour by the Daylight Saving Act. In midsummer in England darkness does not set in until after 9 p.m. (summer time), and people prefer to remain out of doors, instead of witnessing a play in a stuffy theatre. Most of the West End theatre are small and stuffy, and, having been built many years ago, do not compare in comfort with a modern kinema.

But Mr Basil Dean’s declaration that the present-day theatre is on its deathbed, has aroused an animated controversy in English newspapers. Although it is admitted that the present condition of the drama is almost desperate, there is a general belief among those associated with the drama that it is not destined to pass away. It is contended that among educated people there is more discriminating enthusiasm for good plays than at any time during the past 20 years. The fact that they don’t get good plays is due to conditions which make it almost impossible for a good play produced at an expensive theatre to become a commercial success. The idea of the kinema ousting the drama is ridiculed. Th® kinema has killed melodrama, and the spectacular play, because, despite the limitations of the screen, it is able to give patrons more thrills than spoken melodrama, and to eclipse in spectacular effects the best efforts of the stage producer, who has to work in a confined area, with a striefe regard for costs of production. But in intellectual appeal and emotional appeal the kinema. cannot compare with the spoken drama. It is powlerjess to deal with the problems and perplexities of life in the way that the dramatist can do on the spoken stage. It is admitted that important changes may take place in the theatrical world in the near future, and that the big theatre, involving heavy costs of production,' may close ifs door for ever against the drama. But in the increase of little theatres and in the extension of the repertory movement, the drama will continue to make. its appeal to those who regard drama as an expression of the intellectual life of a nation.