THOUGHT v. COMMERCE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 160, 22 June 1935, Page 14

THOUGHT v. COMMERCE

Problems for the Theatre

Mr. Andre Van Gyseghem, producer at the Embassy Theatre, London, was the principal speaker at an informal conference called together in Manchester by the Theatre of Action to consider the problems now confronting the theatre in general and the amateur theatre in particular, says the 1 ‘ Manchester Guardian.” The Manchester Theatre of Action is a recently-formed group of amateurs interested in a type of production directly related to the economic and social issues of the day, which, they contend, are excluded from treatment on the commercial stage. Mr. Van Gyseghem said that he spoke with ten years’ experience as a man of the theatre, gained first in a school of dramatic art, then on tour, and at the Hull Repertory Theatre, and finally in the West End of London. During those ten. years, he said, he had detected no sign of progress in the theatre. It was in a state of stagnation. The high cost of production in London and the big towns made it essential for the manager to get money into his theatre, and his productions were therefore made to please the stalls and dress circle.

He had studied the reactions of the stalls and the dress circle in West End theatres with some interest, and he had found them without any sign of life, except, perhaps, at the repetition of a doubtful joke. “People go to the theatre, it seems to me, to be warm and comfortable, and especially to show off their clothes,” said the speaker. “But they do not want to think. What they look for in the theatre is a sort of warm, soporific drug.” The only place where the people went with any real enthusiasm was to the music-hall, where the comedians represented a life they understood nnd spoke the language of the people. Generally speaking, however, the growth of the star system, of meretricious publicity, and of cheap cinema competition, prevented the people from becoming theatrically educated. The task of educating them lay primarily with the amateurs. ITe felt that the work of such men as Coward, Maugham, Van Druten, and Lonsdale did not, on the whole, offer any real contribution to a living theatre for the people. “I want to see big themes treated in the theatre,” he said. “We are in grave danger of war, and we are in grave danger of a rising tide of Fascism. Why should not these vital things, which affect the everyday life of us all, be reflected on the stage?” Mr. Van Gyseghem said that he had been deeply impressed by the success of “Love on the Dole” and “Draw the Fires” at the Manchester Repertory Theatre. Tn such productions ns these the true future of the theatre lay. If amateurs found technical difficulties standing in their way, the professionals should, whenever possible, come to their assistance. A great part of the pioneer work should be done, and in other countries was being done, by the amateurs.

Mrs. J. L. Stocks deplored the dependence of the commercial theatre on certain stock themes, such as the exploitation of sex, but doubted whether the poorer wage-earners, as a class, were any more ready to appreciate what was good than the people in the stalls. “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” she pointed out, did even better business than “Draw the Fires” at the Manchester Repertory Theatre. She felt, nevertheless, that if some of the irksome restrictions upon amateur activities, such as the licensing fees and the entertainment tax, for instance, could be removed much was to be hoped from the amateur movement.

A resolution was passed at the evening meeting that a committee should be be formed of amateur dramatic groups in Manchester and the Lancashire area “who are turning their backs on the bedroom farce and the drawing-room comedy and wish to turn their attention to plays of social application.” The aim of the committee is to coordinate the activities of groups on lines set out in the resolution. These are the duplication and circulation of repertoire, the bringing together of individuals able to give artistic and technical assistance, and to pool such knowledge throughout the groups, the undertaking of campaigns against censorship and against entertainment tax’, the organisation of joint performances and festivals, the issue of a monthly programme bulletin, and the establishment at the earliest possible opportunity of central premises or a central theatre for tho uso of all affiliated groups.