THE ART THEATRE.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17586, 15 December 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)

THE ART THEATRE.

HONOURED IN MOSCOW.

(From a Correspondent.)

MOSCOW, November 1

The thirtieth anniversary of the Moscow Art Theatre has just been celebrated with great pomp and circumstance. Curiously enough, the celebration began with the announcement that Director Stanislavsky ,and Manager Nemirovich-Danchenko had received State pensions of £3O a month for life.

Like the Meyerhold Theatre, the Moscow Art Theatre is a losing proposition. Its only show that makes real money is "The Days of the Turbins," by Dr. Bulgakof, depicting the chaotic period in the Ukraine before the Bolshevist victory, which is regarded askance in some quarters here as heretical from a revolutionary standpoint. Superbly produced and played by the first studio of the Art Theatre, the play always draws a big crowd, and Stanislavsky has received many offers to send it abroad, especially to America. Audience Held Spellbound.

According to one account, he demanded a guarantee of £2OOO weekly to recoup the losses of the Art Theatre's previous American tour and the Moscow deficit. Others say the authorities arc not willing to allow a play of this type to represent the theatre in the United States. In either case American theatregoers will be deprived of a thrilling treat. The Minister of Fine Arts (Anatol Lunarcharski) and other Soviet authorities gave the Art Theatre the highest praise at a gala meeting attended by the diplomatic corps and representatives of the Soviet Government. But the climax came at a special performance on Monday, when the Art Theatre and studios presented a series of selections in which "The Days of the Turbins" was not included.

The fourth act of Dostoievsky's "The Brothers Karamazof," in the opinion of Moscow critics, was the finest theatrical performance of modern times. The acting of Moskvin and Leonidoff held the audience absolutely spellbound, and the rest of the company supported them with that effortless realism which is the Art Theatre's greatest achievement.

Behind the curtain in a stage box to the left Stalin watched with eager interest. Beside him sat his relative by marriage, Trade Commissioner Mikoyan, and in a rear box towered the gigantic Cossack guard. Premier Rykof sat in the right stage box, a fact which inspired a remark by a member of the diplomatic corps during the performance of Alexis Tolstoy's "Tsar Fcodor."

The Drama of Russia.

"The drama of Russia," he said, "with Stalin on the left and Rykof ou the right." Stalin, however, has recently denied the reports of a divergence in the Politbureau of the Communist Party, so perhaps he is less to the Left and Bykof less to the Right than is popularly supposed. Stanislavsky himself appeared in Chekhof's "Three Sisters," and received a tremendous ovation.

Thursday's Workers' Gazette, however, was moved to the sarcastic remark that all ranks of the proletarian State were united to celebrate the workers, who were left wholly outside the picture. In point of fact, the oldest inhabitants of post-revolution Moscow say they never saw so many dress coats and evening gowns in a Moscow theatre as there were at last Monday's performance.