WHAT GILBERT THINKS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 939, 5 March 1908, Page 17

WHAT GILBERT THINKS.

“What” (asked a “Daily Chronicle” scribe of Sir W. S. Gilbert), “ is the tendency of the modern stage?” “Forward! Distinc ly forward. In fact, from the very first, from the days of Thespis, there has been a continual development of a better class of play. There have, of course, been periods of set-back; times when all seemed to be on the down grade; but such variations occur in the development of every ar 1 . For instance, we used here in England to be largely, it not wholly dependent on French plays. Indeed, in the past many of our great plays took their inspiration from foreign sources. For instance, I remember John Oxenford, the famous critic of the ‘ Times,’ telling me that ‘ She Stoops o Conquer’ was taken from a German one-act play, and that the screen scene in ‘ The School for Scandal ’ was adapted from a scene in one of the plays of Calderon.”

“ How about the modern French plays?”

The French players are better than the plays. Ido not care for ‘he spirit which seems to animate the modern French dramatists —mos: of them, at all events. Their work is almost invariably founded on breaches of the Seventh Commandment. But the players are superb.” Asked his opinion of the coming vogue of plays—comedy, ragedy, drama, or what, the famous writer said :

“Tragedy is hopeless; drama has better prospects; comedy better still; farce best of all- I speak, of course, of the comparative probability of success, not of actual merit. The different forms of comedy are easier of fulfilment. We have a: present a considerable number of fine comedians, but few, if any, tragedians.” “ How do you account for that?”

“ Supply and demand. Everybody wants comedy, but no one wants tragedy. They go to see Shakespeare’s tragedies because a certain know’edge of his work is properly held to be essential to people of education. People like to be on a sort of nodding acquaintance with his plays, and so they go to see them, because to witness a performance of his plays is the easiest and the pleasantest way «of acquiring a superficial knowledge of them. But in reality in ragedy it is the actor who draws. But as the world wants comedy it has it, and fairly good comedy, too.”