25. Professer Bernhardr
Famous Plays
AAMOUS PLAYS of 1936 (Gol¬
lancz, 78. 6d.) leaves one with
—
1 the impression this has not
been quite one of the vintage years.
But this twelfth volume in the series
is by no means undistinguished. It
is good to have three such interesting
plays as Schnitzler’s
* Professor
Bernhardi,“
Elsie
Schauffler'
Parnell,“ and Clifford Odets““ Till
the Day I Die“ within one set of
covers, for they demonstrate the
remarkable emotional and technical
range of the contemporary theatre.
The other three plays in the volume
are
* The Two Bouquets,“ hy Eleanor
and Herbert Farjeon,“ Bury the
Dead,“ by Irwin Shaw, and “ Boy
Meets Girl,“ by Bella and Samuel
Spewack.
S
—.
box 31/5
EXTRACT EROM
PROFESSOR BERNHARDl. By Antbur Schnitzler. Englich version
by Lonis Borell and Ronald Adam. (Gollancz, 57. 6d. paper,
5s. cloth.)
Naturalism is the current dramatic fashion. The audience of to-day
has little interest in poetry, in plots, in theories—each of which has
in turn been a major influence in the theatre. In their place, to-day’s
playwright parades the oddities and—occasionallz—the profundities
of character in a world which is remote from its audience only by
renson of an arbitrary row of footlights and the periodic descent of
a curtain.
Unsuspecting readers of Professor Bernbardi are therefore likely
to receive the surprise similar to that experienced by the lady who
hought Murder in 1e Carbedral in the belief that it was another
dose of her favourite detective hiction. For Schnitzler’s play is a
play of ideas, whose hrst scene propounds an argument, and whose
succeeding scenes examine remorselessly. from all possible angles of
opinion, the consequences, causes and effects of a clash of opinion.
Professor Bernhardi, a Jew, refuses to allow a Catholic priest to
administer the last rites to a dying girl, for the (to him) sufficient
reason that she is happy and unaware of her approaching death.
Naturally there arises an outery ruled by two motives: hatred of the
Jew, and Catholic orthodoxy. A sound play might have followed
from this opening. But the author is more subtle than that. The
Professor is, after all, a man of some reason. He is willing to go so
far as a suitable withdrawal to satisfy public opinion. But when
he finds that the situation is being utilised for political motives—in
particular, to influence an appointment in his hospital—he becomes
mulish, obstinate, and withdraws his withdrawal. The conflict is on.
The play is, in fact, a brilliant display of dialectical hreworks, and,
after the fashion of its kind, constructed with the same ingenious
precision as the Chinese puzzle which falls apart a“ one touch of
the finger—if the exact spot is found. I recommend it; the more
warmly, since a play of this nature makes better reading than the
naturalistic character-piese.
W.R.B.
e
Famous Plays
AAMOUS PLAYS of 1936 (Gol¬
lancz, 78. 6d.) leaves one with
—
1 the impression this has not
been quite one of the vintage years.
But this twelfth volume in the series
is by no means undistinguished. It
is good to have three such interesting
plays as Schnitzler’s
* Professor
Bernhardi,“
Elsie
Schauffler'
Parnell,“ and Clifford Odets““ Till
the Day I Die“ within one set of
covers, for they demonstrate the
remarkable emotional and technical
range of the contemporary theatre.
The other three plays in the volume
are
* The Two Bouquets,“ hy Eleanor
and Herbert Farjeon,“ Bury the
Dead,“ by Irwin Shaw, and “ Boy
Meets Girl,“ by Bella and Samuel
Spewack.
S
—.
box 31/5
EXTRACT EROM
PROFESSOR BERNHARDl. By Antbur Schnitzler. Englich version
by Lonis Borell and Ronald Adam. (Gollancz, 57. 6d. paper,
5s. cloth.)
Naturalism is the current dramatic fashion. The audience of to-day
has little interest in poetry, in plots, in theories—each of which has
in turn been a major influence in the theatre. In their place, to-day’s
playwright parades the oddities and—occasionallz—the profundities
of character in a world which is remote from its audience only by
renson of an arbitrary row of footlights and the periodic descent of
a curtain.
Unsuspecting readers of Professor Bernbardi are therefore likely
to receive the surprise similar to that experienced by the lady who
hought Murder in 1e Carbedral in the belief that it was another
dose of her favourite detective hiction. For Schnitzler’s play is a
play of ideas, whose hrst scene propounds an argument, and whose
succeeding scenes examine remorselessly. from all possible angles of
opinion, the consequences, causes and effects of a clash of opinion.
Professor Bernhardi, a Jew, refuses to allow a Catholic priest to
administer the last rites to a dying girl, for the (to him) sufficient
reason that she is happy and unaware of her approaching death.
Naturally there arises an outery ruled by two motives: hatred of the
Jew, and Catholic orthodoxy. A sound play might have followed
from this opening. But the author is more subtle than that. The
Professor is, after all, a man of some reason. He is willing to go so
far as a suitable withdrawal to satisfy public opinion. But when
he finds that the situation is being utilised for political motives—in
particular, to influence an appointment in his hospital—he becomes
mulish, obstinate, and withdraws his withdrawal. The conflict is on.
The play is, in fact, a brilliant display of dialectical hreworks, and,
after the fashion of its kind, constructed with the same ingenious
precision as the Chinese puzzle which falls apart a“ one touch of
the finger—if the exact spot is found. I recommend it; the more
warmly, since a play of this nature makes better reading than the
naturalistic character-piese.
W.R.B.
e