thinks are shmning archangels, and thal
those who disagree with him or suggest
that, perhaps. there is something to be
said in behalf of the dissentients, are
scum.
Mr. Green's play.“ Hymn to the
Rising Sun, is one of his best: beauti¬
fully constructed, and very moving.
The scene is a convict stockade“ some¬
where in the United States,“ and the
action is concerned with the brutality
of the gaolers to the gaoled. A Negro.
called Runt, has been punished in a
way so barbarous that it would seem
incredible were we not now accus¬
tomed to brutalities in European coun¬
tries no less, if no greater. Runt is
shut up in a“ sweat-box, a sort of
coffin, and kept there in suffocating
circumstances as a punishment for an
offence. The punishment is to last for
enty-one days, but the Captain, a
1
half-mad ruffian, informs the other
conricts in the play that he intends to
do an act of kindness by letting Runt
out ofthe“ sweat-box'’ on the eleventh
day. But, when the box is opened.
Runt is found to be dead. The whole
play is appalling in its revelation of
inhumanity, so appalling, indeed, as to
be nearly unbearable, but it never for
a second ceases to be the passionate
protest of a poet against barbarism, nor
does its author ever lose his sense of
people. There is nothing“ hot and
spiteful' about Mr. Green, nor does he
cease from his denunciation of wrong
to pat himself on the back, or say a
fem words in favour of Comrade
S alin. Barbarity to Mr. Green, is
barbarity by whomsoever it is per¬
formed, but barbarity to Mr. Odets, is
only barbarity when Nazis practice it
against Communists. Till the Day 1
Die has force, and it is written with
great skill. Mr. Odets does feel that
it is dreadful of a Nazi to beat a Com¬
I share his feeling. But
munist.
suspect that his rage would be greatly
abated if the beating were done by a
Communist to a Nazi. Mr. Green
would feel as much compunction about
a brutally-used Fascist as he would feel
about a brutally-used Bolshie. He is
hot, but he is not spiteful. Until Mr.
Odets can clear his mind of party cant
and smugness, he will never write a
play of any worth. I have left myself
no room in which to refer to the other
plays in this excellent volume, and am
forced to content myself with saying
that the best of the remaining pieces
seem to me to be Mr. Harold Brig¬
house’s Smoke-screens“ and Mr.
#
Gabriel Timmory's To Kill a Man.
Why Mr. Wilde included Evréinov's
dreary work,“ The Corridors of the
Soul,' which we know better under the
title of" The Theatre of the Soul, is
a puzzle. I suppose he found, as Mr.
Max Eastman. himself a Communist.
has discovered, that there has been so
much propaganda in Russia that there
is now no art, and has had to fall back
on a pre-Revolution writer to get a
play at all.
*
Mr. Gollancz, who publishes an
annual collection of" Famous Plays,
has been unluckv in 1936. He has even
had to fill out“ Famous Plavs of 1936“
(7s. 6d.) with Mr. Odets's“ Till the Day
I Die,’ which has alreadv appeared
in his volume of Mr. Odets’s work and
is now included in Mr. Wilde's collec¬
tion. Ouly one of the plays.“ The Two
Bouquets.“ by Miss Eleanor and Mr.
Herbert Farjeon, is of British origin.
Four of the plays are by American
authors, and the sixth is a poor piece
distinguished Austrian. Mr.
a
reviewed
Arthur Schnitzler.
this play Professor Bernhardi.“ in
TIE OBsERvER when it was performed
in London, and need not refer to it
Boy Meets Girl,“ by Mrs.
again.
e
drawing of the Trish Nationalists
ludicrous, and one of them, a dreadful
old ruffian, the O’Gorman Mahon, is
shown as present at the discussions in
Committee Room 15 when, in fact, he
was on his deathbed. But the whole
play is a ramshackle contrivance, false
to fact and false to character, and
would be unworthy of notice were it
not for ihe remarkably good acting of
its cast, especially that of Mr. Wynd¬
ham Goldie, whose Parnell is an aston¬
ishingly fine performance.
A Flundred Dears
Ago.
Excerpts krom Ehe Observer ol
January Ist, 1837.
THE SNOWSTORM.
During the past week the whole country
has been visited by a fall of snow heavier,
and more painkul in its consequences, than
has been experienced for many years. It
Many mai!
began on Christmas Eve.
coaches were embedded in drifts.
The Duke of Wellington, travelling from
Marlborough in his own carriage-and-four
tothe mansion of the Duke of Beaufort.
was greatly delayed, his carriage getting
fixed in a wheat-field.
There was considerable difficulty in the
passages of the ordinary conveyances to
the City. Instead of fourteen omnibuses,
the usual number from Brentford, on Mon¬
day morning only three were able to take
the journev. All the omnibuses from Pad¬
dington, Highgate, Hampstead. Stratford.
and Hackney were drawn by three or four
horses. and several accidents happened on
Monday and Tuesday, many horses having
died on the road.
The Paris papers of Tuesday, which ar¬
rived by an extraordinary courier on Fri¬
dav morning. contain an account of a new;
the
attempt to assassmate ihe King of
French. His Majesty was driving from thei
On
Tuileries to open the Chambres.
passing the Quai des Tuileries a young man
fired at the King. The shot passed throughi
the carrlage. The Duke of Orleans, who sat
by the side of the King, was slightly
wounded by the broken glass. The assassin
and two persons suspected of being accom-
plices were taken into custody.
It is confidently expected that the whole.:
line of the London and Birmingham rail¬
way will be completed early in the summer
of 1838. The communication between Lon¬
don and Hemel Hemsted will be opened to
the public on June 1 next, and will be con¬
tinued as far as Tring before the close of
the year
Mr. Monck Mason is proposing to go to
America in a balloon. This he judges pos¬
sible from the supposition that there are
contrary currents at different altitudes.—
Cumberland Pacquet.“
A fire which broke out in St. Peter’s
Church, Eaton-square, on Fridav evening,
caused damage estimated at &10.000. The
beautiful painting of the Scourging of
Christ, over the Communion Table, was
saved by the exertions of Mr. John Thurs¬
ton, of Ebury-street. at the imminent risk;
of his life.
We understand that Drury Lane
Theatre has been engaged for the
Metropolitan Reform dinner to take
place on the 23rd inst., and that the
terms given for the use of it for that night
are 4500. It is expected that from 1.200 to
1.500 gentlemen will be present at the din¬
ner. The number of stewards alone is four
hundred
Signor Gagliardi, sculptor and mechanist
of the Academy of Rome, is exhlbiting his
museum of 200 figures in Windmill-strect.
Hagmarket. It is one of the most ingeni¬
ous specimens of mechanical art ever seen
Motions
in this or anv other country.
analogous to the various passions and
affectations of human nature are communi¬
cated to more than 200 figures of human
size.
those who disagree with him or suggest
that, perhaps. there is something to be
said in behalf of the dissentients, are
scum.
Mr. Green's play.“ Hymn to the
Rising Sun, is one of his best: beauti¬
fully constructed, and very moving.
The scene is a convict stockade“ some¬
where in the United States,“ and the
action is concerned with the brutality
of the gaolers to the gaoled. A Negro.
called Runt, has been punished in a
way so barbarous that it would seem
incredible were we not now accus¬
tomed to brutalities in European coun¬
tries no less, if no greater. Runt is
shut up in a“ sweat-box, a sort of
coffin, and kept there in suffocating
circumstances as a punishment for an
offence. The punishment is to last for
enty-one days, but the Captain, a
1
half-mad ruffian, informs the other
conricts in the play that he intends to
do an act of kindness by letting Runt
out ofthe“ sweat-box'’ on the eleventh
day. But, when the box is opened.
Runt is found to be dead. The whole
play is appalling in its revelation of
inhumanity, so appalling, indeed, as to
be nearly unbearable, but it never for
a second ceases to be the passionate
protest of a poet against barbarism, nor
does its author ever lose his sense of
people. There is nothing“ hot and
spiteful' about Mr. Green, nor does he
cease from his denunciation of wrong
to pat himself on the back, or say a
fem words in favour of Comrade
S alin. Barbarity to Mr. Green, is
barbarity by whomsoever it is per¬
formed, but barbarity to Mr. Odets, is
only barbarity when Nazis practice it
against Communists. Till the Day 1
Die has force, and it is written with
great skill. Mr. Odets does feel that
it is dreadful of a Nazi to beat a Com¬
I share his feeling. But
munist.
suspect that his rage would be greatly
abated if the beating were done by a
Communist to a Nazi. Mr. Green
would feel as much compunction about
a brutally-used Fascist as he would feel
about a brutally-used Bolshie. He is
hot, but he is not spiteful. Until Mr.
Odets can clear his mind of party cant
and smugness, he will never write a
play of any worth. I have left myself
no room in which to refer to the other
plays in this excellent volume, and am
forced to content myself with saying
that the best of the remaining pieces
seem to me to be Mr. Harold Brig¬
house’s Smoke-screens“ and Mr.
#
Gabriel Timmory's To Kill a Man.
Why Mr. Wilde included Evréinov's
dreary work,“ The Corridors of the
Soul,' which we know better under the
title of" The Theatre of the Soul, is
a puzzle. I suppose he found, as Mr.
Max Eastman. himself a Communist.
has discovered, that there has been so
much propaganda in Russia that there
is now no art, and has had to fall back
on a pre-Revolution writer to get a
play at all.
*
Mr. Gollancz, who publishes an
annual collection of" Famous Plays,
has been unluckv in 1936. He has even
had to fill out“ Famous Plavs of 1936“
(7s. 6d.) with Mr. Odets's“ Till the Day
I Die,’ which has alreadv appeared
in his volume of Mr. Odets’s work and
is now included in Mr. Wilde's collec¬
tion. Ouly one of the plays.“ The Two
Bouquets.“ by Miss Eleanor and Mr.
Herbert Farjeon, is of British origin.
Four of the plays are by American
authors, and the sixth is a poor piece
distinguished Austrian. Mr.
a
reviewed
Arthur Schnitzler.
this play Professor Bernhardi.“ in
TIE OBsERvER when it was performed
in London, and need not refer to it
Boy Meets Girl,“ by Mrs.
again.
e
drawing of the Trish Nationalists
ludicrous, and one of them, a dreadful
old ruffian, the O’Gorman Mahon, is
shown as present at the discussions in
Committee Room 15 when, in fact, he
was on his deathbed. But the whole
play is a ramshackle contrivance, false
to fact and false to character, and
would be unworthy of notice were it
not for ihe remarkably good acting of
its cast, especially that of Mr. Wynd¬
ham Goldie, whose Parnell is an aston¬
ishingly fine performance.
A Flundred Dears
Ago.
Excerpts krom Ehe Observer ol
January Ist, 1837.
THE SNOWSTORM.
During the past week the whole country
has been visited by a fall of snow heavier,
and more painkul in its consequences, than
has been experienced for many years. It
Many mai!
began on Christmas Eve.
coaches were embedded in drifts.
The Duke of Wellington, travelling from
Marlborough in his own carriage-and-four
tothe mansion of the Duke of Beaufort.
was greatly delayed, his carriage getting
fixed in a wheat-field.
There was considerable difficulty in the
passages of the ordinary conveyances to
the City. Instead of fourteen omnibuses,
the usual number from Brentford, on Mon¬
day morning only three were able to take
the journev. All the omnibuses from Pad¬
dington, Highgate, Hampstead. Stratford.
and Hackney were drawn by three or four
horses. and several accidents happened on
Monday and Tuesday, many horses having
died on the road.
The Paris papers of Tuesday, which ar¬
rived by an extraordinary courier on Fri¬
dav morning. contain an account of a new;
the
attempt to assassmate ihe King of
French. His Majesty was driving from thei
On
Tuileries to open the Chambres.
passing the Quai des Tuileries a young man
fired at the King. The shot passed throughi
the carrlage. The Duke of Orleans, who sat
by the side of the King, was slightly
wounded by the broken glass. The assassin
and two persons suspected of being accom-
plices were taken into custody.
It is confidently expected that the whole.:
line of the London and Birmingham rail¬
way will be completed early in the summer
of 1838. The communication between Lon¬
don and Hemel Hemsted will be opened to
the public on June 1 next, and will be con¬
tinued as far as Tring before the close of
the year
Mr. Monck Mason is proposing to go to
America in a balloon. This he judges pos¬
sible from the supposition that there are
contrary currents at different altitudes.—
Cumberland Pacquet.“
A fire which broke out in St. Peter’s
Church, Eaton-square, on Fridav evening,
caused damage estimated at &10.000. The
beautiful painting of the Scourging of
Christ, over the Communion Table, was
saved by the exertions of Mr. John Thurs¬
ton, of Ebury-street. at the imminent risk;
of his life.
We understand that Drury Lane
Theatre has been engaged for the
Metropolitan Reform dinner to take
place on the 23rd inst., and that the
terms given for the use of it for that night
are 4500. It is expected that from 1.200 to
1.500 gentlemen will be present at the din¬
ner. The number of stewards alone is four
hundred
Signor Gagliardi, sculptor and mechanist
of the Academy of Rome, is exhlbiting his
museum of 200 figures in Windmill-strect.
Hagmarket. It is one of the most ingeni¬
ous specimens of mechanical art ever seen
Motions
in this or anv other country.
analogous to the various passions and
affectations of human nature are communi¬
cated to more than 200 figures of human
size.