HTTRAOT FROH
ERA,
II, Scho Square, W. I.
17 =iE 1936
Fl.
THEERA
14
ROUND THE NEW PLAYS
RIsPOEMToNT
BRtiA
44
ROFESSOR BERNHARDI? AT
MIE EINBASST
By MARGERY ROWLAND
THE first performance in England
of what is often considered
Arthur Schnitzler’s finest play
aroused an extraordinary amount of
discussion among members of the##
Embassy’s Monday-night audience.
Its iheme is anti-Semitic feeling
in Vienna, and its chief character
is, as the author was, a Jewish
doctor.
A priest comes to administer the
Jast sacrament to one of his
patients, a dying girl who believes
that she is recovering and that her
lover is coming to fetch her home,
but the Professor refuses to admit
him on the grounds that the sight
of him would destroy her last
moments of happiness and hope.
The incident is used by some of
his colleagues to deprive him of bis
status as director of the Institute,
professor and doctor, and he is tried
on a charge of religious obstruction
and sent to prison for two months.
Inside the main theme are packed,
like those Chinese boxes that fit cne
inside another, half a dozen other
themes, each connected yet each
of separate interest—the relations
of religion and science, the influenee
of politics on both, the conflict be¬
tween reason and dogma, the racial
question—and because each is a
vital part of the story, and because
the writing is strong, satirical, and
pointed, the play commands the at¬
tention and interest throughout.
Only ence, in the scene between
Bernhardi and the priest, did it
tend to become too wordy. Louis
Boreil’s and Ronald Adam’s trans¬
lation seemed to be very well done,
and some ofthe acting was remark¬
ably fine
In particular, Abraham Sofaer’s
Bernhardi, played with great re¬
straint, a delicate touch, and a
sense of humour—a performance
the values of which were none the
less great for being kept in a minor
key. Ronald Adam as his unscrupu¬
lous one-time friend, Bernard Mere¬
field as the priest, Alan Wheatley
(one of the most versatile and in¬
telligent actors on the London
stage) as a cynical official, John
Garside, Peter Ashmore, and Max
Adrien all acted with precision and
spirit in good parts. The produc¬
tion by Heinrich Schnitzler, son of
the late author was well done, but
the pace was allowed to slacken al
one or two points.
ERA,
II, Scho Square, W. I.
17 =iE 1936
Fl.
THEERA
14
ROUND THE NEW PLAYS
RIsPOEMToNT
BRtiA
44
ROFESSOR BERNHARDI? AT
MIE EINBASST
By MARGERY ROWLAND
THE first performance in England
of what is often considered
Arthur Schnitzler’s finest play
aroused an extraordinary amount of
discussion among members of the##
Embassy’s Monday-night audience.
Its iheme is anti-Semitic feeling
in Vienna, and its chief character
is, as the author was, a Jewish
doctor.
A priest comes to administer the
Jast sacrament to one of his
patients, a dying girl who believes
that she is recovering and that her
lover is coming to fetch her home,
but the Professor refuses to admit
him on the grounds that the sight
of him would destroy her last
moments of happiness and hope.
The incident is used by some of
his colleagues to deprive him of bis
status as director of the Institute,
professor and doctor, and he is tried
on a charge of religious obstruction
and sent to prison for two months.
Inside the main theme are packed,
like those Chinese boxes that fit cne
inside another, half a dozen other
themes, each connected yet each
of separate interest—the relations
of religion and science, the influenee
of politics on both, the conflict be¬
tween reason and dogma, the racial
question—and because each is a
vital part of the story, and because
the writing is strong, satirical, and
pointed, the play commands the at¬
tention and interest throughout.
Only ence, in the scene between
Bernhardi and the priest, did it
tend to become too wordy. Louis
Boreil’s and Ronald Adam’s trans¬
lation seemed to be very well done,
and some ofthe acting was remark¬
ably fine
In particular, Abraham Sofaer’s
Bernhardi, played with great re¬
straint, a delicate touch, and a
sense of humour—a performance
the values of which were none the
less great for being kept in a minor
key. Ronald Adam as his unscrupu¬
lous one-time friend, Bernard Mere¬
field as the priest, Alan Wheatley
(one of the most versatile and in¬
telligent actors on the London
stage) as a cynical official, John
Garside, Peter Ashmore, and Max
Adrien all acted with precision and
spirit in good parts. The produc¬
tion by Heinrich Schnitzler, son of
the late author was well done, but
the pace was allowed to slacken al
one or two points.