SERIOUS MOOD
PRIEG
FRUBLENT
SCHNITZLER PLAY
ATTHE EMBASSY
By A. E. WILSON
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI.“ By Arthur
Schnitzler Adapted by Louts
Borell and Ronald Adam. Embassy
Theatre.
HERE is nothing of the
familiar light, genial and
flippant Schnitzler in“ Pro¬
fessor Bernhardi“ which has a
theme of serious purpose
developed very much in the
manner that Shaw might have
employed.
Racial prejudice and the pursuit of
truth are strands in the theme. Pro¬
fessor Bernhardi, the Jewish chief of
a hospital, offends the anti-Semites
and the clerical party by refusing to
allow a priest to administer the Last
Sacrament to a dying girl on the
grounds that her last hours should be
undisturbed.
The case is seized upon by the
professor’s many enemies and rivals
and magnified out of all proportion to
its importance.
The affair is taken up in Parlia¬
ment; it becomes a case for criminal
prosecution, and the professor goes
to prison.
All along tle professor might have
saved himself by sacrificing his prin¬
ciples, bv consenting to the nomina¬
tion on his staff of an incompetent
doctor, but he refuses #0 compromise.
The-priest who is willing to exeuse
the professor in private will not do
so in public. That would be damaging
to his sacred cause, and in his view
the cause is greater thanthe man. Each
pursues the truth as he sees it.
Schnitzler was himself a Jew and
a physician, and although the case is
argued with great fairness and with
sceming impartiality, it is quite
natural that the professor is made to
have the greater justice on his side.
Some of his enemies are given a pretty
poor case to argue.
But there is good, meaty stull in the
argument. It is lively and stimulat¬
ing and gives the audience plenty of
material for thought and discussion.
Professor Bernhardi, in his stand
for truth and the unswerving pursuit
hof the dictates of conscience, is a
figure calling for sympathy and
admiration.
The part is admirably played by
Abraham Sofaer. He gives it fine
dignity and conducts his argument
with force, conviction and sincerity.
In the nearly all-male cast some
good acting comes from John Garside.
Bernard Merefield and Noel Howlett.
and also from Ronald Adam, ho. in
addition to having a hand in the
new and very competent English ver¬
sion of the play, gives a nicely suare
picture of a Cabinet minister.
——
COVENT G
„ *
HAULIU. BALLET BE
AD De
OTUR
**
e
4
225
Abraham Sofaer and Ronald Adam in ihe play.
EXTRACT FROM
DAILY SKETCH,
200, Gray's inn Road, W.C.I.
1·6 JUNE 1936
Date¬
LAST NIGHT’S FIRST NIGHT
BAN ON PRIEST
Doctor Wanted Girl to Die
Happy
ICHNITZLER’S play“ Professor Bern¬
O hardi.“ translated from the German
and presented at the Embassy last night,
deals with the conflict of religion and
medical science.
A doctor, tending a young woman at
the point of death, refuses to allow a
priest to see her to give her absolution
because, although there is no hope of re¬
covery, she does not know it and he
wants her to die happy.
The attitude of the doctor, who is a
Jew, is regarded as a blasphemous
defiance of the Christian faith. He is
tried on a criminal charge and forced to
resign.
Abraham Sofaer, a Jewish actor, is
excellent as the doctor, and there is also
good work from Bernard Merefield as
the priest and Noel Howlett as a con¬
ventional medical professor.
—.—
PRIEG
FRUBLENT
SCHNITZLER PLAY
ATTHE EMBASSY
By A. E. WILSON
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI.“ By Arthur
Schnitzler Adapted by Louts
Borell and Ronald Adam. Embassy
Theatre.
HERE is nothing of the
familiar light, genial and
flippant Schnitzler in“ Pro¬
fessor Bernhardi“ which has a
theme of serious purpose
developed very much in the
manner that Shaw might have
employed.
Racial prejudice and the pursuit of
truth are strands in the theme. Pro¬
fessor Bernhardi, the Jewish chief of
a hospital, offends the anti-Semites
and the clerical party by refusing to
allow a priest to administer the Last
Sacrament to a dying girl on the
grounds that her last hours should be
undisturbed.
The case is seized upon by the
professor’s many enemies and rivals
and magnified out of all proportion to
its importance.
The affair is taken up in Parlia¬
ment; it becomes a case for criminal
prosecution, and the professor goes
to prison.
All along tle professor might have
saved himself by sacrificing his prin¬
ciples, bv consenting to the nomina¬
tion on his staff of an incompetent
doctor, but he refuses #0 compromise.
The-priest who is willing to exeuse
the professor in private will not do
so in public. That would be damaging
to his sacred cause, and in his view
the cause is greater thanthe man. Each
pursues the truth as he sees it.
Schnitzler was himself a Jew and
a physician, and although the case is
argued with great fairness and with
sceming impartiality, it is quite
natural that the professor is made to
have the greater justice on his side.
Some of his enemies are given a pretty
poor case to argue.
But there is good, meaty stull in the
argument. It is lively and stimulat¬
ing and gives the audience plenty of
material for thought and discussion.
Professor Bernhardi, in his stand
for truth and the unswerving pursuit
hof the dictates of conscience, is a
figure calling for sympathy and
admiration.
The part is admirably played by
Abraham Sofaer. He gives it fine
dignity and conducts his argument
with force, conviction and sincerity.
In the nearly all-male cast some
good acting comes from John Garside.
Bernard Merefield and Noel Howlett.
and also from Ronald Adam, ho. in
addition to having a hand in the
new and very competent English ver¬
sion of the play, gives a nicely suare
picture of a Cabinet minister.
——
COVENT G
„ *
HAULIU. BALLET BE
AD De
OTUR
**
e
4
225
Abraham Sofaer and Ronald Adam in ihe play.
EXTRACT FROM
DAILY SKETCH,
200, Gray's inn Road, W.C.I.
1·6 JUNE 1936
Date¬
LAST NIGHT’S FIRST NIGHT
BAN ON PRIEST
Doctor Wanted Girl to Die
Happy
ICHNITZLER’S play“ Professor Bern¬
O hardi.“ translated from the German
and presented at the Embassy last night,
deals with the conflict of religion and
medical science.
A doctor, tending a young woman at
the point of death, refuses to allow a
priest to see her to give her absolution
because, although there is no hope of re¬
covery, she does not know it and he
wants her to die happy.
The attitude of the doctor, who is a
Jew, is regarded as a blasphemous
defiance of the Christian faith. He is
tried on a criminal charge and forced to
resign.
Abraham Sofaer, a Jewish actor, is
excellent as the doctor, and there is also
good work from Bernard Merefield as
the priest and Noel Howlett as a con¬
ventional medical professor.
—.—