ExTRACT FROM
TIMES WEEKLV EDITION.
Printing House Square, E.C.4.
Date
EMBASSY THEATRE
· PROFESSOR BERNHARDI“
BP ARTHUR SCIINITZLER, English Version by¬
Louis BORELL and RONALD ADAM
Dr. Bernhardi, ihe director of a Viennese
hospital, refuses a priest, who has been sum¬
moned to a dying woman, access to ihe
patient. The refusal is based on Bernhardi’s
belief, as a doctor, that his patient, who is
happy and does not know she is dring. will
be shocked and filled with terror by the
S
Mr. Roland Adam and Mr. Abraham Sofaer in the play Professor Bernhardi at the
Embassy Theatre.
—
priest’s arrival. Schnitzler uses this occur¬
rence to illustrate the conflict between
Austrian clericalism and Jewisn sciemiilie
rationalism. for Bernhardi, himself a Jew. is
drawn From his post by what is, in effect, a
political agitation.
To an English audience the strictly politi¬
cal issue is ihe least interesting aspect of the
plav. lis enduring power is as a discussion.
first, of two opposed systems of thoughl. and,
secondly. of lwo ditfering sets of moral values.
Bernhardl, of whom Mr. Abraham Sofaer
draws à portrait magnificently vilal and per¬
suasive. Is. Tor all his calm of manner, as
fantastical, as much an absolutist, as ihe
priest: but his honesty is the honesty of
immediate action—he will admit no just sub¬
servience of means to an end; he is deter¬
mined to do whal he believes to be right at
all costs and in each inslance, teslifying 1o
his owntruth. though it ruin him, and not him
only. butthe cause in which he believes.
It is Schnitzler's merit that, though he has
a tendener to lond the diee against Catholicism
and never permits ihe priest 1o set ouf fully
the philosophical basis of his claim, he is pet
able. by implication, to criticize his Jewish
hero and to perceive that there is, or may be.
an element of stubbornness and arrogance in
his heroism. In brief, though the argument
Fantt-cierical. ihe irony is not undistributed.
and ihe linal act. dominated by an admirable
skeich of an ollicial by Mr. Alan Wheatley.
A comment, at once entertaining and far¬
reiching. on evergthing that has preceded it.
TIMES WEEKLV EDITION.
Printing House Square, E.C.4.
Date
EMBASSY THEATRE
· PROFESSOR BERNHARDI“
BP ARTHUR SCIINITZLER, English Version by¬
Louis BORELL and RONALD ADAM
Dr. Bernhardi, ihe director of a Viennese
hospital, refuses a priest, who has been sum¬
moned to a dying woman, access to ihe
patient. The refusal is based on Bernhardi’s
belief, as a doctor, that his patient, who is
happy and does not know she is dring. will
be shocked and filled with terror by the
S
Mr. Roland Adam and Mr. Abraham Sofaer in the play Professor Bernhardi at the
Embassy Theatre.
—
priest’s arrival. Schnitzler uses this occur¬
rence to illustrate the conflict between
Austrian clericalism and Jewisn sciemiilie
rationalism. for Bernhardi, himself a Jew. is
drawn From his post by what is, in effect, a
political agitation.
To an English audience the strictly politi¬
cal issue is ihe least interesting aspect of the
plav. lis enduring power is as a discussion.
first, of two opposed systems of thoughl. and,
secondly. of lwo ditfering sets of moral values.
Bernhardl, of whom Mr. Abraham Sofaer
draws à portrait magnificently vilal and per¬
suasive. Is. Tor all his calm of manner, as
fantastical, as much an absolutist, as ihe
priest: but his honesty is the honesty of
immediate action—he will admit no just sub¬
servience of means to an end; he is deter¬
mined to do whal he believes to be right at
all costs and in each inslance, teslifying 1o
his owntruth. though it ruin him, and not him
only. butthe cause in which he believes.
It is Schnitzler's merit that, though he has
a tendener to lond the diee against Catholicism
and never permits ihe priest 1o set ouf fully
the philosophical basis of his claim, he is pet
able. by implication, to criticize his Jewish
hero and to perceive that there is, or may be.
an element of stubbornness and arrogance in
his heroism. In brief, though the argument
Fantt-cierical. ihe irony is not undistributed.
and ihe linal act. dominated by an admirable
skeich of an ollicial by Mr. Alan Wheatley.
A comment, at once entertaining and far¬
reiching. on evergthing that has preceded it.