25. Professor Bernhardi
Cutting from—
4%
0
—
(enS
RLD.,
OFTHE
I1O.C
5
Dies
Posnaof
Date of Issue
ou o1 pirs
Ai Auspfon
eien Arion
dn pnapa
2 d pounig
Wiens Wian,
Schefurg
4
Due
Professor Who
Sought The Truth
F Ronald Adam has not brought to the
1 Phoenix anotner great popular
success like"
Ten Minutes Alibi,
he has at least in“ Professor Bernhardi
given West-end audiences the oppor¬
tunity of seeing one of the most
admirable productions for which the
Embassy has been responsible.
Lchnitzler’s drama of conflict between
the man who thinks only of his personal
integrity and does what he thinks right.
regardless of consequences, and the man
who palters with the truth, if the end in
view justifies the paltering, is beautifully
worked out.
The play opens in the vestibule of a
ward in a Viennese hospital, where a
girl lies dying as the result of an illegal
operation. She is a patient of the famous
Bernhardi, Jew, scientist, and agnostic,
and as death draws near she is serenely
happy in the conviction that she has
been cured.
Someone, however, has sent for a
priest, and he comes, onlv to be pre¬
vented by the professor from entering
the ward. Nor will the scientist give
way for all the arguments of the priest.
Let her die happy in her delusion, says
the doctor. Let her die absolved of her
sins, says the priest. While they argue,
the doctor barring the way, a nurse slips
in and tells the girl the priest has come,
and she dies in an agony of fear,
unshriven.
From that scene where the two well¬
meaning men stand, both defeated, there
grows a maze of complications, in which
political, professional, and anti-Semitic
intrigues so twist the professor’s act that
he is at last publicly denounced as an
enemy of Christianity, and suffers two
months imprisonment.
He never doubts, however. Hesees the
truth and speaks the truth, and in so
doing almost brings to himself all he
values in life.
The play, which is for those who can
enjoy good talk about things that matter,
talk that is set in situations dramatically
exeiting, is brilliantly acted by Abraham
Sofaer, as the professor; Ronald Adam,
as a time-serving politician; Bernard
Merefield, as the priest; Alan Wheatley,
as a young official; and a crowd of
talented people as the quarrelling
doctors.
box 31/5
Date
EXTRACT FROM
REFEREE,
17, Tudor Street, E.C.4
19 Jul sO
EREisa play that at least cheers
44 one up. That is something.
PROFESSOR
BERNHARDI
(Phcenix)
TTHOUGHT“ Professor Bernhardi“
an extremely fine play when I saw
it a few weeks ago at the Embassy
Theatre. It has now come to the
Phenix for what should be a long run,
and I have little to add to the eulo¬
gistic remarks which have already ap¬
Heared in this column.
The changes of cast have been
ne#rligible. Mr. Abraham Sofaer re¬
peats his superb performance as the
Jaruish doctor who refuses to let a
dying Roman Catholic patient see a
priem“, not because he is: religions
dgot, but because he is a humane
man and wishes to gave her from the
terror of death.
That is the clou of the play, and the
cause dl' all subsequent discussion.
It sayn a great deal for the skill and
diplomagy of the author that much of
this disch ssion is in a comedy vein,
geses#a#enenauntettlstinunennnaunee#ssunser
WHATS ON
TO-MORROW — L'Aiglon
Embassy. Queer Cargo“ —
TUESDAV—A Midsummer
Night’s Dream'—Open-Air
Theatre, Regent’s Park.
FRIDAV—“ Symphonic Fantas-
tique,“ new ballet—Covent
Garden.
SATURDAY — Saint Joan.“ —
Malvern Festival.
BosasEBBEndenEEBANEEENEDEEAIILEEEIIIAEENAIEENIEEEE.
which, in spite of the seriousness ofthe
subject, is wholly without offence.
Diplomacy is also exercised in hold¬
ing the balance so fairly between
Jewish realism and Christian
fanaticism.
Both the Doctor and the priest are
reasonable and likeable, and one re¬
spects the views of each.
X
Cutting from—
4%
0
—
(enS
RLD.,
OFTHE
I1O.C
5
Dies
Posnaof
Date of Issue
ou o1 pirs
Ai Auspfon
eien Arion
dn pnapa
2 d pounig
Wiens Wian,
Schefurg
4
Due
Professor Who
Sought The Truth
F Ronald Adam has not brought to the
1 Phoenix anotner great popular
success like"
Ten Minutes Alibi,
he has at least in“ Professor Bernhardi
given West-end audiences the oppor¬
tunity of seeing one of the most
admirable productions for which the
Embassy has been responsible.
Lchnitzler’s drama of conflict between
the man who thinks only of his personal
integrity and does what he thinks right.
regardless of consequences, and the man
who palters with the truth, if the end in
view justifies the paltering, is beautifully
worked out.
The play opens in the vestibule of a
ward in a Viennese hospital, where a
girl lies dying as the result of an illegal
operation. She is a patient of the famous
Bernhardi, Jew, scientist, and agnostic,
and as death draws near she is serenely
happy in the conviction that she has
been cured.
Someone, however, has sent for a
priest, and he comes, onlv to be pre¬
vented by the professor from entering
the ward. Nor will the scientist give
way for all the arguments of the priest.
Let her die happy in her delusion, says
the doctor. Let her die absolved of her
sins, says the priest. While they argue,
the doctor barring the way, a nurse slips
in and tells the girl the priest has come,
and she dies in an agony of fear,
unshriven.
From that scene where the two well¬
meaning men stand, both defeated, there
grows a maze of complications, in which
political, professional, and anti-Semitic
intrigues so twist the professor’s act that
he is at last publicly denounced as an
enemy of Christianity, and suffers two
months imprisonment.
He never doubts, however. Hesees the
truth and speaks the truth, and in so
doing almost brings to himself all he
values in life.
The play, which is for those who can
enjoy good talk about things that matter,
talk that is set in situations dramatically
exeiting, is brilliantly acted by Abraham
Sofaer, as the professor; Ronald Adam,
as a time-serving politician; Bernard
Merefield, as the priest; Alan Wheatley,
as a young official; and a crowd of
talented people as the quarrelling
doctors.
box 31/5
Date
EXTRACT FROM
REFEREE,
17, Tudor Street, E.C.4
19 Jul sO
EREisa play that at least cheers
44 one up. That is something.
PROFESSOR
BERNHARDI
(Phcenix)
TTHOUGHT“ Professor Bernhardi“
an extremely fine play when I saw
it a few weeks ago at the Embassy
Theatre. It has now come to the
Phenix for what should be a long run,
and I have little to add to the eulo¬
gistic remarks which have already ap¬
Heared in this column.
The changes of cast have been
ne#rligible. Mr. Abraham Sofaer re¬
peats his superb performance as the
Jaruish doctor who refuses to let a
dying Roman Catholic patient see a
priem“, not because he is: religions
dgot, but because he is a humane
man and wishes to gave her from the
terror of death.
That is the clou of the play, and the
cause dl' all subsequent discussion.
It sayn a great deal for the skill and
diplomagy of the author that much of
this disch ssion is in a comedy vein,
geses#a#enenauntettlstinunennnaunee#ssunser
WHATS ON
TO-MORROW — L'Aiglon
Embassy. Queer Cargo“ —
TUESDAV—A Midsummer
Night’s Dream'—Open-Air
Theatre, Regent’s Park.
FRIDAV—“ Symphonic Fantas-
tique,“ new ballet—Covent
Garden.
SATURDAY — Saint Joan.“ —
Malvern Festival.
BosasEBBEndenEEBANEEENEDEEAIILEEEIIIAEENAIEENIEEEE.
which, in spite of the seriousness ofthe
subject, is wholly without offence.
Diplomacy is also exercised in hold¬
ing the balance so fairly between
Jewish realism and Christian
fanaticism.
Both the Doctor and the priest are
reasonable and likeable, and one re¬
spects the views of each.
X