Faksimile

Text

25. BrefesBerhad—
EKTRAGT FROR
Deutsman
15 00L. 1935
P.
LONDON THEATRES
Professor Bernhardi“
IFROM OUR LONDON DRAMATIC
CRITICI
Loypon, Tuesday Night
Pkorrsson Beanhiakol, the play by Arthur
Schnitzler, which was presented in an Eng¬
lish version at the Phcenix Theatre this
evening, poses an interesting question. Is a
doctor justified in refusing to permit a priest
to give the last sacraments to a dying woman
who does not know that her end is near?
The matter is complicated by the fact that
the doctor is a Jew, for this gives rise to
further question, whether he was influenced
entirely
y professional concern for his
patient-the desire to let her pass peacefully
nway without knowing of the imminence of
death—or whether he was subconsciously in¬
fluenced by inborn hostility to another
religion.
The author holds the balance fairly, and
permits himself no special pleading either
way, but the impression left on the audience
is, on the whole, that in a Christian country
the doctor should not have stood in the way
of the Church, or should, at any rate, have con¬
sidered the point of view of the woman who,
if she thought that death was near, would
have desired absolution. It is onlv in the first
act that the problem is propounded, the rest
of the play concerning the fate of the Jewish
doctor, who is brought up on a eriminal
charge of religious obstrugtion. He is sent
to prison for two months, bat at the end of
his sentence finds himself a popular i.’ol.
The action of the play, which holds tho in¬
terest from first to last, passes in Vienna. Mr
Abraham Sofaer, as the doctor, gives à mag¬
nificent performance.
box 31/5
EKTRACT FROM
BIRMINGHAM POST.
38, New Street, Birmingham.
15 JuI1 936
Datam
ENOTABLE PRODUCTION OF
SCHNITZLER PLAY.
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI“ AT
THE PHGENIX THEATRE.
(From Dur London Representative.)
Mr. Ronaid Adam is to be congratulated on.
presenting“ Professor
his
enterprise in
Bernhardi, originallg produced at the Embassy
Theatre, Swiss Cottage, to u wider audience at
the Phoenix Theatre. The late Arthur
Schnitzler is best known in this country as the
Janthor of those delightful trifles the“ Anatol
Dialogues, but this is aserions study of honesty
in the toils of intrigue.
Professor Bernhardi, Director of the Elizabeth
Institute of Medieine, Vienna; is a man of the
Thighest professional reputation and a
unblemished personal record, but, as a Jew, he
Thas enemies both inside and outside the Insti¬
tute. An unfortunate refusal, made on purelj'
professional grounds, to allow a priest to
administer the last sacraments to a dring girl,
is seized upon as evidence of the professor’s
hostility to the Catholic faith. Political and
Tanti-Semitic feeling combine with personal
Tambition to magnifg the ineident into a major
standal, and Bernhardi’s intransigent attitude
is wost helpful to his enemies.
The professor’s character is drawn with tho
Ffirmest lines, and Mr. Abraham Sofaer does
nobly with the part. He conveys the man's
great ability, h humanity, his profound respect
for scientiße truth and contempt for com¬
promise, and that personal irritability which
gives his enemies a handle against him. Thel
network of sophistry with which both supporters
and detractors surround him is drawn with ernel
precision. The scene in which the Jew and thei
priest recognise the abyss that inevitably parts
them is perhaps the best thing in the play.
Mr. Sofaer’s is not the only striking per¬
formance of the evening. Mr. Earle Grey is
splendidlg sinister as the deputy-director who is
atter Bernhardi’s job. and Mr. Ronald Adam
does well as the Minister of Education, a
politician first and a doctor sccond. Mr. Peter
Ashmore gives a powerful little study of thel
Uunsuccesstul country doctor.