LAURENCE CLARIFIES DRAMATIC CLUB PLAY

The following review of "Mr. Paraclete", the Dramatic Club's production which will be given for the first time tomorrow night, was written especially for the Crimson by William L. Laurence '12. Laurence was a member of the 47-Workshop and has done work with Edward Massey '15, and Eugene O'Neil. He has translated plays from Spanish German, French, and Russian.

Since the announcement of its Fall production by the Harvard Dramatic Club much has been written about Evreinov and the monodrama. This is as it should be for the name of Evreinov naturally is very closely associated with his pet theory. Yet in this particular instance it is well to clear up some possible misconception. While Evreinov is, of course, the champion of the monodrama it doesn't necessarily follow that he employs only that particular form as a means of expression. He is too good a showman not to know that the drama cannot be reduced to a strict formula. He realizes only too well that under present stage conditions the field for the monodrama is essentially limited. As a result while he has written volumes expounding his theory, in actual practice he has produced only two plays to demonstrate what he means, namely. "The Theatre of the Soul" and "The Representation of Love". "Mr. Paraclete", rechristened in the program as "Quintessence" can not strictly speaking be termed a monodrama.

Is it Comedy or Tragedy?

However, while it is comparatively easy to decide what the play is not, it is not so easy to determine just what it is. The author himself is characteristically vague about it. "For some a comedy" he says, one imagines with a roguish twinkle, "and for others a drama." Or, as Shakespeare said it with much subtler whimsicality, "as you like it." "I don't care whether you laugh or weep", says the "enfant terrible" of the Russian Theatre, "as long as I have succeeded in arousing your interest, in stimulating your curiosity, in helping you while away a few dull hours in this dull existence of yours, in a word, if I have succeeded in amusing you I have fulfilled my mission as a good showman. My job is to amuse not to instruct. Nay, more. If I have succeeded in bringing laughter in your heart and strange wonder in your soul I have given you greater instruction than you could possibly get in your churches or your academies. For the secret of life is in its illusions and one good laugh is worth more than a thousand philosophies."

Realism vs. Expressionism

This is what Evreinov means by theatricality, his companion theory of the monodrama. It means much more than the art of the theatre. It embraces a much wider field of human activity, originating, actually, in life itself and from there ascending to its highest expression on the stage. By theatricality he understands the power of transformation which he believes to be deeply rooted in human character. To appear what one is not, to transform life into a continuous performance is the ideal which should be set up by humanity. To put it in other words to escape the misery and suffering of existence you must escape reality and to escape reality you must build up a new reality in its place. Unlike the Buddhist who finds this new reality in Nirvana or the assimilation of the will we must achieve it by a transformation of the will, by a new creation. Evreinov carries over the factional strife between the realistic and expressionistic theatre in Russia to the field of life itself. If all the world is a stage it is at best a realistic stage and all realism is bad. The Manager of the Universe, whoever he may be, is managing His Stock-company very badly. Two thousand years ago He has put on a beautiful play but having had such a long run it is time to build a new theatre. Let us, therefore, enter into competition with Him. If He has the world as His stage let us transform our stage into a world. This is the only chance of escape we have. We can get away from his Reality by changing it into Unreality first and with the latter as a foundation build up a new reality, a brand new shimmering universe in place of the old and ragged one. This transformation can be accomplished only through the stage breaking away from its present narrow limits and taking all of life as its domain. The actor is to become a crusader going into the arena resplendent in the shining armour of his art. He is to fight the great battle with that malignant it otherwise known as human destiny. He is to become a mummer of merely carrying first aid to the wretched and miserable left wounded and bleeding on life's battlefield by the inexorableuess of fate. He is to make kings out of beggars and make a grovelling worm look up at the stars and say proudly: "You are mine'"

Is "Transcendental Buffoonery"

"Quintessence" was written in an attempt to show in the language of the theatre that such a mission can be achieved by the theatre and to accomplish his purpose Evreinov has emphasized a very subtle and at times tantalizing technique. While the play supposedly takes place in Russia actually it takes place somewhere on the border land between reality and unreality. It is a will-o'-the wisp sort of a play eluding our grasp just at the moment we attempt to put our finger on it. It is like the moon on a mackerel-sky with the white clouds rushing over it, now hiding it completely, now showing it to us through a transparent wraith-like veil, now and then revealing it to us in its full opalescent splendor. The keynote of unworldliness, of "transcendental buffoonery" as Schlezel called it, is struck in the very opening of the first act and is sustained throughout the play. With much subtlety and with a whimsical humor not generally associated with the Russian drama in the mind of the average English-speaking theatregoer, the author transposes his characters from one level of existence to another, from fact to fancy and back again, so that right before our very eyes reality as though by magic melts away into unreality and a new fantastic world comes to life right in our midst by the deft turn of a phrase. Towards the end of the third act, right after the most realistic scene in the whole play, one of the characters turns to the landlady and asks her to make a second at chess. "But I do not play chess", remonstrates the landlady, "I only play checkers!" "That makes no difference", retorts the other, "come let us play." Whereupon they sit down and play a game of chess. The significance of this is obvious. In real life, the "rival stage", a knowledge of chess is necessary before you can play the game. But in the world of illusions, in the life of the theatre you can play chess without knowing the difference between a king and a pawn. To play a game of chess on the stage all one has to do is to go through the motions of playing. Thus by this one subtle phrase the author takes us from one plane of reality to another.

Audience Must Contribute

This important fact must be kept well in mind if one is to grasp the full significance of the play. Otherwise its overtones, its subtle flavor will be entirely lost. Each character must be viewed as playing several parts simultaneously, as being at once a creature of two or more worlds. The author, true to his conception, expects the audience to contribute their share in helping create the illusion but he has made it easy for them to achieve this participation by removing the boundaries between the stage and the stalls and making the whole theatre the scene of his play.

When the end of the piece approaches and the final miracle of transformation takes place before us, we are a bit startled, as we are starled all through the other acts, but we are not long in finding ourselves quite at home in the new phantastic milien. With a surprise that George M. Cohan might envy, we find Harlequin King again and the ancient, beloved puppets of the commedia dill acte up to their pranks once more. "Hail the carnival!" shouts the resurrected Pierrot, "Beat the drums! Ring the bells! shine triumphantly, sun! Dance golden stars!" But when the play is over these puppets refuse to be packed away in their boxes. For they have come to life, not on the stage of the theatre, but on the stage of life itself. At last they have earned their right to immortality