The Doctors Fail to Agree

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions at the request of the writer will names be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The Harvard Dramatic Club has acquired the distinction of being pushed simultaneously in opposite directions by the CRIMSON and the Boston Transcript. The CRIMSON prefers things familiar and worthy to extravagant, exotic, and often bloodthirsty world premieres: while the Transcript deplores the sinking of the Harvard Dramatic Club to the rank of a second-rate Stock Company, and transfers its publicity from the theatre page to the Schoolboy Notes. The tragedy of this contest lies in the fact that both editors have right on their side and would seem to have the same aim: that the Harvard Dramatic Club should contribute something to drama. The Transcript reviewer probably displays discretion in presuming that the production of "Liliom" would add little to the earlier performances in Boston of Eva le Gallienne and her distinguished company; while the CRIMSON is safe in maintaining that sheer novelty-chasing adds nothing at all.

However, there is a middle ground on which, professional producers do not dare, rather than do not deign, to tread; and this from fear of the audience rather than from fear of the censor. Unhappily the professional stage is governed by the need of making money and the temptation to play down to the box-office. The Dramatic Club has neither to pay its actors, nor to make a profit, and so is relatively free to experiment to advance the drama. It is possible to experiment with old plays, as well as with those of other countries: but merely to reproduce the work of contemporary and local professional companies is to contribute very little to the theatre. Henry C. Friend '31.