movement made has not only to contribute toward the growth and perfection of a drama's soul, but also to be a revelation, phrase by phrase, movement by movement, of essential traits of character. To put it another way, naturalistic art, when alive, indeed to be alive at all, is simply the art of manipulating a procession of most delicate symbols. 2. If the writer of "Strife" and "The Pigeon" has succeeded in adhering to his principles, it might be well to look into the validity of these principles. One final quotation: We want no more bastard drama; no more attempts to dress out the simple dignity of everyday life in the peacock's feathers of false lyricism; no more straw-stuffed heroes or heroines; no more rabbits and goldfish from the conjurer's pockets, nor any limelight. Let us have starlight, moonlight, sunlight, and the light of our own self-respect. Galsworthy, in a word, is the enemy of all that is false in the theater of "theatricality." In his plays, there is ever a conscious effort to avoid effects, "big scenes," hackneyed dialogue and situations. Galsworthy seems afraid of a “curtain"; it has been aptly said of him that the "curtains' seemed to hesitate to come down on anything that could possibly be mistaken for a climax." Yet it should be remembered that Galsworthy, disgusted with the falsity and triviality of a vast amount of present-day drama, was forced into his austere and reticent attitude. He has at least shown that plays do not necessarily have to be built according to time-worn formulas; he has also proved that one of the surest methods of obtaining emphasis is-up to a certain point-to under-emphasize. Mrs. Jones' "Oh! Sir!" which closes "The Silver Box" is an admirable example of this sort of thing. In "The Pigeon" notice how the "curtains" are managed. What elements of the usual "well-made" play are observable in these? Compare the second act of this play-as to its plot development-with the second act of "Candida." 3. In The Future of the Theater John Palmer states: Their [the characters in Galsworthy's plays] merit consists in all the commonplaces they do not utter, in all the obvious things they do not do, in all the fine speeches they do not make. In "The Eldest Son" Freda says "Oh, Bill!" and Bill makes the three following speeches: (1) "Freda !"; (2) "Good God!"; (3) "By Jove! This is- Whereupon the curtain saves him from committing his author any further. These are tactics of masterly inactivity. The scene is suggested by the players; and the audience supplies the emotion. Mr. Galsworthy has done nothing, except to suggest very clearly that he has avoided doing anything wrong. The last sentence here is an evident exaggeration, but how much of the entire criticism applies to "Strife" and "The Pigeon"? Has Galsworthy in detaching himself, in his attempt to be scrupulously exact and fair in his presentation of the grouping of life he chose to exhibit, gone too far, stood too far aloof, and lost that personal element, that touch of humanity, without which no art can exist? 4. The following letter to the writer touching upon the play now under consideration, may throw some light on the "fantastic" element: About those dates in "The Pigeon." Christmas Eve because of Ferrand's remark: "He is come, Monsieur!" and the general tenor of Wellwyn's acceptance of every kind of outcast. New Year's Day because of Ferrand's remark: "'Appy New Year!" which marks the disappearance of casual charity in favor of Institutionalism, of the era of outcasts in favor of the era of reformers. April first because of the joke at the end on the Humblemen which symbolizes the fact, or rather the essence, of the play, that, while Wellwyn (representing sympathy and understanding) is being "plucked" all through the play, he comes out and knows he does, on top at the end, as the only possible helper of the unhelpable. [The author adds: "I hope this is sufficiently obscure!"] H. GRANVILLE BARKER Harley Granville Barker was born at London in 1877. At an early age he became an actor in a provincial company. He first appeared on the London stage in 1892. Playing under Lewis Waller and Ben Greet, then with the Elizabethan Stage Society, and finally with Mrs. Campbell, he soon became known in the theatrical world. During many years he produced plays and acted for the Stage Society, where he mounted many of Shaw's works for the first time. In 1904, together with J. E. Vedrenne, he managed the Court Theater, where he made known to theater-goers new plays by Shaw, Hankin, Barrie, Galsworthy, and himself. He continued his managerial activities at the Duke of York's Theater, the Savoy-where he inaugurated a series of Shakespearian revivals-the St. James' and the Kingsway. Shortly after the outbreak of the War he brought his Company to America, where he made a tour with a small repertory of plays. He then engaged in war work, after which he gave up his managerial career. He has often lectured in America. During the past five or six years he has written only one play, and translated and adapted works from the French and Spanish. Granville Barker's plays are, in the best sense of the word, experiments in form. They are much more than technical feats, to be sure, but one feels that they are primarily quests after a newer and more flexible medium than that which the workers in the traditional form habitually use. "The Madras House," for example, judged by the standards of Pinero, is hardly a play at all; its artistic unity lies rather in the theme than in the actual plot. In "Waste," the theme again-more concrete than in "The Madras House"dominates the form. "The Voysey Inheritance," a study of upper middle-class English life, comes nearer to the traditional dramatic form. It is Barker's most successful play. PLAYS "The Weather Hen" [with Berte "Waste" (1907) Thomas] (1899) "The Marrying of Ann Leete" "A Miracle" (1902) "The Voysey Inheritance" (1905) "The Madras House" (1910) "The Harlequinade" [with D. C. "Vote by Ballot" (1914) "Farewell to the Theater" (1916) "The Secret Life" (1923) ("The Morris Dance" is a dramatization of Stevenson and Osbourne's "The Wrong Box." Barker has translated plays of MartinezSierra, Schnitzler, and the “Deburau" of Sacha Guitry.) Editions.-Three Plays (N. Y. 1909) includes "The Marrying of Ann Leete," "The Voysey Inheritance," and "Waste"; Three Short Plays (Boston, 1917) includes "Rococo," "Vote by Ballot," and "Farewell to the Theater." Separate Plays. "The Marrying of Ann Leete" (N. Y. 1909); "The Voysey Inheritance" (N. Y. 1909); "Waste" (N. Y. 1909); "The Madras House" (N. Y. 1911); "The Harlequinade" (Boston, 1918); "Prunella" (N. Y. 1913, Boston, 1920); "The Secret Life" (Boston, 1923). Reprints in Collections and Anthologies.-"The Madras House," in Dickinson's Chief Contemporary Dramatists (Boston, 1915), and in Moses' Representative British Dramas (Boston, 1918); "Rococo," in Clark's Representative One-Act Plays by British and Irish Authors (Boston, 1921). REFERENCES T. H. Dickinson, The Contemporary Drama of England (Boston, 1917); Desmond MacCarthy, The Court Theater (London, 1907); Ashley Dukes, Modern Dramatists (Chicago, 1912), and The Youngest Drama (Chicago, 1924); Archibald Henderson, European Dramatists (Cincinnati, 1913), and The Changing Drama (Cincinnati, 1919); John Palmer, The Future of the Theater (N. Y. 1913), and The Censor and the Theaters (N. Y. 1913); Ludwig Lewisohn, The Modern Drama (N. Y. 1915); William Archer, Playmaking (Boston, 1912), and The Old Drama and the New (Boston, 1923); A. B. Walkley, Drama and Life (N. Y. 1908), and More Prejudice (N. Y. 1923); P. P. Howe, The Repertory Theater (N. Y. 1911), and Dramatic Portraits (N. Y. 1913); F. W. Chandler, Aspects of Modern Drama (N. Y. 1914); Mario Borsa, The English Stage of To-day, trans. by S. Brinton (N. Y. 1908); Hesketh Pearson, Modern Men and Mummers (London, 1922); G. J. Nathan, Another Book on the Theater (N. Y. 1915); Gilbert Norwood, Euripides and Shaw (Boston, 1921); Clayton Hamilton, Studies in Stagecraft (N. Y. 1914); Frank Vernon, The TwentiethCentury Theater (Boston, 1924); A. E. Morgan, Tendencies of Modern English Drama (N. Y. 1924). See also by William Archer and Granville Barker, Schemes and Estimates for a National Theater (N. Y. 1908); Barker's prefaces to the acting edition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (London, 1914), "Twelfth Night," and "A Winter's Tale" (London, 1912), and to Three Plays of Maeterlinck (N. Y. 1915), and his book, The Exemplary Theater (Boston, 1922). THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE Play in 5 acts (1905). Texts: N. Y. 1909; in Three Plays (N. Y. 1909). Unlike the didactic plays of Shaw, unlike the fantasies of Barrie, or the well-balanced pieces of Galsworthy, "The Voysey Inherit ance" is essentially a character study. It has been only moderately successful on the stage. I. In the Shaw outlines (pp. 255-257) some attention was given to the matter of stage directions. In the English theater of to-day there are three dramatists who use this method of affording their readers a greater insight into the characters than could be afforded in actual stage presentation: Shaw, Barrie, and Barker. Shaw refused to rely upon the actors; Barrie, who has until recently refused to allow his plays to be printed, felt that without the actors the reader could not possibly recreate the necessary atmosphere; Barker probably felt that owing to the failure of most of his plays (from a practical viewpoint), it was imperative to reconstruct the milieu by means of words. Such directions as the following must be very annoying to the average manager: .. Relieved of his coat, Mr. Voysey carries to his table the bunch of beautiful roses he is accustomed to bring to the office three times a week, and places them for a moment only, near the bowl of water there ready to receive them, while he takes up his letters. A play intended only for the manager would, of course, have no reference to the fact that Voysey "is accustomed to bring" the flowers "to the office three times a week," as this cannot be shown on the stage. Such directions are for the reader, or for such exceptional managers as are willing to study the manuscript and endeavor to reproduce the atmosphere which the dramatist has striven to create. Turn to the opening of the second act of this play. Speaking of the dining room at Chislehurst, the author says: "It has the usual red-papered walls (like a reflection, they are, of the underdone beef so much consumed within them)," etc. While this is outside the province of what can be done by the stage carpenter, it should be advantageous to an imaginative director. Compare the stage directions of "Man and Superman," "The Voysey Inheritance," and "The Twelve-Pound Look." 2. This play is a character-comedy, a play of ideas, and a |