that theatre rents rose rapidly to absurd figures: a common rent at any time between 1915 and 1921 for a theatre in the centre of London was 400 to 500 per week. All other expenses, owing to the high cost of living, increased proportionately, but the price of ad- mission, apart from the entertainment tax imposed during the war (which did not benefit, but rather harmed, the theatre manager) remained at the pre-war figure. Slight increases, after the Armistice, were made in one or two cases, but in 1921 the economic situation in the theatre was that the revenue remained at the pre-war figure while the expenditure was on the post-war scale. Such a situation as that is only endurable when the theatre is filled with an audience, each member of which has paid for his seat. In pre-war times a play could be profitably performed before an audience occupying three-fourths of the seats. A manager could even make ends meet although half his seats were unsold. He could afford to lose money on a production for four or five weeks if he had a reasonable hope that thereafter profitable audiences would assemble for the performances. In 1921 a manager could not hope to make money out of a production unless his theatre was fully occupied at each performance. If a play failed to draw enough people to fill all or nearly all his seats, that play could not be continued in his programme. The financial burden was too heavy to be borne; and for this reason many meritable pieces which might have been " nursed " into popularity were with- drawn almost immediately after production because they had not at once taken hold of popular fancy. The plays which suffer from this economic situation are undoubtedly the better kind of plays. Those which profit from it are the plays without merit other than that of a spectacular character. The best illustration of the effect of this situation on the drama is to be found in the remarkable popularity of Chu Chin Chow, an eastern spectacle written by Oscar Asche. This banal piece, a variant of the theme of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, was produced at His Majesty's theatre a theatre with an honourable tradition on Aug. 31 1916. It ran for nearly five years, creating a record of over 2,200 consecutive representations. Every device of colour and light and costume was used in this production. The appeal made was almost exclusively to the eye, very little to the ear and not at all to the mind. Chu Chin Chow broke all records for consecutive performances at one theatre and earned large fortunes for those who were concerned in its production.
In spite, however, of the difficult economic situation, of the change in tradition and government of the theatre, there was a remarkable recovery of quality on the English stage after the signing of the Armistice, and plays of quality began to appear, not timidly, but almost arrogantly. A play by Galsworthy, The Skin Game, dealing with the conflict between aristocracy and plutocracy (in which both sides are badly besmirched) and susceptible of allegorical ap- plication to the war and the treaty of peace, was performed with great success at the St. Martin's; and a political comedy, entitled The Grain of Mustard Seed, by H. M. Harwood, produced at the Ambassadors' had a singularly successful " run," singular because of the fact that political plays are rarely acceptable to English au- diences. Sir James Barrie's Mary Rose was performed at the Haymarket with enormous success. In this play he treated the problem of life after death in a fashion which divided playgoers sharply into complete devotees or complete sceptics. The Skin Game was successfully produced in America, but Mary Rose hardly won the favour in New York that it had won in London. The most interesting post-war success was the popularity with which Gay's The Beggar's Opera was revived at the Lyric opera house, Hammer- smith. It was not, however, a success in America. Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac was revived with notable success by Robert Loraine, and Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, also revived by Loraine, had astonishing success with ex-soldiers on account of its anti-romantic treatment of war. Shakespeare's plays are extensively produced. A working-class theatre in the Waterloo Road, London (popularly known as " the Old Vic."), had maintained the standard of good drama throughout the war, and this theatre, handicapped by lack of funds and rather amateurish acting,'steadily built up an audience for good plays. After the Armistice its work was amply rewarded. The " Old Vic." became the one theatre in London where playgoers could depend on seeing great drama, and as the quality of the acting was much improved, they could also depend on seeing competent performances. Bernard Pagan in 1920 reconstructed the Court theatre and announced that it would henceforth be a Shake- spearean theatre, where four of Shakespeare's plays would be pro- duced annually. But the economic situation made gallant enter- prises difficult, and it remains to be seen how far good intentions will survive high prices. The era is one of transition, and the period of transition nearly always causes more pessimism than good hope.
UNITED STATES
In America, the theatre, after the end of the war, was in a healthier state than in England. This is more true of New York perhaps, than of the rest of the country. Playgoers in that city seem more willing to patronize good things and to support new enterprises than playgoers anywhere else. A remarkable organ- ization entitled The Theatre Guild of New York has, in three
years, raised itself from an obscure, impoverished and unknown position into that of the only first-class theatrical enterprise in the world which is a great financial success. The Theatre Guild grew out of the activities of a small group of enthusiasts who were known as the Provincetown Players and the Washington Square Players. These players gave performances, usually of one-act plays, in small theatres near Washington Square. They were akin to the movement, very widespread in America, known as the Little Theatre or Community Theatre movement societies of amateurs producing plays primarily for their own entertainment rather than for profit. The Theatre Guild, when established, secured a long lease on an old theatre, the Garrick, in West 35th St., and began operations with the production of Bonds of Interest, translated from the Spanish of Jacinto Bena- vente. This play (Los Inlereses Creados) has been done in England both under the American title and under that of The Bias of the World. It was not a financial success, and the capi- tal of the Guild, about $500, was almost exhausted when the directors decided to produce John Ferguson, a four-act tragic Irish play by St. John Ervine. This play was not expected to be financially successful, but it falsified anticipation. It was per- formed in New York for nine months, and enabled the Guild to establish itself more securely. Subsequent productions, including Masefield's The Faithful, were not quite so profitable, but the season ended with greater hope than it had begun. In the following season Tolstoy's The Power of Darkness, St. John Ervine's Jane Clegg, Strindberg's The Dance of Death, and other plays were performed, of which Jane Clegg, which ran for five months, was the most financially successful. The third season included the first production in English of Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, as well as of A. A. Milne's Mr. Pirn Passes By. Both these plays made much profit for the Guild, the first- named running for 150 performances. The success of the Theatre Guild and of John Ferguson caused an immediate effect on theatrical entertainments in New York, and one interesting result of it was that a young American dramatist of Irish descent, Eugene G. O'Neill, was given an opportunity of producing his plays at a first-class theatre. He had already become known as the author of one-act plays when his six-act tragedy, Beyond the Horizon, was produced at the Morosco theatre in New York. This play, most skilfully acted, had a great success, and those who are desirous of seeing a fine native drama grow up in America felt encouraged to maintain their hope when they contemplated O'Neill's work. In 1920 he produced a strange play in eight scenes, entitled The Emperor Jones, which is what may be called a one-part play, dealing with the journey of a negro into a West Indian forest where he lapses into primal terror. This play was produced by the Provincetown Players and the principal part was acted by a remarkable negro actor, Charles Gilpin. O'Neill is perhaps the most significant figure that the American theatre has produced since the death of William Vaughn Moody, and the quality of his work justifies hopes of raising the standard of American drama to a considerable height.
American dramatists display great technical excellence in their work, together with a tendency towards sentimentalism of a curious- ly crude character. There is probably more mechanical ability among American dramatists to-day than among any other drama- tists in the world, but this ability is seldom related to artistic power and it is frequently used to falsify life. There are signs, however, of discontent with slick sentimentality, and young writers throughout the country are endeavouring to relate technical excellence to plays in which life is truly treated. Dramatic craftsmanship is more closely studied in America than in England, and in many of the colleges and universities students take a course in dramaturgy. The most interesting experiment of this kind is that conducted by Prof. George P. Baker, professor of dramatic literature at Harvard Uni- versity, who, in what is popularly known as " the 47 workshop," instructs his pupils in the writing and production of plays from the point of view of author, producer, actor and critic. Many of his pupils have written competent one-act plays and several of them have successfully produced more ambitious pieces. One of the ablest of American dramatists and, at the same time, the least prolific, is James Forbes, the author, among other plays, of The Chorus Lady, The Show Shop and The Famous Mrs. Fair. Forbes produces mainly satirical comedies of stage-life, but the last-named piece deals with ordinary life and is a very able bit of work. Other
