Page:Rolland - People's Theater.djvu/126

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108
THE PEOPLE'S THEATER

Theaters, even with considerable changes. We might however use our circuses. Nor shall we achieve a true brotherhood among men or develop any truly universal art until we have done away with the stupid system of orchestra seats and boxes, and the resultant antagonism between classes. I would have at most only two kinds of seats: first, practically all the seats in the hall, and then a few reserved at the back for families. The workingman who returns home late has no time to dress, and he may not feel altogether comfortable if he is forced to show himself in his everyday clothes: the reserved seats will allow him to see without being seen. I am not sure but that this condition would help the people in the matter of pride in their personal appearance: this would not be one of the least advantages of our People's Theater.

As for the stage, it should be so constructed as to allow masses of people to act on it: fifteen meters wide (with a movable proscenium arch in order to make the opening smaller on occasion), and twenty deep. Morel demands a perfected system of machinery, with Versenkungen as used in Germany, England, and America; the revolving stage, the use of which allows the poet free rein. Surely there is no reason why an entirely new theater should not have these latest mechanical devices, unless their installation should require too great an outlay. But I cannot help remarking that, for my part, I do not insist on them. Georges Bourdon writes that "this great mechanical evolution will perhaps appear only