International Theatre Annual ed. by Harold Hobson (review)

1958 llOOK REvmws 63 may be discontented or a dreamer but he is an active rebel. striving "to belong." "Art," states Professor Selden, "is primarily an expression of man's urge to grow." One may observe the living or the dying as realist or as poet, but the artist must feel the life-and-death cycle, and however he views mao's profound urges, he will regard them lovingly. This is the general thesis of Man in His Theatre. One may agree or disagree with the point of view that Professor Selden adopts. Perhaps he does contrive his biolOgical background a bit and thrust his Ritual and Myth into his thesis in too neat a manner. But, accepting his thesis, one finds an interesting and pleasant essay dealing in a sensible manner with a subject which does not always produce such temperate thought. Doe is stimuated but Dot shocked; ODe is made aware but not angry. There is a great deal to think about, but ODe is not constantly annoyed by half-thought-out ideas. Perhaps this is a major part of the volume's charm: rather than booming brass, it presents the stimulating mood of more subtle music-a moderate and intelligent criticism of dramatic art. However, a most significant aspect of !:his essay is its profound optimism. From his beginning chapter Professor Selden· stresses man's constant striving and hoping. "Tomorrow will be bettert" Perhaps the cynics doubt. "The fact remains, however, that hope, because inevitably it is biologically founded, is normal." Tragedy itself as a "feeling drama" must show a strong person who has a fair chance to win in his struggle; hence, there is the principle of the King's Son, a glimpse of hope at the end of the play. As an aspect of great drama Professor Selden emphasizes the classic tradition that something should rise out of sacrifice. William Faulkner recently gave the same idea prominence in his Nobel Prize speech. Man must alw~ys dream, and art allows him to dream of eternal spring where hope can have ~o limits. Through to his concluding paragraph, in which the artist is described as a lover and man as one struggling, with some chance of success, for the greatest possible enjoyment of life, Professor Selden sets forth a healthy optimistic note. Man in His Theatre is " not a striking re-appraisal of the narue of drama. Rather than make one gasp, it makes one think, and perhaps this is best in the long run. At any rate, 8Jong with its fine explanatory notes this long essay should be of value to the student who seeks to analyze dramatic art as it develops from man's fundamental urges. WALTER J. MESERVE INTERNATIONAL THEATRE ANNUAL. No.2, edited by Harold Hobson, New York, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1957, 220 pp. The second number of this very promising experiment brings evidence of .growth in size, seH.assurance, and sense of purpose. It is genuinely international: in fact it might be described as a cross between Theatre Arts and a United Nations brochure . The 47 pages of illustrations provide a graphic record of performances and players paralleling the special articles and five chapters which report on theatre in New York. Canada, and most of the principal European centers. Reports from Australia and Africa extend the range, even though South America and the Orient are not included. Throughout emerges the suggestion that the theatre is one of significant agencies that are working for hannony among nations and peoples. The Introduction, by John Osborne, finds ·this dramatist of the moment quite , amiably saying, "I have been extremely fortunate in my theatrical career." However , he finds his true pitch in urging the role of the theatre as that of attack, Dot only upon the British way of life and feeling, but upon all causes of dying hope and strength. "The theatre must be based on care," he says, "care for how people live and feel." The International Theatre Annud reflects this quality admirably, a 64 MODERN DRAMA May quality of care for what is really going on in the world of stage and drama. It does not blow a trumpet nor swing a sabre...