The Impossible Theatre by Herbert Blau (review)

452 MODERN DRAMA February The book takes up the original idea, planning, construction of the theater, a resume of the first four productions, and a philosophical discussion of the repertory theater in the United States. The style changes from chapter to chapter. The book begins with a straightforward analysis of present day Broadway and off-Broadway theaters (off-Broadway is treated scantily). There is a romantic, introspective glance at Ireland where the plan is hatched, a semi-humorous account of the search for a theater location, a factual narrative of the problems involved in the construction of the building, a critical analysis of the first year's productions, and a serious dissertation on the place of the theater in contemporary society. The differing styles and moods move easily from one to another and do not disturb the reader. Throughout, the book is lively, well written, and readable. One does not encounter many fresh ideas; but the book is honest and down to earth and says what cannot .be repeated too often. The author has the courage to quote Claudia Cassidy's vitriolic review of the Hamlet production. In Guthrie's comment on the review there is neither cynicism nor acid. (In its juxtaposition to the other quoted reviews, this review defeats its intended purpose.) The discussion of the contemporary commercial Broadway theater, while adding nothing new, is comprehensive, convincing, and pessimistic. Chapter Nine is a look at the prospective theater of the future in a changing society under the title of "Amenity or Necessity?" Two sentences on the MinneapOlis theater bear quoting: "The theater is neither a business nor part of an educational institution. It is .•• concerned with establishing a classical repertory company ... aiming gradually to achieve its own distinctive style." If the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre succeeds in establishing itself, this book will be of value as the story of its creation; if it fails, as many other theater ventures have failed, it may reveal the misguided enthusiasms and the pitfalls which future theatrical adventurers will be wise to avoid. ALLEN CRAFToN University of Kansas (emeritus) THE IMPOSSIBLE THEATRE, by Herbert BIau, The Macmillan Company, New York, 11)64, 309 pp., illustrated. Price $10.00. Mr. Blau has written a highly personal .book; he has merited a highly personal review. For its most practical application, The Impossible Theatre should be required reading in the first semester of graduate school for the thousands of theater and drama students in this country. While they are trying to position themselves within the framework of that confused entity-or nonentity-the American theater, it would help enormously if they understood what theater in America can be and should be. BIau dearly delineates an artistic choice. After a slightly extended introductory ch8lpter, BIau accurately assesses the asininity of Broadway as a goal for an artist. He chastises university theaters for a failure to achieve what is within their ·province and their ability: "If they are not exactly rattling platitudes they are not cracking nature's molds either." In the vitality of European theater, he finds evidence of the life which was once present in our land when such men as Cook, Jones, Macgowan, and Clurman were afire. In essence, the Actors Workshop took its flame from the same torch and the same altar that a Moliere or a Clurman used: an absolute belief in theater and art, or, in a word, commitment. 1966 BOOK REVIEWS 453 What is required of commitment is clear. "That we were not at first supported may have, if you'll forgive the Puritanism, been good for us. It seeded the enterprise with an internal strength. The actors we did have all worked voluntarily. Irving and I did all the technical jobs. . . . Nobody drew any salary for several years..•• The pattern of sacrifice is not new in the theater. but the intensity and extent of it is relevant to my account of the period." In the second part of his work, Blau indicates major steps and decisions in the formulation of what the Workshop should be when all involved in the process attempted to clarify goals. Interesting as was the process, for this reviewer chapters seven, eight, and nine were most...