In the other great English speaking country there are four outstanding
examples of repertory work, as has already been stated. On the Continent
the situation is entirely different; there is no "problem" there, for the
repertory theater has long been an established fact. France, in the
_Comedié-Française_, and Germany, in several of her theaters before the
war, merely provide us with a criterion. In Great Britain, however, and in
America, we are in the process of building and adjusting, so that the
examples of one will reasonably affect the other. At the risk of being
misunderstood we shall pause long enough to call attention to the _Irving
Place Theatre_,[1] of New York, a German house supporting German plays, and
attended very largely by a German clientele, but notwithstanding all this a
repertory theater of standing, and of some distinction, from which we might
learn several useful lessons. However, it is with the Anglo-American stage
that we have to do at the moment.
Doubtless, first in importance comes the Abbey Theater Company of Dublin.
From December, 1905, to December, 1912, there were produced at the _Abbey
Theater_ (I am unfortunately unable to include the several important tours
made) seventy-four plays, of which seven were translations. Of the rest but
few were revivals, as the history of the Irish literary movement will show.
They were plays written especially for the theater, for particular
audiences, and to achieve definite purpose as propaganda. Moreover, when
the _Abbey_ was tottering on the brink of failure, Miss Horniman came to
the rescue with a substantial subsidy which enabled the theater not only to
proceed, but finally to establish itself on a sound running basis. Mr.
Walker's company has had to fight its own way from the very start.
In Manchester, Miss Horniman's own repertory company at the _Midland
Theater_ and finally at the _Gaiety_ has been distinctly and brilliantly
successful. In a period of a little more than two years there were produced
fifty-five plays; twenty-eight new, seventeen revivals of modern English
plays, five modern translations, and five classics. This is a repertory as
well balanced as it is wide. In 1910, however, there was inaugurated the
practise of producing each play for a run of one week, so that from that
time on the theater was open to the criticism of being not a repertory in
the fullest sense of the term, but a short run theater. But for that
matter, I do not think that there is a repertory theater either in England
or in America which fulfills the ideal conditions set down by William
Archer who had in mind, as he wrote, the repertory theater of the
Continent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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