Saving the Phenomena
WITH the best will in the world I am getting a little tired of the farcical, commedia dell'arte style favoured by Theatre Workshop. Take the other evening, for instance. I was very enthusiastic on learning that a Pirandello play unknown to me was going to be put on by them, but what I had not gathered was (1) that it was rather an inferior play in itself, and (2) that Theatre Workshop were going to make it more inferior than it really is by taking out of it any complication that originally existed.
The story of the play is pretty simple. The wife of a sea captain, who has not slept with her hus- band for some time,•finds herself with child by her lover, and it is therefore urgent for all con- cerned that the husband on one of his rare appear- ances should be lured into her bed. This in the interests of what seventeenth-century scientists called, I believe, 'saving the phenomena.' The lover administers an aphrodisiac and the hus- band duly obliges—not without a good deal of fun of the Mr. Horner's china variety (readers of The Country Wife will know what I mean). This, I suppose, was intended by its author to be the vehicle for some sly digs at conventional morality, but obviously ethics have come a long way since it was written, for there did not appear to be anything in it much more ironical or shocking than used to be found in an Aldwych farce.
Moreover, if there had been subtlety it would have got lost in Theatre Workshop's production. Mr. France Jamnik has done it as broad farce, and the effect of this was to stifle any leanings towards irony, pity and what-have-you that the dialogue may have concealed. Farce needs an experienced or well-drilled cast, and this one received neither at Stratford. The only actor to display the neces- sary energy was Glynn Edwards as the returning sea captain. The others were obviously young, promising, but unsuited for the parts allotted to them. The set was also bad : the captain at one point is made to complain that his home stifles him every time he enters it—a sentiment quite unadapted to the airy, modernistic background. Altogether, a disappointing evening. Much as I approve of Theatre Workshop in principle, I should recommend them to tear it up and start
ANTHONY HARTLEY
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