The People's Theater: Tr. from the French of Romain Rolland by Barrett H. Clark

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H. Holt, 1918 - Drama - 144 pages

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Page 145 - Lost Illusions'; it is as big as that. . It is moderate praise to call it with Edmund Gosse 'the noblest work of fiction of the twentieth century.
Page 145 - JEAN.CHRISTOPHE DAWN — MORNING — YOUTH — REVOLT JEAN-CHRISTOPHE IN PARIS THE MARKET PLACE — ANTOINETTE — THE HOUSE JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: JOURNEY'S END LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP— THE BURNING BUSH— THE NEW DAWN Some Noteworthy Comments " 'Hats off, gentlemen — a genius.
Page 70 - A great dramatic poet," said Goethe, "if he is at the same time productive, and is actuated by a strong, noble purpose, which pervades all his works, may succeed in making the soul of his pieces become the soul of the people. I should think that this was something well worth the trouble. From Corneille proceeded an influence capable of forming heroes. This was something for Napoleon, who had need of an heroic people; on which account, he said of Corneille that if he were still living he would make...
Page 69 - ... an agent of public education Without her men of letters, France would stand where Spain stands at this moment . . . We have reached the most important epoch of French history, for the destiny of twenty-five million men is about to be decided. . . . Free arts succeed the enslaved arts; the theatre, so long effeminate and abject, will henceforward inspire only a respect of law, love of liberty, hatred of excess, and the execration of tyrants.'* Mercier's ideas were more directly influential upon...
Page 70 - I should think that this was something well worth the trouble. From Corneille proceeded an influence capable of forming heroes. This was something for Napoleon, who had need of an heroic people; on which account, he said of Corneille that if he were still living he would make a prince of him. A dramatic poet who knows his vocation should therefore work incessantly at its higher development, in order that his influence on the people may be noble and beneficial.
Page 22 - Ma haine va mourir, que j'ai crue immortelle; Elle est morte , et ce cœur devient sujet fidèle ; Et prenant désormais cette haine en horreur, L'ardeur de vous servir succède à sa fureur.
Page 103 - ... themselves : the people of today and the people of tomorrow; those of a certain part of a certain city, and those of a part of another city. We cannot presume to do more than establish an average, more or less applicable to the people of Paris at the present time. The first requisite of the People's Theatre is that it must be a recreation. It must first of all give pleasure, a sort of physical and moral rest to the working-man weary from his day's work.
Page 87 - Henry Bauer, Lucien Besnard, Maurice Bouchor, Georges Bourdon, Lucien Descaves, Robert de Fiers, Anatole France, Gustave Geffroy, Jean Jullien, Louis Lumet, Octave Mirbeau, Maurice Pottecher, Romain Rolland, Camille de Sainte-Croix, Edouard Schuré, Gabriel Trarieux, Jean Vignaud, Emile Zola.
Page 71 - As a matter of fact, they performed a mimic bombardment of the city of Lille.* But on the and of August, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety, ' desiring to mould further the sentiments and character of the French into a truer form of republicanism,' proposed a ' regulation of dramatic performances ', which 'A great dramatic poet, if he is at the same time productive, and is actuated by a strong noble purpose which pervades all his works, may succeed in making the soul of his pieces become the soul...
Page 80 - ... establish closer relations between man and man ; it is, I think, the fairest hope of our national regeneration. I mean a theatre universally of the people, echoing every thought of the people, and extending to every hamlet. . . . Before I die I wish to see a spirit of national fraternity in the theatre ... a drama simple and vigorous played throughout the countryside, where the energy of talent, the creative power which lies in the heart, and the youthful imagination of an entirely new people...

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