II

THE NEW THEATER

MORAL AND PHYSICAL CONDITIONS

They

SUCH, briefly, is the history of the first attempts to create a People's Theater in France. are the direct result, as we have seen, of the great democratic traditions of the eighteenth century philosophers and the men of the Convention. There remains for us to state our conception of this new theater.

The economic aspects of the question have received adequate treatment at the hands of Eugène Morel. Of course, I do not invariably agree with him. For instance, Morel believes in the theater for its own sake: The more theaters the better. The more people, the better. I consider quantity, not quality." On the contrary, I think only of quality, and not at all of quantity. I have no faith in a theater without an ideal. I should not trouble my head about the people if I thought they might become merely another Bourgeoisie, as vulgar in their pleasures, as hypocritical in their morality, as stupid and apathetic, as the actual Bourgeoisie. Little

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1 Letter from Eugène Morel to Georges Bourdon (in the Revue bleue, May 10, 1902).

would I care to prolong an art of empty nothingness, and a class of people which seems at the edge of the grave. But if I have much less faith in the absolute worth of art than Morel, and much more in a moral and social revolution of humanity, I cannot help admiring the originality with which he has attempted to solve the problem of popular art. His Projet de théâtres populaires, so far as material organization is concerned, is a genuinely original contribution, full of fertile ideas; his novel suggestions are rendered more valuable by a judicious sense of the practical requirements. I need not

analyze that work here: it should be read from cover to cover. I shall content myself with exposing its principal outlines.

M. Morel places his People's Theater on a financial basis by means of subscriptions. Taste can only be formed by the constant sight of beautiful things. Education requires repetition. In order to exercise any appreciable influence over the public, you must always have a public. Occasional festivals may be more imposing, but their influence amounts to nothing." The subscriptions were for weekly performances. 'This is the most regular form of subscription, the one best calculated to form the habit." And Morel proposes to issue 25-franc

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'I do not altogether agree with Morel. One has only to recall the profound and lasting effect of a few occasional spectacles on the mind of a child unused to entertainments of the sort. It is true, however, that they do not form the habit. I think it necessary to introduce regular festivals as a matter of education.

certificates the coupons from which may be used as tickets from week to week. By an additional payment of ten francs, an original purchaser may renew his subscription after he has used his first twentyfive tickets. I need not enter into detail as to Morel's methods of easy payment, which he has further simplified by reducing expenses. This he has done by discounting authors' royalties and suggesting a reform in the Public Charities' taxes, which under the present system make a People's Theater almost impossible to run. "And finally," he concludes, we are not establishing a charitable institution; but we must have a system whereby very few families would be too poor to go to the theater; and, consequently, the theater, far from being a luxury, would actually develop a sense of thrift and economy."

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The renewal of subscriptions under this system would naturally reduce the income for the following year, but now it will be seen that the People's Theater is not a single isolated institution. "The moment it succeeds the profits must go to the founding of another theater, in a different neighborhood. In this way, a play will no longer be performed only seven days, but fourteen, and the capital required for the foundation of the original theater replaced out of the profits of the second. The second, then, making use of the material as well as the actors of the first, will have no trouble in starting, and will be further enabled to profit by the experience of the one before it. The use of the

same costumes and scenery in the second theater will further reduce the expenses." These theaters are to be organized not only throughout Paris, but in every province of France. We wish to cover France with theaters." The theaters would be so closely allied that actors, costumes, and scenery would be common property, under the administration of a central committee and its representative, the director. The State would have nothing to do -except to lend its aid in collecting the subscriptions, and its influence to insure the carrying out of the principles laid down by the founders. It is asked for no endowment, and no guarantees. The People's Theaters are to be independent, and the State is only to stand by and see that they are well run.1

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1It is interesting to compare this with the organization of the Schiller-Theater of Berlin. This theater is based on the subscription plan. Subscriptions are payable quarterly and cost five marks; one ticket entitles the bearer to five seats (including program, cloak-room fees, etc.). There is no State endowment. The capital is supplied by stockholders, who are the trustees, the president of whom is the director. His salary is 10,000 marks a year. If the profits exceed 5 per cent on the capital, they are given not to the stockholders, but to the actors and employees who are most deserving. The director, Herr Loewenfeld, guarantees his company-in December, 1899, there were twenty-two men and twelve women-salaries not exceeding 8,000 marks, one month's vacation a year, and costumes for the actresses. I have already stated that at the end of the first year Herr Loewenfeld had 6,000 subscribers. The Schiller-Theater gave 380 performances in eleven months: 319 evenings, 49 matinees, and 12 performances for students; 37 plays were produced, of which two were new; 25 evenings were devoted

I have said enough of this plan to show its originality, and I may now proceed to study it more closely.

Supposing that the capital is secured and the public ready. What conditions are necessary to a real People's Theater?

I shall not try to lay down absolute rules of procedure: we must remember that no laws are eternally applicable, the only good laws being made for an epoch that passes and a country that changes. Popular art is essentially changeable. Not only do the people feel in a manner far different from the "cultured" class, there exist different groups among the people 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 Theater is that it must be a recreation. It must first of all give pleasure, a sort of physical and moral rest to the workingman weary from his day's work. It will be the task of the architects of the future People's Theater to see that cheap seats are not instruments of inquisitorial torture. It will be the task of the to poetry readings, one to the recitation of fables, and one to Christmas stories. No play may be performed more than twelve times, and the programs change daily. The theater is used during the day for expositions and lectures. The Freie Volksbühne of Vienna began by renting productions from other theaters, and giving Sunday matinees.