Page Four

PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE

August 20, i937

The Theatre of Action Takes to the Road a: serciccnm

See of the older people
I will tell you that the
theatre is dead; that the per-
fection of the talkies and
the advent of technicolor has
sealed the doom of the leg-
itimate stage. There is a
hint of wistfulness in their voices
as they recall memories of other
days when the names of Sarah
Bernhardt and John Forbes Rob_-
ertson were as familiar to them
as those of Marlene Dietchrich
and Clarke Gable to the modern
generation. A hint of wistfulness
because they realize that the
talkies can never quite capture
the particular atmosphere that is
the essence of the living theatre.
This general assumption that
the theatre is dead is not new.
But neither is it true. For in a
thousand and one halls across
Ganada today the theatre of the
future is being built by dramatic
societies and a pew drama is
slowly taking shape.

Wot all these groups are worlk-
ing along the same lines, but all
have a common objective, the cre-
ation of a revived interest in the
drama and the building of a Ca-
nadian theatre movement that
will draw its support from the

_people themselves.

The large number of entries and
widespread interest in the Drama
Festival are indicative of the new
spirit of the theatre in Ganada; a
spirit that knows no obstacles and
is not afraid to experiment with
new forms and new ideas.

x
HAT is one of the most en-
couraging things about the
whole movement, for not only is
there new interest in the theatre,
but an entirely new approach to
dramatic problems.

Many of these amateur dra-
matic groups and particularly
those more progressive dramatic
organizations represented by the
Toronto Theatre of Action, the
Montreal New Theatre and the
Progressive Arts Players of Van-
couver are not content to present
only orthodox plays.

Tf the new theatre is to be a true
reflection of the modern scene,
they assert, then it must face also
the many complex social and eco-
nemic problems within that scene.
Wor is it enough merely to portray
a phase of the modern scene, to
raise a problem and leave it at
that. The play itself must provide
either a solution or a guide to a
solution of the problem it raises.

So it is that, side by side with
technical developments and new
forms of presentation, a new dra-
matic literature is coming into
being, the playwrights for the

PPROXI-
mately two
hundred and fif-
ty dollars in one month, This
is the amount collected by
the Girls’ Volunteer Brigade
to Aid Spain in its campaign
to raise money for the war
orphans of Spain.

The Girls’
Brigade.

Bight volunteers of the brigade
canvassed the downtown section of
Vancouver last Saturday and suc-
ceeded in raising $50-

So successful has the campaign
been that the brigade has decided
to extend it for two weeks, at
least. After that, Vi McCrea, bri-
fade commander, tells me, another
project, not yet definitely decided
upon, will be launched.

Sarah Rosman and Babe Grad,
the two 2irls who have led in the
collecting throughout the cam-
paign, will go to Powell River and
other Island points to solicit sup-
port for the Spanish orphans and
the volunteers in Canada’s own
Mackenzie-Papineau battalion. A
dance in Powell River is now being
organized and the proceeds will be
donated to these funds.

The brigade, now fifteen. strong,
jis looking for new members. its
meetings are held every Friday at
7:30 p.m. in the offices of the
Canadian League Against War and
Fascism, 615 West Hastings
Street. On Monday, August 30, at

THE UPPER CRUST

most part young men and women
whose names five years ago were
unknown.

Building their plots around the
basic problems of the day and
writing in the language of the
people, these young playwrights
have succeeded in giving a new
force to the theatre and in inter-
esting hitherto untouched audi-
ences in the value of the drama
as a propaganda medium of high
artistic merit.

In the building of a broad anti-
Fascist movement and in the
struggles of organized labor the
new theatre groups are playing an
increasingly important role with
their mobile productions.

*
T is on this phase of the new
theatre that the Progressive
Arts Players of Vancouver are
concentrating at the moment.

I was down at their head_
quarters at 1273 Granville street
one day this week, or, to be more
correct, one night, for it was past
ten o'clock.

The evening was warm, too

Theatre Groups Tour W

O September wind and rai,
Be compassionate for Spain!
Rafael Albert.
By BEN BURNS
EROISM and sacrifice,
which dim beyond com-
parison deeds in wars and
revolutions of the past, have
been the order of the day in
Spanish Loyalist territory
for well over a year now.

The sight of men
literally stopping the onslaught
of international Fascism by
simple power of numbers, march-
ing to death armed with but
sticks in instances’ is a Saga that
surges with intense drama.

Men of the theatre Seeing in
Spain the stage of an interna-
tional drama have gone “over
there” to report on what they
expected would amount to a
“renaissance”? in the play world.

Two investigators — Richard
Watts, Jr. of the New York
Herald Tribune, and Herbert
Kdme, New Theatre Magazine
alumnus—hayve written on the
results of their travels. Both re-
port their trip was for naught.
But neither is surprised.

As Watts so aptly put it, “peo-

and women

warm, one would have thought, to
spend in a hall none too well
ventilated. The players might
have been justified in calling the
rehearsal off and going down to
the beach. But the enthusiasm of
its members is the one thing that
has kept the organization alive
through the many ups and downs
of its two years of existence.

A dozen or so young people sat
around in the semi-darkness while
tobacco smoke floated lazily
through the bright glare of the
spotlights. On the tiny stage the
cast of “Gentlemen Be Seated”
was being put through its paces by
Director Sophie Shaffer.

Perhaps the most striking thing
—certainly that which has drawn
the most comment from outside
critics—was the earnestness and
sincerity of the actors. There was
little time wasted. As one member
told me afterwards, it was their
own time and they wanted to put
it to good use. Most of them work
in offices and stores during the
day and can only rehearse at
night.

Wery few have had any experi-

ple were too busy with serious
considerations of life to ‘bother
over much with the theatre.”

And Jacinto Benavente, dean
of Spanish playwrights; whose
“The Passion Flower’ is well
known in America, concurs. The
ace Spanish dramatist is living
in Walencia after being forced to
evacuate his Madrid home by
Franco shellings. He is decidedly
with the democratic forces of
the nation.

Benavente points out that with
the war in its midst it is still teo
early to expect the story of the

Spanish people’s valor on the
stage.

War and revolution brought
a notable renaissance in the

drama in the two similar strug-
gles preceding the Spanish con-
flict—in Russia and Ireland.

A new world-recognized the-
atre grew aut of the Russian
Revolution when such masters
as Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, and
VWakhtangov were given free rein
te produce social dramas for the
first time by the Soviet Union-
Today the Soviet Theatre is uni-
versally . jacknowledged to ibe
tops.

But the great advance in the
use of the stage for social themes

——
HAROLD GRIFFIN.

ence in dramatic work and still
’ fewer any training. This is one of
the main difficulties confronting
the PAP, but the members them-
selves through study and hard
work are pradually overcoming
the handicap.

did not come in the Soviet Union
until the last of the invading
White and interventionist armies
ad been driven from Russian
soil.

The great plays of Jean
O’Gasey and’ the work of the
Trish Abbey Players similarly
did not make a notch in the play
world for themselves until the
struggle against the British
Black and Tans by. the IRA was
quieted.

*

(as in the modern Spanish
theatre what great drama
will emerge “will probably come
when the last blackshirt has
been driven into the Mediter-
ranean. ‘

However, despite the rigors oft
the Spanish war, the Fascist fire-
brands have not caused the pad-
Jocking of theater doors in Mad-
rid and Valencia.

Agit-prop plays, much on the
order of early American left-wing
mobile pieces are performed in
town and village by barnstorm-
ing troupes. Rafael Alberti, lead-
ing revolutionary poet in Spain,
has been supplying most of these
groups with “material for either
the puppet stage or mass recita-
tions.

“Tt is that

conceivable here

A Woman’s Diary

7:30 p.m., you will be able to hear
some of these militant girl anti-
Fascists over CKMO on the League
program.

And speaking of women’s ef-
forts in the cause of Spanish free-
dom, I should say a word or two
about Mrs. Beckie Ewen, of the
Friends of the Mackenzie-Papineau
Battalion, whose tours through
British Columbia have inspired
people everywhere. In a recent
meeting at Sointula alone she col-
lected 3166.

*

New Soviet OMEN espe
cially, are

Democracy. taking a keen in-

terest in the new Soviet constitu-
tion and the new democracy there,
if letters I have received during
the past two or three weeks are
any indication.

“Ts the new system fully demo-
cratic?” asks one correspondent
writing from Kelowna, B.C. For
answer I cannot do better than
quote Soviet Russia Today in re-
plying to a similar question:

“Ves indeed it is. The way
in which recent elections in vari-
ous organizations have been used
by the people of the Soviet Union
to clear the state offices and all
social institutions of bureaucrats,

By Redfield

“T am looking for prosperity, pardner.”
“No kidding? I am waiting for a street car.”

inefficient people and traitors-.is a
notable example. At the present
time there are elections taking
place in all factories, plants, work-
shops, offices, for trade union
committees, also elections for
trade union functionaries and
leaders, Every trade union is to
have its convention during the
summer and on October 20 there
is scheduled to take place the All
Union Trade Union Congress, dele-
gates to which will be elected by
direct and secret vote. All the
jeading organs and committees of
the Communist Party underwent
a shaking up as the membership,
for the first time, used the secret
ballot in party elections. In some
places more than half of the per-
sonnel was retired and new forces
were pressed into service to re-
place the bureaucratic, inefficient
or disloyal elements.

“Qn July 3 the rules for the
coming fall elections for the su-
preme council and council of na-
tionalities (which constitute the

Paul Robeson and

By L. GOLLER
London.
AUL ROBESON, film
star, known to millions
of people through his sing-
ing of Negro Spirituals, “Ole
Man River,” famous for his
film roles in “Show Boat,”
“Sanders of the River,”
“Bmperor Jones,’ and re-
nowned yet again for his act-
ing in plays like “The Hairy Ape,”
this is the man who in clear ring_
ing tones told me:

“Tike every true artist I have
longed to see my talent econtribut-
ing in an unmistakeably clear
manner to the cause of humanity.”

Known to millions throughout
the Soviet Union both by radio
and record, Robeson has just re-
turned to Britain.

While he was in Moscow he was
to have broadcast an appeal in aid
of the Basque children which, it
had been arranged, should have
been relayed to an audience at the
Albert Hall.

I asked Roheson what he
thought of the Spanish war of
national liberation, and his state-
ment is before you appealing for
help for the Spanish people.

Every artist, every scientist
must decide NOW where he
stands. He has no alternative.
There is no standing above the
eonflict on Olympian heights.
There are no impartial observers.
Through the destruction—in cer-
tain countries—of the greatest
of man’s literary heritage, through
the propagation of false ideas
of racial and national superiority,

two chambers of the Soviet con-
gress) were published. The entire
Soviet citizenry of 18 years of age
and older, men and women of all
nationalities, ‘ereeds and social
origins, will, by direct vote, elect
the highest governmental body of
the country. "here are no prop-
erty or any ‘other qualifications
imposed. The rules established
election precincts, polling places,
election boards, a uniform ballot,
the right to watch polling places
on behalf of candidates, numerous
safeguards to insure free expres-
sion of the voter without any
pressure or interference, and full
rights to nominate and- campaign
for candidates for party, trade
union, co-operative, youth, cultural
and other organizations.”

International os s S
Children’s Home. tne subject

of the Soviet Union, have you
heard of the first International
Children’s Home in the USSR, un-

“é

Negro spirituals were
never meant to be religious
songs, says Robeson. They
were—most of them—songs
of revolt; when Negroes
sang of ITcaven they meant
the free North America to
which they eventually es-
caped; their songs were
never songs of some placid
paradise after death, but
passionate revolutionary
songs veiled in different
words, as songs have to be
veiled when the suugers fear
oppression. But the men
who sang them knew what
they meant.”

the artist, the scientist, the writer,
is challenged. The struggle in-
vades the formerly cloistered
halls of our universities and other
seats of learning The battlefront
is everywhere, there is no shel-
tered rear.
*

HE challenge must be taken

up. The course of history can
be changed, but not halted. Time
does not wait. The forces of re-
action fight to destroy the eulture
which society has created, created
through pain and suffering, and
through desperate toil, but with
unconquerable will and lofty vi-
sion. Progressive and democratic
mankind fight not only to save
this cultural heritage accumulated
through the ages, but also fight
today to prevent 2 fear of un-

ARK, vivacious Director Sophie
Shaffer herself admitted to
having “a very amateur status.”
She told me something of the
problems facing the organization.
“We've three directors now—_
Victoria Rendell, Harry Louis and
Ethel Smith—all of whom have
had some experience, but we came
to the conclusion some time ago
that we would have to develop our
own forces in every department.
“After the ereat success of
‘Waiting For Lefty and the tre-
mendous publicity we gained from
it we thought we were sitting on
top of the world. But we found
that we had the biggest job ahead
of us, that of building a solid or
ganization. Qn the strength of
‘Waiting For Lefty’ we produced
‘Bury The Dead’ this spring. It’s
true that more than two thousand
people came to see it, but it
crippled us financially and occu-
pied all our efforts.
“Gonsequently we. decided to
turn to short, mobile productions.
If the audience isn’t yet suffici-
ently interested in what we're do-

ar- Lorn

may be the nucleus for the new
drama that should fertainty
emerge eventmally,”’ writes
Watts.

Werb Kline describes a per-
formance of one of these agit-
prop groups in an exhibition hall
in Valencia. The lights suddenly
go out and the actors are seen
at one end of the hall. Kline con-
tinues:

“Qne of the girls stepped out
of line to announce that this was
the first appearance in the city
of El Retablo Rojo (The Red
Scene), a workers theatre, which
had arrived that morning from
the Cordoba front.

«what followed was not at all
pleasing to the youths of military
age in the audience. #1 Retablo
Rojo began a mass chant en-
titled, ‘Valencia Awake.’ With il-
justrative gestures the young
milicano Sang of the heroism ot
the Loyalist soldiers compared to
the heroes of the French, Rus-
sian and American \evolution's.
Then with only the girls taking
part came the challenge: “Why
are these young men in the audi-
ence, who should he fighting for

Jiberty, mot in uniform?”
*
A= from the agit-prop the-
atre, the legitimate stage

a a.)

by

der the auspices of the Interna-
tional Labor Defense, located in
the city of Ivanovo? In this sunny
home children of revolutionary
fighters of various eountries are
brought up and given a happy
childhood. ‘There are 140 boys and
girls of various races and nations
in this home at the present time.
The buildings of the home are
situated in picturesque surround-
ings and beautiful forest.

The children there devote much
of their time to sport and thus re-
store their health lost under the
pressure of want in their home
countries. There are grounds es-
pecially prepared for every possible
branch of sport. Football grounis
and tennis courts, as well as
grounds for croquet, volley-ball,
pbasket-ball, bowling and so on, are
to be found there.

*x

Ae of my recent remarks
on birth control, the following
excerpts from a recent article in

pain

imaginable atrocity from from en-
gulfing the world.

What matters a man’s vocation
or profession? These reactionary
forces are no respectors of per-
sons. Yhey make no distinction
between combatants and non-com-
batants. The beautiful village of
Guernica, nestled in the Basque
hills, is proof of that.

*

HE artist must take sides. He

must elect to fight for free-
dom or for slavery. I have made
my choice. I had no alternative.
The history of this era is charac-
terised by the degradation of my
people. Despoiled of their jands,
their culture destroyed, they are,
in every country save one, denied
eaual protection of the law, and
depriyea of their rightful place in
the respect of their fellows.

Wot through blind faith or co-
ercion, but conscious of my course,
I take my place with you. I stand
with you in unalterable support
of the government of Spain, duly
and regularly chosen by its law-
ful sons and daughters.

Again I say, the true artist
cannot hold himself aloof. The
legacy of culture from our pre-
decessors is in danger. It is the
foundation upon which we build
a higher and all-embracing cul-
ture. It belongs not only to us
—not only to the present genera—
tion—it belongs to our posterity
and must be defended to the very
death, because the liberation of
Spain from the oppession of Fas-
cist reactionaries is not a private
matter for the Spaniards, but the
common cause of all advanced
and progressive humanity.

ing to come to us, then welll go to
our audience and prove that we
really have something to offer.

‘We now have six plays either
already produced or in course of
production. Most of them, natur
ally, deal with social problems.
Every other Saturday we hold a
social evening here to try out our
productions. if they elick, then
we send them out to the various
mass organizations, to concerts
and the like for the cost of trans—
portation. The criticism helps us
and enables us to improve our
standards. Right now we're try—
ing to interest the trade unions in
what we are doing-

“All our members get an oppor
tunity to try out for the work they
think they can do best, just as Tm
trying my hand at directing right
now. in this way we can gauge
their abilities and place them
where they can be of most value
to us.” :

*

ASKED her if the PAP planned
any full-length productions dur-

ing the coming season. She
@
ean boast the Garcia Lorco

group, named after the poet and
playwright who was executed by
the Fascists. Lorca up until his
death showed every promise of
becoming the country’s greatest
revolutionary dramatist.

The Lorea Theatre has shown
nothing of the present People’s
Front resistance to Fascism on
its stage, according to latest re-
ports but is specializine in show-
ing all the great plays of the
past which were taboo before
the democratic forces came to
power.

director
group,

As Manuel Gonzales,
and leading actor of the
puts it, “There is no dearth of
social plays in Spain. All we
have to do is to stage the great
forbidden dramas of the last few
decades.”

Gonzales has said he would
like to do some of the American
social dramas but first must
deal with the problems of Spain.

The pioneering work of the
Lorea Theatre and the agit-prop
groups in the heat of the Span-
ish War of Independence points
to a rebirth of the theatre in the
Tberian Peninsula. What it will
ereate awaits the rout of Fascism
in the amphitheatre of world
conflict.

Victoria Post .

the Moscow News reveal some in-
teresting facts:

“A sharply rising birth rate,
a very marked reduction in the
number of abortions with an ac-

Companying Zain in the health of
women, a significant drop in the
divorce rate, the expenditure of
large sums for direct financial
assistance granted by the gov-
ernment to large families and an
increase in the number of ma-
ternity homes, nurseries, and mill
depots are among the outstanding
results of the decree on the pro-
hibition of abortions, increase of
material aid to pregnant women,
establishment of state aid to large
families, ete. The decree was is-
sued June 27, 1936.

“There can be no doubt that
the decree has played a signi-
ficant role in this increase, for
it permits abortions only in case
pregnancy and birth would he
harmful to health, upon  certi-
ficate from a competent commis-
sion of the public health service.
The thoughtless resort to abor-
tions which previously resulted
in far too many cases of chronic
jl] health among women has been

stopped. There are indications
that the number of illegal abor-
tions has dropped, while the
number of so-called incomplete

THE RULING CLAWSS

SM

f Gur Motte :

shrugged her shoulders.

“Jit all depends on the progress
we make and the support we get.
Full-length productions require a
lot of money and we feel that we
should build our organization
on a sound footing first

“Henry Bird, our technical di-
rector, and Hthel Smith are hold-
ing weekly classes in theatrical
work with a view to training and
developing our members so that
we can aid other draamtic groups
and assist in the formation of new
groups. In this way we shall in-
terest an ever-larger audience to
the point where we can put on
big productions profitably.

“We also hope to take part in
the Drama Festival again next
year, but everything depends on
our rate of development during
the next few months. The Toronte
and Montreal groups are able te
get expert assistance from New
York, but at the moment this
seems to be out of the question
for us.”

Miss Shaffer was enthusiastic
over the interest taken in E. V.
Woung’s productions of “Merrie
England,” “A Midsummer Night's
Dream” and “The Tempest” in
Stanley Park this summer.

“It goes to prove that the pub-
lic can be interested in the the-
atre,” she declared. ‘Perhaps. next
year, we will experiment with one
er two open-air productions our-
selves.”

*

Nee only is intensive work be-
ing carried on by the Pro-
gressive Arts in every department
of the theatre, but the group is
now preparing and writing its own
plays.

I spoke to Victoria MRendell
about this.
“Yes,” she said, “we felt that

we should produce some plays
dealing with specific British Co-
lumbia problems. Again, with the
Spanish question agitating peo-
ple’s minds, we found there were
very few plays suitable. So we
decided to form a play-writing
group. So far we have one play
written by a member which has
gone over quite well and A. M.
Stephen is now engaged on a play
centred around La Passionaria-
We hope to produce it this fall.’

Qne by one the Progressive
Arts is overcoming the many dif
ficulties confronting a dramatic
organization attempting radical
changes in the theatre) And the
surest guarantee of its success is
the enthusiasm of its members
who feel, as one member expressed
it, that the organization, learning
from past failures and from the
experiences of similar groups in
Ganada and the United States, is
really preparing “to go places.”

abortions performed in hospitals

following abnormal stoppage of
presnancy has declined 44 per
cent in the cities and 37.8 per

cent in rural districts during the
first half of this year as com-
pared with a similar period last
year. An interesting sidelight on
the operation of the law is a large
increase in the production and sale
of contraceptives.

“Before the new law was passed,
Soviet maternity homes had a total
of approximately 48,000 beds, and
nurseries had facilities for 626,000
infants, plus summer nurseries
accommodating 4.1 million children
of collective farmers. By June 10
of this year, 250 new maternity
homes with 2400 beds, 641 nur-
series for 37,500 infants and 73
milk depots had been built.

“The marked drop in the num-
ber of divorces since the publi-
cation of the decree reflects the
strenethening of family relations
and the increased sense of re-
sponsibility on the part of par-
ents, husbands and wives. (The
decree effected changes in the di-
vorce legislation and strength-
ened the criminal penalties for
non-payment of alimony for the
maintenance of children.) As
compared with the same period in
the preceding year, the decline in
the number of divorces during
January-May, 1937, was as follows:
RSFSR, from $82,000 to 24,331; the
Ukraine, from 25,888 to 8,243;;
White Russia from 3,173 to 850.

ea gore

BOMGS, P01SeN-GCAS, Fane
THpowERS, DYNAMITE, GUNS,

Nhe
A
i

JUS

=: +1. ee ———

“Just think what we're giving civilization! Why, a whole
city can be blow up with this.”

i