File:The art theatre; a discussion of its ideals (1917) (14589481440).jpg

Identifier: arttheatrediscus00chen (find matches)
Title: The art theatre; a discussion of its ideals
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Cheney, Sheldon, 1886-1980
Subjects: Detroit Little theater movement
Publisher: New York, A. A. Knopf
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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p of which he is leader. Each member ofthe group is supposed to be a related part of thecomplete interpretative mind. But the studentof Reinhardts work soon discovers that he is byno means uniformly successful in harmonizingand relating the several elements. The fame ofhis productions rests more upon the even accom-plishment of his excellent acting-machine, andupon the pictorial splendor of some of the settingsdesigned by his artists, than upon attainmentof an artistic unity within each play. He hasbrought together the most remarkable group ofmanagers, actors, artist-designers, and workmenever associated in one theatrical project; but hehas yet to prove that the collective creation ofsuch a group, when directed by an organizerrather than an artist, can have the same distinct-ive, all-pervading atmosphere as the productionsof a true artist-director. ni Gordon Craig wants an artist-ruler who willnot yield to his helpers any of the creativeprocesses, and who will rule his workers as an82
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The Artist-Director autocrat; Huntly Carter wants free expressionin a group of artists, with merely an organizer tohold the group together. It is probable that thepractical ideal lies between the two views. My own idea of the probable working-out ofthe matter is this: the theatre will accept Craigsfigure in his general aspect of artist-ruler, butwill free him from the necessity of writing hisown play and music. This, it seems to me, ispossible because: first, the playwrights work is ina sense a finished product, and there is no dangerof a clash over it—his script is the starting point,and the director is free to take it or leave it; andsecond, music is so much an art of mood thatthe composer, once understanding the require-ment, is extremely unlikely to produce a score outof keeping with the playwrights intention or thedirectors conception. These two points aside,I believe that Craigs described artist of thetheatre must and will be realized before we canhave an art theatre worthy of

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