Welsh Journals

was that people took him for a lawbreaker of the first type, whereas he belongs to the second. Such teaching as his is dangerous, to be sure, like all exploring expeditions a path is to be made through a jungle infested by savage beasts. And there will be camp-followers to disgrace the march, because they have joined, not for the fighting, but for the plunder. Such in brief are the doctrine and methods of Ibsen. What are their effects in England ? At the present time the stage in this country is held by a most variegated band of dramatists, the most noted of whom are Sir Arthur Pinero, Mr. Bernard Shaw, Mr. Granville Barker, Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, Mr. John Galsworthy, Mr. Masefield, Mr. Somerset Maugham, Mr. W. B. Yeats, Mr. Arnold Bennett and Mr. Rudolph Besier; to these should be added of deceased writers, St. John Hankin, J. M. Synge, and Oscar Wilde. Yeats and Synge, of course, belong only by language to the English drama. The other eleven playwrights fall into three classes. The first includes Sir Arthur Pinero, Mr H. A. Jones, Mr. Maugham, Mr. Arnold Bennett, Mr. Besier, Oscar Wilde. The second is filled by Mr. Masefield. To the third belong Mr. Shaw, Mr. Galsworthy, Mr. Barker, St. John Hankin. Let us examine these classes in turn. The first finds its brightest ornament in Oscar Wilde, who, if cleverness could suffice for drama, would have been the greatest master of the comedy of manners since Congreve. But it does not so suffice, and his dramas are confined to the study. The only work of his still really popular is The Importance of Being Earnest. This is perhaps the best farce in existence it exemplifies to admiration Wilde's characteristics of magnificent epigram, elegance of language, deadness of soul. The perfect dialogue between Lady Bracknell and Worthing touches the summit of Congrevian wit. What could be better than the prospective Mother-in-law's dismay at finding the suitor a foundling, a man whose career began by being discovered in a handbag ? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Brack- nell would dream of allowing our only daughter- a girl brought up with the utmost care-to marry into a cloakroom, and form an alliance with a parcel ? The same brilliance is lavishly spread over his more serious plays. Perhaps the finest epigram in the world is to be found in Lady Windermere's Fan What is a cynic ? ,u A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." But is this drama? It does not help on the action, it throws little light on the character of the man who utters it -Lord Darlington; he is only a name, though one of the chief personages of the play. This particular scene, by the by, is a blaze of epigrams, wicked women bother one, good women boor one. That is the only difference between them." Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality." In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants. The other is getting it." But an orgie of confectionery is not a solid meal, nor are these decadent blossoms capable of making a play. Wilde's characters are feeble utterly-either comic, pouring forth brassy wit in season and out of season, or serious, mere gramaphones emitting platitudes on love, honour, or social service. Wilde never made any attempt at real dramatic art. The old theatrical situations which satisfied Robertson and Marston. the strained improbable crises unreally handled, furbished up by a peerless gift of wit to impress the uncritical with a sense of ultra-modernity-such is his work. The natural result is that we see him now as essentially common-place a verdict which would have sent him into a swoon. Now, Wilde is at once the cleverest and the most representative member of what we may call the Neo- British School. The other five writers, Pinero, H. A. Jones, Maugham, Bennett, and Besier, do, to be sure, exhibit special traits, but the seal of Wilde is upon them all. They are in short the heirs of Robert- son, who have latterly obtained a spurious appearance of freshness by a pretence of following Ibsen for even Sir Arthur Pinero has moved with the times. The Robertson formula was take a simple love- story-a girl with beauty and a heart of gold, a man with a cavalry uniform. This will charm the audience into accepting any improbability of detail. Next we must insert dramatic effect. This is done by attaching to one of the lovers an incongruous parent. (In Caste there are two, the lady's drunken father and the hero's Plantagenet mother hence the immense vogue of the whole.) The incongruous parent causes fun and trouble. As an antidote to him, introduce a humble friend, who by dropping his (or her) aitches will evince the goodness of his (or her) heart. The stuff of the play is composed of serious bits and comic bits in alternation. Punctuation consists in letting your immaculate swell sit on a pork-pie. An effective curtain to each act is secured by the mechanical insertion of something to make the audience jump. Let the tipsy friend reel in and offer the Duchess his mug of beer. Or the postman-the most hardworked of all theatrical characters-should ring the bell and the curtain goes down to we are ordered to India 1 or Thank Heaven, my child is found Most members of the New British School have discovered that this sort of writing will not do. For one thing, mere repetition has made it stale beyond endurance. For another, most of them have too