Title | Russia's gift to the world |
Creator (LCNAF) |
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Publisher | Hodder and Stoughton |
Place of Creation (TGN) |
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Date | 1915 |
Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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Genre (AAT) |
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Language | English |
Type (DCMI) |
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Original Item Extent | 48 pages; 22 cm. |
Original Item Location | DK32.7.M3 1915 |
Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8304497~S11 |
Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
Use and Reproduction | This item is in the public domain and may be used freely. |
File Name | index.cpd |
Title | Image 29 |
Format (IMT) |
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File Name | uhlib_1315132_028.jpg |
Transcript | Russia's Gift to the World 27 in the year, or such and such a play by a certain date. Work is put into preparation ; when he is satisfied with it it is given to the public ; if he is not satisfied the public never sees it at all. Though there is no particular virtue in taking a long time over anything if you can get the same result in a short time, it is a great virtue, and is the unique distinction of this theatre, that the artistic achievement is put first, and, until that has been accomplished, other considerations nowhere. Chekhov's later and maturer dramatic work, The Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard, has all been written for and produced at this theatre. Both the plays and their stage-interpretation are typically Russian, but they supply a model for all theatrical work. When you watch a performance there you hardly ask whether such and such an actor is doing the thing well or not. You accept without question that this is what the man or woman was like, that this is how they lived and breathed, quite unconsciously. Almost as remarkable as the company is the audience. Their manners are perfect; they seldom applaud, and if anyone attempted to interrupt the play by doing so he would probably be requested to leave. They seem never to arrive late, and if they do they have to stop outside. Nor is there any of that air of the theatre being a place where disreputable people on one side of the curtain are paid to tickle the senses of idle merry-makers on the other. To the Russian public the theatre takes its place quite simply and sensibly among all the other arts. " For seven years," one is told, " the Arts Theatre did not pay its way, and those who cared gave money freely that it might continue its work without lowering its ideals. Now it is always full, and the people concerned make a respectable living out of it. Beyond that no one seems to associate its success with money-making at all." |