NEW THEATRE STYLE IS A DISCONCERTING SHOCK.

By VELONA PILCHER. Expressionismus – the term young Germany uses to-day for the work of her young artists who are rebelling, in one fashion or another, against objective imitation in art – may mean many things to many people. But Expressionismus as Leopold Jessner, director of the Berlin Staatatheater, has manipulated it in his theatre craft, is a definite style, with new stage conventions constructed on top of the destruction of old ones. I only saw four Expressionismus productions when I was in Berlin recently, and just two of them were Jessner’s (“Richard the Third” and “Napoleon”), so I am not as wise about this matter as I should like to be. But these plays were so sharp, and the acting was so different from anything in England, that these productions alone were enough to give me a most disconcerting shock. I say “disconcerting” because, having once been exhilarated by these naked, sinewy performances, I now find it wearisome to sit through a courteous conversational drama done in a minutely decorated drawing-room.

There are certain characteristics which, I presume, are found in all Jessner’s productions. As far as possible the only properties are stairs, arranged in various combinations, sometimes against a wall or curtain shallowing the stage, and sometimes against a plaster dome shot with various lightings. There is no stage level – the action may take place anywhere between the cellar and the ceiling. There is only one interval during the evening, and the play is acted with startling rapidity. This swiftness is obtained actually by avoiding all entrances and exits that are not significant, and obtained in effect by never letting the audience watch the tedious working of curtains. When a scene begins, the theatre goes black, and the next thing manifest is a sudden light showing the stage with the actors all set. As for the acting, it is sometimes explosive and sometimes tense, but never casual. Speeches are shot straight down your throat, and delivered with such passion that, even if you, a foreigner, cannot understand a word of German, you listen spellbound all the same.