Managers of
the requisite temper, knowledge, and ability are not lacking in France
or Germany. There is no reason to anticipate that, when the call is
sounded, the right response will not be given here.
Cannot an experiment be made in London on the lines of the Vienna
Volks-Theater? In the first place, it is needful to bring together a
body of citizens who, under leadership which commands public
confidence, will undertake to build and control for a certain term of
years a theatre of suitable design in the interests of dramatic art,
on conditions similar to those that have worked with success in
Berlin, Paris, and notably Vienna. Then the London County Council,
after the professions it has made, might be reasonably expected to
undertake so much responsibility for the proper conduct of the new
playhouse as would be implied by its provision of a site. If the
experiment failed, no one would be much the worse; if it succeeded, as
it ought to succeed, the nation would gain in repute for intelligence,
culture, and enlightened patriotism; it would rid itself of the
reproach that it pays smaller and less intelligent regard to
Shakespeare and the literary drama than France, Germany, Austria, or
Italy.
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