250
DWIGHT MACDONALD
began
by ruling out "the Sartrean concepts of commitment and
engagement" as non-empirical and non-English and wound up the
evening by observing that all four speakers "seemed to be com·
mitted." The confusion of the intervening three hours was such that
this
volte face
was scarcely noticed. The speakers either monologued
with more or less charm or engaged in personal infighting, as when
Mr. Wesker, after Mr. Bolt had been greeted with enthusiastic ap–
plause, began sourly, "I hardly know what to say after such an
ovation." No one tried to .define "political theatre" and no one
seemed to have any clearcut views. Doubtless there is too much
dialectical fancywork in similar discussions in Paris or New York,
but here one longed for a few substantial hairs to be split.
The mood of the two leftwing participants was a mixture of
arrogance and despair. Mr. Anderson began by complaining about
"the stagnant intellectual atmosphere of London now" and proved
his point by a talk that consisted mostly in denunciations of the
critics for not having liked some recent Royal Court productions
and of the present audience for frivolity in turning up for what (he
alleged) they thought of as "merely a cultural evening" ; there were
shocked protests of "No!" but nobody asked what was wrong with
a cultural evening. Mr. Wesker, the most seriously-taken dramatist
over here since John Osborne--to me he seems a more honest and
less talented Odets--boxed the compass, stating at one time or
another, at least according to my notes: "It is difficult to have a
political theatre in England because the tone is one of anti-commit·
ment.... One reason revolutionaries never succeed here is that they
are tolerated... . Somehow I feel that all our plays should SMASH
things. But since our society tolerates the revolutionary, nothing
can be done. There has been no revolution in the British theatre.
The only way we can get one is if the government allocates five
million pounds for this purpose. [Can my notes be right here?]. ...
My
Jerusalem
is a play with a lesson for all socialist members of
parliament." The only consistent note of the evening was that
God
Save The Queen
was not played at the end.
In the cinema, there have been three great
succes d'estim,:
one American (Cassavetes'
Shadows),
one Italian (Antonioni'.
L'Avventura,
which had a more mixed critical reception but which
