Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/17

 actor's calling, which have made possible to him endless vnstas of variety and of picturesque suggestion. The task of the actor in the Benaventian theatre is to place his finger upon these minor effects, to catch the thought in the embryo, not so much to convey it as to hint its direction, to reflect the sudden flash, to pursue personality into its hiding-places, at the same time engaging the spectator and luring him along, until, passing over every facet of his subject, always moving, never still, he integrates at last this drama of the spirit with the actualities of the outward life.

"No Smoking," the first comedy included in this Second Series, is a study in obvious types and in vulgar mentality. The anecdote upon which it turns has long been familiar in Spanish, having been employed in various forms by other writers, among them by Palacio Valdés, but it is distinguished here by the singular vigor and force of the characterization, which is almost fleshly in the sense of bodily presence conveyed. The piece was contributed to the Teatro Lara, Madrid, in 1904, upon the occasion of the benefit of the comedienne Leocadia Alba.

"The Governor's Wife," acted at the Teatro de la Comedia in the same city three years previously, is a mordant satire, associated with the name of the actress, Rosario Pino, who created the rôle of Josefina. The political life of the provinces, compact of unsavory intrigue, and dominated by the perpetual pressure of the strong arm of caciquismo, or the boss system, will be found to be mirrored exactly both in incident and in atmosphere. The satire, however, never becomes utilitarian, nor does it concern itself with what is called in the literary phrase "the castigation of follies and vices." Rather than satiric, the play is profoundly ironic, descending quickly from the sphere of institutions and of politics to that of the personalities which underlie and explain them. Nowhere else has the author shown a keener eye for the niceties of human imperfection, or been so sceptical of the grip of virtue upon the line of salvation.

Upon the technical side, the comedy is interesting as an example of objective realism. It is a fabric of infinite detail, of detail heaped upon detail. In the first act, in particular, the incidents are approximately all of equal value, nor have