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November, 1923

HERE is in Prague, especially in the Czech theatrical life, a brisk interaction between the domestic and the foreign. Held within narrow bounds for years, often nourished on outside influences, our theatre was as good as cut off from Europe during the world war; it now enters upon a new phase, and is minded to be not only a receiver, but also a giver, in the activities of modem art. The public at large knows the names of the highly gifted Capek brothers, who have also secured fitting attention from American audiences; further, people abroad are well aware that Prague has done much worth watching in the field of contemporary dramaturgy, and particularly in the most modern methods of stage management. Now, building upon the Prague reports which Mr P. Beaumont Wadsworth has furnished to readers of, it would be appropriate to project on a larger scale a picture of our present-day theatre and our aesthetic interests.

To epitomize the most recent developments of our theatre: just as October 28, 1918 (the day on which the American slogan of the self-determination of small peoples became an actuality for Czecho-Slovakia) is of decisive significance in the national and political life of the Czechs, similarly the date of this declaration of independence will also play an essential ré/e in the history of our artistic progress, and precisely in the sense that if we are not making an actual change of rôle, we have nevertheless increased our obligations and heightened our aims. Up to the end of the world war the latent content of Czech drama (which in this respect was quite similar to the Irish) was determined by the struggle for national independence; so that the concept of “nation,” the dream of a future state, could be utilized as leading character or principal theme to reconcile the requirements of national consciousness with the Bohemian’s deeply-rooted humanitarian impulses. But with the fulfilment of a dream hundreds of years old, with the realization of our constitutional projects, new and greater demands have been placed upon the national life and, above all, on its parallel in the