Chapter IV

Now for another question (much argued, you will remember, a few years ago) 'Is there--can there be--such a thing as a Static Theatre, a Static Drama?'

Most of you (I daresay) remember M. Maeterlinck's definition of this and his demand for it. To summarise him roughly, he contends that the old drama--the traditional, the conventional drama-- lives by action; that, in Aristotle's phrase, it represents men doing, [Greek: prattontas], and resolves itself into a struggle of human wills--whether against the gods, as in ancient tragedy, or against one another, as in modern. M. Maeterlinck tells us--

There is a tragic element in the life of every day that is far
more real, far more penetrating, far more akin to the true self
that is in us, than is the tragedy that lies in great
adventure.... It goes beyond the determined struggle of man
against man, and desire against desire; it goes beyond the
eternal conflict of duty and passion. Its province is rather to
reveal to us how truly wonderful is the mere act of living, and
to throw light upon the existence of the soul, self-contained
in the midst of ever-restless immensities; to hush the
discourse of reason and sentiment, so that above the tumult may
be heard the solemn uninterrupted whisperings of man and his
destiny.

To the tragic author [he goes on, later], as to the mediocre
painter who still lingers over historical pictures, it is only
the violence of the anecdote that appeals, and in his
representation thereof does the entire interest of his work
consist.... Indeed when I go to a theatre, I feel as though I
were spending a few hours with my ancestors, who conceived life
as though it were something that was primitive, arid and
brutal.... I am shown a deceived husband killing his wife, a
woman poisoning her lover, a son avenging his father, a father
slaughtering his children, murdered kings, ravished virgins,
imprisoned citizens--in a word all the sublimity of tradition,
but alas how superficial and material! Blood, surface-tears and
death! What can I learn from creatures who have but one fixed
idea, who have no time to live, for that there is a rival, a
mistress, whom it behoves them to put to death?

M. Maeterlinck does not (he says) know if the Static Drama of his craving be impossible. He inclines to think--instancing some Greek tragedies such as "Prometheus" and "Choephori"--that it already exists. But may we not, out of the East--the slow, the stationary East--fetch an instance more convincing?