The rapidly accelerating movement which aims to breathe the spark of living production into the library-bound theatre of Henrik Ibsen made its first local manifestation last week when Eva Le Gallienne presented "Rosmersholm." Now the eminent Alla Nazimova has added the bright flame of her talent to this Ibsen revivification by offering "Ghosts" for a two weeks run at the Colonial Theatre. The fame of the work renders superfluous any detailed analysis of its individual characteristics. A more interesting question is that of Ibsen's place in the modern theatre as revealed in this excellent production of one of his best plays.

It should be no surprise to learn that Ibsen is definitely dated. His battles have been fought to a finish on the lines he marked out and if society has not attained the peak of liberal rationality which he desired it is at least clear that the urban theatre goers have arrived at a state of sophistication which prevents them from regarding illicit love as shocking. Ibsen's fight in "Ghosts" was against convention and the rigid moral code of his time which resolved life into "duty and obligation" and left happiness as a sort of rare unearned increment. The age-old moral and social laws which press upon the young, forcing them to accept destiny instead of fighting it, the incessant pressure of conservative institutions such as home and the church, these are the ghosts which Ibsen is trying to lay. The technical and literary genius of his work was certainly a militant force in the partial defeat of these ghosts but in so struggling against concepts in a transitory form rather than basic realities he placed his work upon a transitory basis. We can still appreciate his skill, but we cannot hail him as of an age with us, Ibsen is now more of an historic study than an experience in the living theatre.

Getting back to the immediate issue it must be noted that Madame Nazimova plays with an intensity and gravity which compel sympathy and which make the drama as vivid to us as could possibly be expected. In the difficult role of young Alving, her son, Harry Ellerbe, performs with deep sincerity and skill. One Munson is properly earthy and youthful in the part of Regina, the servant girl and McKay Morris as Pastor Manders and Raymond O'Brien as Jacob Engstrand both create vivid personalities.