71. “Barbara Holzer”

Play in three acts by Clara Viebig
Performance by the Neue Freie Volksbühne, Berlin

I only got to know the Neue Freie Volksbühne today. It is a company that must give pleasure. Real naive enjoyment is at home there. Anyone who wants to criticize objectively doesn't really belong there. But it would be unfair to leave Clara Viebig's "Barbara Holzer" in silence. The play is full of dramatic life from beginning to end. I was repeatedly reminded of Anzengruber by the pithy characters and the absolutely necessary progression of the plot. Clara Viebig does not see from the inside of the people's soul like Anzengruber, but what she sees, she places firmly on its feet. She sees the prejudices of the educated lady; but she shapes what she can observe faithfully and clearly, so that we find the original naturalness in her play.