Theatre
Libre (29th May 1890). Within the next two or three years almost all his
modern plays were acted in Paris, most of them either by the Theatre
Libre or by L'OEuvre. Close upon the heels of the Ibsen influence
followed another, less potent, but by no means negligible. The exquisite
tragic symbolism of Maurice Maeterlinck began to find numerous admirers
about 1890. In 1891 his one-act play _L'Intruse_ was acted; in 1893,
_Pelleas et Melisande_. By this time, too, the reverberation of the
impulse which the Theatre Libre had given to the Freie Buhne began to be
felt in France. In 1893 Hauptmann's _Die Weber_ was acted in Paris, and,
being frequently repeated, made a deep and lasting impression.

The English analogue to the Theatre Libre, the Independent theatre,
opened its first season (March 13, 1891) with a performance of _Ghosts_.
This was not, however, the first introduction of Ibsen to the English
stage. On the 7th of June 1889 (six weeks after the production of _The
Profligate_) _A Doll's House_ was acted at the Novelty theatre, and ran
for three weeks, amid a storm of critical controversy. In the same year
_Pillars of Society_ was presented in London. In 1891 and 1892 _A Doll's
House_ was frequently acted; _Rosmersholm_ was produced in 1891, and
again in 1893; in May and June 1891 _Hedda Gabler_ had a run of several
weeks; and early in 1893 _The Master Builder_ enjoyed a similar passing
vogue. During these years, then, Ibsen was very much "in the air" in
England, as well as in France and Germany. The Independent theatre, in
the meantime, under the management of J. T. Grein, found but scanty
material to deal with. It presented translations of Zola's _Therese
Raquin_, and of _A Visit_, by the Danish dramatist Edward Brandes; but
it brought to the front only one English author of any note, in the
person of George Bernard Shaw, whose "didactic realistic play,"
_Widowers' Houses_, it produced in December 1892.

None the less is it true that the ferment of fresh energy, which between
1887 and 1893 had created a new dramatic literature both in France and
in Germany, was distinctly felt in England as well. England did not take
at all kindly to it. The productions of Ibsen's plays, in particular,
were received with an outcry of reprobation. A great part of this
clamour was due to sheer misunderstanding; but some of it, no doubt,
arose from genuine and deep-seated distaste. As for the dramatists of
recognized standing,