He Who Gets Slapped (translated from the Russian of Leonid Andreyev by Judith Guthrie; produced by the Theatre Guild) made box office of bewilderment when it was first produced on Broadway 24 years ago. Audiences were seldom quite sure what Andreyev's circus tragedy meant, but it fitted neatly into a culture-crazed era that wore its art on its sleeve. He Who Gets Slapped was unquestionably Slavic, questionably symbolic and flamboyantly gloomy.
On Broadway last week, He seemed a good deal less freighted with inner meanings. It seemed, in fact, what it doubtless always was—a...
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