The Express.
London, England, 1868-06-06 00:00:00

THE Fraara PLATE.

Tim audience which now assembles nightly at
the St. James's Theatre is nearly as interesting a
Only as the plays performed there. Foreign faces
and foreign fashions are in the ascendancy.
Exiled Princes of a royal house are to be We iu
the places of honour, while the poor Frenchtmui
whom business or necessity, but not pleasure, has
made a sojourner in Loudon, occupies the seat
in the gallery which at another theatre would
be filled by the shopiroy or the rough.
Young ladies fresh from a boarding-school
are to be seen under the - protection of parents
or guardians to whom the language of the actors
is unintelligible, and who go thither for the
benefit of their charges. Now and then pathetic
complaints may be overheard against the puzzling
character of the French spokeu by the actors. The
rule is for all who travel on the Continent to pro-
fess familiarity with the French language. No
English traveller thinks it derogatory to his or her
dignity to admit ignorance of Italian, Spanish, or
German ; but hardly a single lady or gentleman
will be found expressing inability to speak, or at
least to understand French. When it is impossible
for them to make a native comprehend something
in his own tongue, the fault is laid upon his
obtuseness or bad manners. On the other hand,
when his talk cannot be understood, ho is blamed
for speaking too rapidly. Difficult as it may be to
converse in French, it is far more difficult to
follow with ease and intelligence the dialogue on
a French stage. The actors have a conventional
mode of utterance which differs from that of real
life, and they employ terms and phrases which it
requires a thorough acquaiutauce with contem-
porary manners and current literature to under-
stand and appreciate. Despite this the English
section of the audience at the St. James's is
apparently perfectly versed in the sebjects they
witness. We say apparently, because the applause
is often too strongly marked to be genuine. Trivial
remarinc which a French audience would hear with
,indifference, call forth laughter and expressions of
approbation from an English one. The latter is
glad to exhibit that it has caught the point of a
phrase or illusion. Anxious to conceal its real
uncertainty, it betrays the superficial character of
its knowledge. The actors themselves must often
wonder at the unusual heartiness of the reception
accorded to certain of their utterances. They
must be as much astonished at the compara-
tive failure of the stock phrases which Frenchmen
think it's duty to applaud. • In Mall .e afferhe for
example, there is much said abont the respect due
to a mother by her son, and this is couched in the
usual French strain, while the mother makes some
of those speeches which a foreigner considers
affecting and we regard as artificial. To these
tirades there was a very feeble response, and that
came not from the English, but the foreign ele-
ment in the house. Moreover, severed allusions
which in Paris would be applauded because
directed against the Government fell dead on the
ears of those who, happily, know nothing of Impe-
rialism except the name.
What is most curious in the demeanour of an
English audience, when present at the performance
of modern French plays, is the zest with which
passages and scenes are welcomed which, if form-
ing part of an English play, would assuredly bo
hissed by the spectators and condemned by the
critics. We forbear giving instances which are
to be met with in the several plays recently
performed. Some of them, indeed, it would
be hard to translate into language which would
not shock some readers. One, however, we
may name. It has no relation to the love of
the sexes, but refers to the English love for the
chase. At the conclusion of Noe betimes, a dead
fox is brought in triumph on the stage ; a fox
which has been barbarously shot, instead of being
worried to death in the legitimate way. Although
this incident might pass unchallenged in a Loudon
theatre, yet he would be a foolhardy manager nho
should produce it on the stage of a provincial
theatre, which the squire patronised. AB a British
playwright world never dream of making one of
his personages shoot a fox, the offence of repre-
senting the occurrence would fortunately never be
committed on our stage in the presence of true•
born English gentlemen.
There is one lesson which.some of our actors
would do well to learn from their French brethren,
and that is how to dress and conduct themselves with
taste and propriety. A French actor scrupulously
attires himself in the garments he would wear if he
were moving not on the stage but in society. The
apparel as well as the gesture and phrase fit tho
role. This is especially applicable to cases in
which the part is ono representing a scene in ordi-
nary daily life. If the place is a drawing-room
and the personage is paying a morning call
on a lady the French actor comports him-
self as if the sham were a reality. He
takes off his hat on entering the room, remains
standing till told to be seated, and commits no
breaches against good manners. His English
brother, in like circumstances, would, in too many
instances, swagger into the room with his hat on
his head, raise it stiffly when near the lady of the
house, replace it, and then throw himself into a
chair. In order to show his politeness, he will
probably rise and lift his hat for a moment
when something is said which he desires
to acknowledge. Indeed, were if not for the
relief afforded by taking off their hats at in-
tervals some of our actors would be greatly
embarrassed, and would not know what to do with
their hands. The superiority of French over Eng-
lish acting consists in its naturalness and adher-
ence to the recognised rules of real life. The
thorough finish of the French actors is probably
due to the fastidiousness of French audiences. In
Paris the wholesome custom of hissing bad plays
and incompetent performers is still maintained.
Both toleration and sympathy are often manifested
towards the loose morality of the plot and the
lax manners of the personages. But the product
must be excellent of its kind, otherwise it will be
ruthlessly rejected. The most popular of
modern French plays have been written
by men of rich intellectual culture, whose
rank in the world of letters is among the chiefs.
On the other hand, the most valuable modern
English plays are translations or adaptations
from the French. Better, however, is it to ac-
knowledge this superiority with cheerfulness, and
.14.0.3161 Y to w9,loolprioristi Wm smog us, than