New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-02-13
A DRAMATIC COLLEGE.

Ohio dramatic seminary for the education OF
young persons for the stage Perhaps, should
the project be moderately successful, we may
| look forward to the founding in New-fork OF
n similar institution, of somewhat metropolitan
proportion, with a sufficient staff of the best
instructors. At present, only those who essay
the lyric drama are thoroughly and carefully
trained for their business 1t is an indis-
putable fact that the number OF good actors
suitable for stock companies is daily dimin-
| ishing, and with it the comfort and pleasure OF
play going. The play is often married by
awkwardness, stupidity, aud mlsconception
the text is torn to pieces, and then badly
mended by stammering tongues; tragedy Is
smothered in rant, and the most delicate con-
| ceptions Of comedy hopelessly vulgarlZed ior
the gentlemen all strut like blackguards, and
the ladies all shipper like waiting maids, until
the stage which should be the mirror of polite
ness the school of good manners and the ex-
emplar of a refined demeanor, degenerates into
q laundering coarseness which is far below the
decency of private life. We do not see why
it should be otherwise. Pray how is a person
who does not know what to do with his hands,
who does not know that he should remove his
a duchess with the easy familiarity with which
he would accost drab who has no more
understanding of the wit which he utters than
an accomplished parrot has of the meaning OF
its prattle, who wears sword which is con-
tinually getting between his legs, who fumbles
in his wooing, and makes love like cobbler--
pray, how il such person to represent the
airy, fine gentleman of the English drama, The
graceless but accomplished and fascinating
! gallants of Congreye, OF Nanbrugh, and OF
Sheridan7 These old manners OF the stage
are not, it is true, living manners; but
neither are the incidents and characters
of tragedy those which we now ordinarily
encounter II is the business OF the
theater, however, whenever it processes to re-
vivify the past, to preserve something Ike veri-
smltude Moreover, certain manners, found
ed upon propriety and good feeling, are to be
preserved in all ages and in all conditions "a
society. They may be artificial, but they are
! at the same time convenient aud agreeable, a
! check upon selfshness, and preservatiVe OF
| sclf-respect and these are the manners which
it is the duty of the theater TO perpetuate and
to recommend to the public. In good dra-
matte academy, they would be sldulously eul-
| tivated.
IL is curious to consider in what n hap
hazard style candidates for theatrical honors
now rush upon the stage. A young man fan
cies that he would like to be an actor. He
supposes, perhaps that an actors life is an
easy and a merry one, which is a dreadful de-
fusion, aud that he has peculiar abilities for
acting, which may be a more painful delusion
still. An aspirant of this description usually
! 4 foil .ifbar for lapl. nf cnutIpuce A
for want OF ambition. He would be perfectly
willing, for instance, to make his debut in
| Hamlet" Now, will the intelligent reader be
good enough to consider how much goes to the
making up of good Hamlet" bearing in
mind at the same time that mediocre repre-
sentaton of the character is simply intolera-
ble' In the first place, there are those rare
intellectual qualities which are absolutely
necessary for such a comprehension of the most
difficult and subtle of Shakespeare's creations
as would enable any one to make public pre-
sentation of il. There have not been twenty
there have hardly been ten-good " Hamlets"
on the stage since the play was written; and
there is at present only one gentleman in
America Enthusiastically competent, in the 0pin-
| ion Of the judicious, to assume the part. Then,
too, before any one can act it well, he must
have critical knowledge of the play, and be
acquainted, having a theory of his own, with
the other theories which have been advanced
concerning it. He must be familiar with
the various readings. He must be some
| thing of an antiquarian. He must know
how to dress himself. He must know
how to fence He must have the carriage and
demeanOr of prince joined to the manners of
a private gentleman. To conclude, be must
have an elocution so complete that it can range
from the Hottest defamation to the easy
familiarity of polite conversation. And after
all these qualifications, painfully attained, he
| may fail for want of dramatic genius. We see,
| therefore, how necessary il is, before an at
| tempt so hazardous, that the young actor
should be thoroughly trained in good school.
He will there acquire all that teaching can
give him; and if he have not genius, in such
seminary he will not be long in discovering
the important fact. We confess to certain
degree of selishness in these suggestions. AT
present the only school is the theater itself;
and in most theaters there are usually several
actors and actresses working their way up,
| and studying their profession at the expense
of the audience They may be insuferably
bad, but still they are good naturally toer-
ated. Nobody has the heart TO hiss them,
although they may be spelling the evenings
entertainment. SO they go on and off; some
of them become, in time, tolerable, and some
of them grow gray without acquiring anything
except constantly increasing stock of vanity,
| and we fear that we must add impudence.
We know that audiences in modern times are
| extremely patient; we know that the public is
| long suffering ass, ready to put up with any
thing, partly because it does not know what it