Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-04
ra - SCHOOL OF ACTING.
sEou Aponv. Uapture, Defiance, etc..
ar.s Taught

sAS
CORRESPONDENT of tie Hartford Times says {:
A few days ago passed i90st interesting after
noon in going through the Lyceuut school OF
acting in New York, while the Glasses were In
session and irf talking .h some OF the teacners
after school was out. The first class Visltsa
was that of Mr.. Sargent, who was explaining
to bis class the rudiments Of the art of express
sing by gesture different emotions MrSargent
believed in Delsartes theory up to certain
point. Delsarte. by the way, was Frenchman
who achieved fame, but not fortune, by teach
ing that all emotions, even OF the most complex
character can be expressed by gesture alone
He was for time professor in the Paris Con-
seryatoire and wrote several books upon
TIE ART OF GESTURE.
He pushed his theory so far that it has been
much rldiculed, and with good deal of reason.
For instance, he contended that there are three
thousand movements or positions of the eye,
each expressing some difference or shade Of diff
rerence-that is to say, that the eye, taken in
connection with the eyelids and eyebrows, may
be made to express three thousand different
emotions. and in one of his books there are cuts
showing the whole three thousand For in
stance. If man is suddenly informed that his
wife has run away. the expression Of his eye, or
what makes up the eXpressiOn-the position Of
the eyeball. the eyelids, the eyebrOws-will Ger
tainly be different from its expression when told
that
DINNER ~ READY.
But Delsarte goes further than this, and, say
bis ridiculers. pretends that if the runaway wife
was young and pretty the expression would be
quite different from that which would hold good
II the wife had been old and ugly. Delsarte
takes boIa boI 1e
and the feet. and treats every muscle with almost
the same care. / believe that there are some
nfteen hundred positions for the thumb Del
sarte died about fifteen years ago. Just as he was
ABOUT TO issue new volume giving few more
thousand hints as to the proper muscular posi-
ZION Under different circumstances. Mr.. Sargent
believes that while there are certain generally
accepted and typical positions of the body and
muscles OF the face, which almost invariably &C
company emotions, 10 part should be.
PLAYED BY RULE
He makes his pupils go through variety Of
exercises In the way of expressing various emo
lions by gesture, but he does so only in order to
exercise muscles which may not have been
brought into play in that particular fashion be-
fore. We all of us have the physical means of
expressing by gesture very wide range of emo
ton, but we are so seldom called upOn to ex-
press certain phases of emotion that the mechan-
icai means at our disposal naturally become
rusty. We may be able, with great ease and
nat uralness, to indicate to servant by gesture
that we wish him to put coal on the fire. but if
we wish him to cut off somebody's head the ges-
ture may not
SEEN so NATURAL.
because We do not give such orders very often.
ana the particular muscular machinery brought
into play when such an order is give1, is not in
c.
his class to express a variety of emotions. one
after the other, and watches them as they 90
through the whole gamut For instance. he
calls out: agony" then rapture" then de
fiance;" then commando" etc He watches
the transitions and criticises the efforts of the
pupis. one OF the particular exercises hap
pened to be the position of the fingers and hand
when L was there. Mr.. Sargent showed very
plainly that the hand has an expression of jfs
own quite as much as the face has; it is not the
anne III grief as in Joy. in anger as in fear
PLAYACTING IN EARNEST
In the next class visited. which hammered TO
be that OF Mr.. Williams there was a rehearsal of
"Much Ado About Nothing" going on; it was q
rehearsal. however chiefly of stage business and
position and had no reference to the reading of
the lines, which were merely ratified of. 1t was
merely to show when character should come in
and go out. how to Walk, ana where to stand.
Mr.. Beascos class, which next visited was at
work upon the stage. while Belasco sat in front
and criticised, now aud then jumping up on the
stage to show how something
OUGHT TO BE DONE
1t took him ten minutes, while was there.
to make certain young woman sit down in a
chair according to his notion of what wassricht.
In another class the students were at work hay
ing their voices brought out so that they could
be heard in large houses one great defect of
American amateurs being their want of distinct
ness in enunciaton and, in the case of the girls.
the unnatura!iy high and nasal pitch OF the
voice. In al. of these classes the earnestness of
the pupils, as well as ofthe teachers was marked
to an extraordinary degree