The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-08-20
A DrscREDiTAeLE SPECTACLE.
The Dubious Prospects of the English
Stage,

The Dubious Prospects of the English
Stage.
The spectacle of tlourishing stage,
such as that of England is, with no more
than three dramatic authors worth
speaking of or capable of being read is
intellectually and nationally discredit-
able in the opinion of The Saturday Re
r1ea0. 1t reduces the art of acting to
sort OF emotional gymnastics or to mere
mimicry. When the actor ceases to be
the interpreter of the poet, when he
postures and declaims and sighs and
laughs on his own account, he almost
forfeits the rank of the artist and sinks
to that of the butfoon. In the absence
of any genuinely English dramatic lit
erature of the time in which we live
the stage has been forced to reflect So
ciety as it exists in France rather than
as it exists among ourselves. French
society apparently recognizes only one
of the ten commandments, and it re.
cognizes that as a commandment which
ought not to be obcyed. '.Incline your
hearts not to keep this law is the
prayer which is apparently offered up
on the other side of the channel. If the
French stage holds up the mirror to
nature, the wicked bible of 1852 must,
we imagine, have been translated and
studied there. Mr. Crummie's idea
that all the members of the company
should know French, and study their
parts in the original language, and SO
save the trouble and expense of author.
ship, must occasionally have occurred
to a perplexed and embarrassed mana.
cement. Perhaps the practice of the old
Italian stage would be better still,
according to which the mere skeleton
of the plot and the succession of the
scenes were furnished to the actors, and
they themselves improvised the da-
logue. A pleasing variety and uncer-
tainty would accompany this arrange
ment, which would convert one comedy
into many, supplying 4 score of viria.
tions upon a single theme. 1t would
| be interesting to see Mr.. Irving and
Miss Terry, Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, and
Mr.. Hare clothing in their own words
the emotions and the conflicts of the
scene. But no doubt an oral tradition
would soon get established, rs binding
as the received business of the stage
upon every legitimate actor. In the
meantime, the English stage, except in
the case of revival and melodrama, has
gone into captivity for the French.
Some of our dramatic authors have re-
Gently discovered that there is coun-
try called Germany, and that Germany
possesses 4 theater of her own. The
area of theft is, therefore, appreciably
enlarged, and nothing but a very gen
eral ignorance of the language, which
is removable, prevents the beginning
of operations on a large scale. German
comedy, if somewhat farcical, is usually
innocent, and, until we can get genu-
inc dramatic literature truly rejecting
English life it healthiiv varies the mo-
notony OF intrigue, adultery. high
minded lying by fautlcss heroes, and
noble emotion on the part of miserable
culprits which seems TO constitute the
ingredients of life in French chateau,
if the French stage truthfully exhibits
it. We have spoken of the tarcical
character of a good deal of German
comedy. But it IS worth noticing that
the scenes and incidents in the "Pri-
vate Secretary; which English critics
ccnsured as illustrating the boisterous
and lumpish extravaganza of German
jocosity We're interpretations of the Eng
lish adapters. Herr Won Moser and the
Court theater of Berlin are innocent of
these violent delights.