Wichita eagle., 1888-03-23
MADAME MODJESKA.

MADAME MODJESKA.
LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE
HIGHER CLASS OF DRAMA.
Advice for tho Young American Actress
simplicity-Concerning Emotional Plays.
Modjeska Gives Some Of Her Experience.
"What do yoa think, madame, is the out
look for the stage herer'
"For the higher class Of drama, decidedly
not very encouraging. So long as you SEQ
the drama written about and thought about
under the head Of 'amusements' it will never
take any very high rank. When it is treated
as an art and receives the same aid and en-
enlargement as are extended to other arts,
then it will attain the position it ought to
have"
'The young American actress who has as
pirations toward the highest class of drama
has no chance of schooling-with the excep-
ton Of yourself as model" said the reporter.
"Win you kindly say how you think such q
girl should study!"
''Books will not help her very much--I
mean books that analyze and dissect the
plays and characters of the great dramatists.
Helen FAUCETS lady Martini account Of her
study of Shakespearean roles is the most in
teresting and perhaps the most really help
full. But must confess that believe she
did not have this thorough and delightful
insight into the characters till long after she
had played and, as it were, grown into them.
And though much Of the business she sug-
gests is extremely ingenious and delicate,
think good deal Of it would not be dramat-
ically effective. George Lewes' Actors and
the Art Of Acting contains some valuable
suggestions and many interesting reminis-
cences. But let her beware Of the ordinary
commentator and essayist, who is doubtless
extremely clever-the only trouble is tnat he
is too clever, and finds subtleties and hidden
meanings that Shakespeare never dreamed of.
sHAKEsPEARE's SIMPLICITY.
"The grent beauty of Shakespeare is his
simplicity and intelligibility. OF course,
there is an occasional phrase and word that
may require explanation, but allude to the
characters. They are easily understood, and
you always find tho key in the play. Take,
for instance, Rosalind. Some people seem
to think that she should be rough and bois-
Jerous They cannot surely remember the
words in the first act of the Duke:
Her smoothness,
Her very silence and her patience
Speak to the people and they pity her.
"The best light on Shakespeare is to he
found in the careful study Of his own works;
one will certainly be helped to a better under
standing by thorough knowledge of history
and by the study of other writer's Of the
Ehzabethan period. I gained great deal
from reading Thomas Lodges story of Rosa
lind No actress who does not possess q
poetic temperament will ever make a success
in Shakespearean parts, and she must not fall
into the error of thinking that the emotional
temperament is the same thing as the poetic.
The one is imaginative, the other actual; and
the difference in the results of the work Of
each is similar to the difference between the
work Of an artist and photographer. The
purely emotional actress is generally utterly
at sea when she attempts to play the legiti-
mate, and the cause is not hard to find. In
emotional plays what the actress does is Of
the highest Importance, and what she says is
of comparatively little moment. She may
gasp, or sigh, or appeal to the heavenly
powers just as she may feel is most effective,
but it is the physical depletion Of the passion
or the emotion that affects the audience far
more than the words. In the poetic play
what she says is of chiefest moment, and the
action, though illustrative of, must be subor-
dinate to, the text"
EMOTIONAL PLAYS
'Is not Juliet an emotional part7'
"No, it is part of passion as intense as
you will, but not of emotion in the sense that
we apply that word to play. The feelings
avowed and depicted in the emotional play
are those of the nervous, historical tempera-
ment In them the emotions evoke and rule
the thought; in poetic plays the thoughts call
forth and govern the feelings. Camille
Miss Mutton East Lynne are plays of the
emotional order"
"But, Nine. Modjeska, you play Camille
in addition to so many Shakesperean parts. :"
Eyes, but it is the only one of the kind
attempt, and if l succeed fairly in it, the fact
is due to my having had SO thorough a train
ing in every style of acting. And this brings
us back to your supposed young actress Let
her work well, 10 matter in what line she is
cast, and she will gain experience that will
be invaluable. II she has intelligence and
poetic feeling she will be able to play the
higher roles when tho opportunity comes.
But above all things she must not seek to
begin at the top Of the ladder Very
rarely does an actress who SO begins
make any improvement. Practice only con-
firms faults, and the frequent repetition Of q
role imperfectly conceived and executed seems
to blunt the perceptions and the sensibilitIes
unfortunately gained my knowledge ON this
head from experience. During my very first
season was what you call here a star At the
end of it / fortunately had sense enough to
know that was worse than at the beginning,
and that if / persevered in that course should
never make an actress So l went into a
company and played the smallest parts, and
those Of every kind. I have been even a
drunken servant, and have stood up through
whole acts as q silent super could sing,
and had a fair amount of experience in comic
OPERA / am almost ashamed to say what
my salary was during this season. 1t was
the muni6cent sum of $40 month / could
not live on that, 50 tho next season I again
went starring After that was over l was
fortunate in getting into good company to
play juvenile parts. was fully FIVE years
on the stage before had any established po-
sition as q leading woman. New York Tri-
bune Interview
What DR.. Titus 0Iunssn Coan Ssu.
In the matter Of eating the lecturer said
that the notion accepted by thousands
that we must leave the table hungry is
nonsense and rubbish. An ascetic is just
as bad as q glutton, and both by their
conduct pave the road to disease and dis
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