Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-11-03
ELLEN TERRY ON ACTING.
She Holds to the Theory That an Actor
Must Feel to Act. and Must Learn to BE
Natural-Hands and Feet on the Stage.


Must Feel to Act, and Must Learn to BE
Natural-Hands and Feet on the Stage.
Treasure 7rOre.
/ remember once, when | was about 10
years old, acting "Prince Arthur" at
the PrinccSSs, Mrs. Charles Kean was
teaching me my part, which | was do
ing very badly. | couldn't get up
enough emotion when | was going to
have my eyes put out-could not realize
the situation. can hear now Mrs.
Kcan saying Scornfully, "Do you think
You would 60 on like that if your eyes
were really going TO be put out? Why,
you would make mere fuss if you had
lost your doll" But l could not rise to
the occasion; and at last Mrs. Kean,
kind as she usually was, lost patience
with mel think she did it ION pur-
poSe'-and l burst out into a paroxySm
OF Sobbing and crying. That's il!
Now say the words, and remember how
you say them. That's it," exclaimed
Mrs. Kean, delighted. Bravo. Keep
that up and you'll do capitally. Just
initiate the way you are crying now an
other time and you'll have no more
trouble" Twas just intelligent enough
to catch her meaning, and | have
ever since profted by the adj
vice. My reason for telling
this anecdote is that it proves how es
Sential genuine piece Of feeling is as
a model to initiate l don't mean TO say.
after run Of 500 nights, that you can
feel your part with the same intensity
that you did when the piece began to
run. But you must have wildly felt
your part at first, or else You will play
fatty before many nights are over. The
truth is, at the end of long run YOU
are initiating your own emotions which
you felt at the beginning of it, and so
the real touch is preserved.
There is, at the same time, a good deal
of mechanism in our art. For instance, |
have no more difficulty, by an effort Of
will, in turning deadly pale before my
lOoking-glaSS than have In eating my
dinner. No actor has chance of Civ
ing the higher Side-the emotional side,
that is-a fair chanceounleSS he1thor-
oughly master the scientific, the me-
chancal side OF his art. II an actor
wants to gain his audience he must lose
himself. and that he can never do unless
he is deeply and genuinely stirred.
Why have some actors the magnetic
power and poetic charms which others,
though in 4 sense their acting may be as
good, entirely lack? Because the
former have the great gift of feeling
their part, while the latter only play it.
1t is very difficult. however, to draw
the exact line where art begins and ma
turc ends. Before il IS possible to show
that you feel your part ii is necessary
to have learned the art OF being natural.
This seems contradiction in terms, for
il might at least be supposed that ma
ture could best teach you to be natural.
But she cannot. OF course, TO some ac-
tors this gift comes more easily than to
others, but all have to acquire it. In
the first place you have to learn to be
unconscious. 1t was Mrs. keaD, again,
who gave me my first lesson in this very
difficult accomplishment. One day
could not have been more than ll-She
told me to sing to her. | was seized
with an awful fit of self-consciousneSS,
and said. Il can't sing, Mrs. Kean."
You'll make nice actress" she ex-
claimed, looking at me Sternly-and,
fond as was of her, those eagle eyes
always had terrifying effect on me.
Suppose manager told you you were
TO play "Ophelia." would you tell him
you couldn't sing? Go and sing this
very moment. Anything Yankee
Doodle'-anything. Only sing And
sing | had to, and was convinced by
Mrs. Kean that had been merely self
conscious.
Each actor may have some peculiar,
particular and different difficulty. One
finds his voice unmanageable, another
his walk. another this, another that.
For myself l can perambulatc freely
enough, and always regret | never
learned dancing-staged dancing, | mean.
Ny particular difficulty" IS or rather
was. my hands; but manage them bet
ter now. ! was once rehearSing part
with man, very clever actor, who
used his hands exceedingly well-but he
had his difficulty" We were discus
sing the best way in
which he should give me a
flower. "Why not do it like this?'
said |. Eyes, that is very well, he re-
piled; "but, you see, l shall be there
pointing to a spot about five feet of on
the siage-"and how shall get to
where you are?" Take hanson" |
loosely replied, thinking he was in fun;
and it was a long time before | came to
realize that It was serious matter to
him to stir five on the stage unless he
had planned out his movements before
hand.
But other qualities are necessary be.
fore the art of emotion can make Itself
felt: and these are imagination, in
dividuaity and industry. Imagination
will give the insight required TO make
an actor one with the character he Is
assuming: individuality, if sufficiently
developed, will enable him to hold any
audience: and industry-well, without
that no one ever became an artist
ON the stage or in the studio. do
not mean to say that beauty is not an i'm
mense aid to an actress in successful
theatrical career. Still, you can get on
without beauty, but it is impossible for
an actress to achieve any distinction
without imagination, individuality, ana
Industry. After all, as far as the stage
is concerned, beauty has not much more
mower than favorable criticism; ii can
attract people-it can make them, per-
hans come once-but it cannot make
-, s+ov ELLEN TERRY.