The new North-west., 1890-03-07
HOW TO BECOME AN ACTOR
INITIATIVE FACULTY AND PHYSICAL
FITNESS REQUIRED.


Master
"!Actiug can be taught as readily as music
Or painting" said a we'll known actor and
sEillfu1 stage manager, man distinguished
by his profound knowledge OF verything
pertaining to dramatic art. ITO become IN
actor lie continued, 1.-THE pupil must be
able to recognize emotion and must have the
initiative quality to represent it,"
''You think, then, that any one can bc
taught to be an actor9n asked the reporter.
Yes provided he has the eimitatiyequalty.
Generally speaking, thnt is the sine qua non,
just rs the recognition of tone and time is to
the student of music. There are exceptions
to all rules, and know men wholly destitute
of initiative quality who are very acceptable
Oh the stage, simply because they do not try
to act at all, but appear in their own persons
just as they do in private life being SO for
tunate as to have parts which merely en-
body their own Individuality. If a man can
appear gracefully as a gentleman i'll modern
society lo ought to appear to equal advnnt-
age i'll the same character on the stage. Men
Of this kind sometimes achieve moderate sue
cess in the dramatic profession because they
recognize all that they are capable of and do
not strive beyond it,
HOW TO TEACH ACTING.
''What method tlo you think the best for
teaching the people to act!'
''First of all make them understand def
nitey what we mean by acting 10 my mind
it is the representation Of human emotion by
means of artificial and natural language.
The former consists of the words which we
employ us n medium to express our ideas.
The latter is made up Of facial expression,
gcsticulation, tone Of voice. quality and guam
it1r Of yoi,.p inf md mn jutVtinO If
voice and rate Of movement in speaking.
Natural language is universal, and is the
snlne yesterday, today and forever among all
tho people OF the earth There is Il German
provcrb which says: Love understands all
languages meaning that the natural Ian
guage of love is the same among ull races
and nationaities, and it is equally true of all
other emotions. Artificial language is of
many different kinds-French German, En-
glsh. lii acting, the natural and artificial
language must be made to harmonizc. This
is what Shakespeare meant when he made
Hamlet say 70 the playera: Suit the action
to the word, the word to the action.'
when the pupil has been made to analyze
the physical effects OF all the various emo
tions, and consequently the natural language
in which they find expression, lie should be
taught their various grades and their
mode Of passing from one grade TO another.
This iny subsidies. first into ylaJnesS. then
into happiuess: grief become, sorrow, sorrow
becomes sadness, etc, Let him then take up
some dramatic author, read d passace, and,
hoyiu, ,lpci,l,-l yhat emotion il is meant TO
prnrass )et him internrct tEr authors artif-
cial language with appropriate natural Ian
puare Of his own, This Should he uractice,l
till he is as familiar With the natural language
of all the emotions of the human mind as lie
IS with the alphabet, and can represent every
one Of them by that language with rs much
readiness and facility as he can repeat the
MULTIPLICATION table.
..Nhcu he has mastered the natural forms
of emotional expression, turn his attention to
the artificial ones Artificial Language should
be most carefully articulateti, that its every
word nav be distinctly heard by the most
distant anditor. The most powerful voice is
nil without distinct articulation, How often
we sec actors, clergynen and other public
speakers who, though they have the voices of
steutors, fail to make themselves understood
simnly because they have never learned to
orticn1,te their words clearly and distinctly.
Though all graduates Of colleges should I'M
derstaud how to do this, | am surprised to
find how many OF them are wholly ignorant
with regard to it,"
so CALLED ..FEELISG."
"}YelI, admitting that all men can be
taueht to net. !" said the reporter. "you surely
do not think they can all be taught to net
equally well; that every man can be tnught
to act as we'll MS Booth, Barrett or Irving, for
example, You must allow something for
cen1us,'
"Cicnius is simply an intensely earnest de-
sire to do. with constant application to the
doing. There is nothing beyond these Any
man possessing the physical requisites of an
actor in the same degree with Booth, Barrett
or Irving, and, having the same amount OF
initiative quality, can, by earnest desire and
constant application, make himself as great
an actor. Ambition and hard work-of
which the latter, in tho actors case, means
study and practice-are the only factors Of
success in anything. Tom Moore says, in his
Life of Shcridun:' Labor is the father Of all
the great works in the world, whether in lit.
,ront etnmbli,p hloc,- in tI,a way of octo,-si is
the false idea. 50 largely entertained both bv
Themselves and bv dramatic critics, that net.
ing is n matter Of feeling. Now, if the ucto,
feels his mart and merely portruys his owr
feelings he does not act at all, but that he
does not feel it is proven by the fact that af
ter nortrayinp emotion which caused serious
illness and perhaps death to tho character
he is nctiuc, he will completely recover hi:
eouanimity the moment he comes off thu
stage
"Dunns' play of Camille is founded upol
n story of real life. md he tells us that thu
original of Camille. after the purtiug will
Armand, was sick almost unto death for 81,
weoLs Did nny actress who has playet
Camille ever feel, tho nnrt to that extent?
+h;nl not Evorv Camil,o 7 have ever seen
ofter going tbronrt the most heartrendins
noonv at nartinr With Armand would com,
~ +ba st,ga and ;mmed;ate,v commence IL
ra;, o+ hor 1res,;po maid in ooot] set fern
for so,oa reaI or Imaginary foult
:.The stories Won hear about some acto
81 feeling the mart of Richard III that h
fanciel Himself really that uersonage m,
rusha,1 into the strces in his stape clothes
brondsbi,,,, h;s sword and calling for n horse
n.a s,,,nl, nonsansa ,,-yosbineton Star
.-~-.------.
Plum Pudding IL Not Plum Pudding.
IT. would he well if Mr.. Mattieu William.
lecture on plum pudding Mt Birmincha,
could I've made familiar to everybody. 1t cor
tains matter which would surprise, perhaps
most peonle For cxn,n,,le. the 50 called nl,1,
| no plu,ns in it. The plums of which W
speak are really grapcs-Glred grapes, {
course, but grapes all the same Again, "