The morning times., 1896-07-26
Green Reom and Foyer.
4 A ANY people thought that the souse-
IN mir given away last night by the
| stock company was 20 mark tile ec- 4
casion OF the fiftfeth performance \

4 Z y ~
1 M mir given away last night by the
i i stock company was 90 mark tile oc-
I'll casfon OF the ffftfeth performance
4 or the company in Washington this
4 summer. In reality It was to siensiize the
4 lfif,icth performance of MY Awrul Dad in
Washington By the stock. This old
play, SO improba Bile in many incidents and
\ weEa M structure, RsfcEalclir Eli.on iiiiii.or,
j has still fascination for our theater-goers
] They love TO see Mrs. Findlay as Mrs.
! Hggs, and revel in the assurance, cheek
| flirtations and honhom mic OF Adonis Ever
| green. as played by Mr. Pond One week
from tomorrow night will take place the
| fiftieth performance of the season. 1t will
| open the eighth week OF the season, md
| Tire company will have Completed seven
weeks of Seven performances. Manager
| Riddle may have u trifle for the gentle
men on that night, having favored TIE
| ladies lastevening
For the seventh week the stock will pro
duce Rcbertson's School" This piece is
| a comedy, but it is rot of the broadly Ear
| cical type that has characterized the
| six preceding productions. There is SEN
| timcntdl vein throughout that gives it ex-
| quisite charm. Its peculiar adaptabillty
| to the company Is recognized by all who are
| familiar with tie play. 1t abouuds in char
acters, and the stock can boast of a fine
| round OF cha aracteractors- Percy BroOkeAias
been engaged especially for this week and
will play an old bean. Mr. Bond and Mr..
| Mackay will play rlirtatieus lovers, Mr..
Findlay will play the scl.oOln,aster carica-
tured by IIopperin '.Dr. syntax" and Dtxey
in .Cinderella at School," The ladies slonld
ull be well iapportioned. and a schOolroon
of thirtypretty girls is promised. The piece
consumes the whole evening and there will
be no curtain raiser.
N audience is the hope, the fear, the
~ enigma. the mirror OF manager. He
clings to 1t: 1t threatens him; he can
not solve it, yet he looks to 1t and
stuhies Unnecessarily. It Not sO,much in
plays and players as IN the audience Is
the secret Of success. When a manager
Knows what will please the people in front
he has half the answer to his financial
problem. Manager Bert Riddle has made
some notes on audiences. They have come
under his studious observation. which
means that he knows a thing or two on
the subject. Although he devotes himself
to the exterior of the tilcater during these
nights, perhaps in hopes Of realizing his
mascot's Claim that he possesses irresistible
magnetism, he has not limited his obserya-
tion of playgoerslto their Coming I'm. From
his point of vantage the other evening
he tdiscnursed Interestingly OF this phase
of managerial study.
An audience Is, of course, always pleas
ing" said Mr.. Riddle, giving his left
niousteehio a swish as ten pretty summer
girls tripped off the car and up the theater
steps. And then he continued, rs four
sevcre-lcoking maiden ladies meandered .
by, but ut times most perple king.
think. One may safely say that an udienoe
is never wrong. When tley come TO see
your production of whatever nature u nd go
away and sayft S not much good. you can
put IL down they have made a failure and
the best you can do under the circumstances
is to stop and look for something
they Will stamp with their approval. 1t
has been my allotment for the past seven
or eight years to try to please the public.
or course mean that Iortion that go to
the thcaters and witEess the Productions
l have heen connected with. There are
many who did not come, as Richard Msns-
field has also noted, but i have studied
those who did appear and he Withdrew
his anxious eye from the Avenue cars long
enough to give his auditors an emphatic
winS that meant quite afew had appeared. .
Zone OF thephenomena of audiences that
is hard TO explain is tie unconscious con-
spiracy that always obtains to either
freeze or applaud an actor. actress or COM
biDation to whom they are inimical or
Dut tGCy tuhubh tbitspiit
and enjoy "A performance 'that is distaste- \
rul to them. ofcourse, Irefertothe comedy
productions, and many OF these; are serious
enough to bring trars Z
I'm q comedy scene laughter is always
better than applause. The con:etiian al
ways expects To create laughter and gain
the applause of his audience after, and yet
the actor in tie oiticn days, 70 matter /
whether he played comedy or tragedy was
a -pftdrrSSf.I sfpmpijan tn.
turn to the audience They cone to the
theater TO BE impressed, and always favor
ably. If tic play and the players fail, then
tie players ind these who chose the play
are at fault
a play may be ahead of the tiu,es. 1t /
required two years for the public to catch 4
up with Hearne' S method ID in Shore Acres"
1t ma be behiEd the times examples are in
'numerabie. 1t may he out OF the atmos-
phere of those who witness it; If so the
promoters are the losers, and the failure
may be set down To bad Judgment. There
is only one infaflible critic-an audience j
A dramatist may spend years in devisiug, 4
constructing and polishing play, embe!
fishing il with the fruition of his ripest
Judgment. He submits it to the manager,
who thinks-only thinks, mind you--;hat he
fcresces success. "A cast particularly adapt
ed to the characters is chosen with care.
NO oiiG tdu suCCcsS Vi iTdlL-
atist mana ger. actor, even critic, can only 4
speak as and for an intiger, by the dogma
of precedent. The answer to the enigma
of months and years comes in the moment
of pToduction-in the moment of that !
strange, incy ypiicablc, intangible, ungov-
ernable conspiracy of the audienceto like or
resent the performance. The audience tells
the experts what they cannot answer for
themselves, andit never scrrs.
Though an audience is never wroHg in
final Judgment, il often errs in placing
the blame. 1t may know something is
wrong, 1t is rarely able to say what. BY
the same token that it thinks an actor
brilliant vino speaks witty lines. or a wo-
man wicked who plays n wanton role,
so il often hiames an actor for q bad
performance when it should blume an
author Tor II weak and sunsympathetic
character, one which could not possibly
be made TO appear in a proper light. The
poorer the part and the greater the hit, the
greater the actor. Tt is an cid axiom in
the profession tina -greut parts make great
actors, yet many good actors have made i
out of bad parts.
THAT Is one OF the great studies Of
tiIe eprofession-Iow to please an audieuee-
for to do that is to attract new friends |
Another phase is how to overcome eK- |
trinsic obstacles that contend against the |
Everything can cOnspirc to keep
an audience out OF a theater. The weather
may be the most obstinate factor 1t |
may be too hot or too cold; 1t may rain |
Or II may threaten to do SO, which is al |
most rs bad: it may snow. The theater |
Is, in fact. a luxury. and one that all con. |
ilitions initiate against. unless You have |
that the public want to see, |
that Ivy reason of excellence, |
r,d pr fashion they mi r1st lfara. thau vn,,