The sun., 1897-12-05
shall remain. Az for China. everybody knows
1t Is still QHnnttS neoEieedbl&

It Is still QsantaS ntolieedbl&
WI ailbert's Wholesale condemnation Of the
leading London actors has revived the idea Of
establishing something akin TO the Paris Con-
servatoire. The suggestion has been made often
during the last fow years, and Henry Irving has
declared himself in favor OF a National Thea
tire, IL not OF a National Training School for 40
tors. But ho can hardly be pleased with the
line the present agitation is taking. 1t is an old
charge that Irving Is not great actor but q
great uphoisterer; and people are remarking sor'
rowfuly tnat many OF the plays in London that
have recently run hundreds OF nights are mainly
spectacular. Tho deterioration In acting is for
the most part due to threo causes-the want Of
early training, the starring system. and the fact
that many aspiring amateurs pay largo sums TO
theatrical managers to allow them to play cor-
tain parts. Tho great majority Of the older
critics have no doubt that English acting has
considerably deteriorated during tho last quarter
OF q century. In the provinces II Is superfcially
better, simply because companies are composed
now OF men and women OF higher education
and social position. They attempt to atone for
lack OF power by correctness Of pronunciation
and by good manners.
The innovators argue that tho establishment
OF conservatoire would to q great extent REM
cdy these evils. In addition to daily rehearsals
under the direction Of experienced stage IMAM
ayers 1t Is now proposed that there shall be COM
pete courses in elocution, singing, fencing, de-
pertinent, dancing. Most people agree that the
elocution of the English stage is exceedingly bad
and that much effect is lost by gracelessness
and ignorance Of department. Latterly the
theatricaltranks have been recruited from among
amateurs Of little talent who 60 onto the stage
for the fun of the thing. A conservatoire, 1t is
argued, would put an end to this class of
tors and actresses. They would find the study
too irksome. These are doubtless counsels of
perfection and the actor. managers who domi.
nate dramatic London are throwing on them the
cold water Of experience.
Beerbohm Tree. who is not ashamed to own
that he has been o transformer in his time and
has played his way up from ludicrous burlesque
to where he is now. is Interestingly outspoken.
He says the old stock companies furnished far
moro valuable training than any mere academy
could possibly give, but they have been super
seded by touring companies. the provincial
managers finding the system moro convenient
and remunerative. He proceeds:
''The theatre in this country is conducted on
purely commercial lines. I have heard both
French and German actors declare that there is
much to be said against State support Of thea
tres, but think the arguments In its favor great
ly outweigh any objection that can he raised to
1t. However, we may dismiss any idea OF State
subsidized theatres as Utopian for the moment,
though am happy to hear there is a tendency
in certain quarters to establish municipal thea
tres in the provinces. Undoubtedly If only the
very rudiments Of the dramatic art were taught
at national school, as Is suggested. 1t would be
n great hoon to future generations of actors,
and also to the public at large
II venture to disagree with Signor Salvini's
suDn0aed n nm suh NJ lieh
acting. Whatever you give an English
actor the great Italian is made to say he plays
1t as a nineteenth century Engllshman. Every
age and every country has its way Of walking
There is one style for the great period Of Spain
another for the French of Louis XIV. another
for the Italy Of the Renaissance &c. OBJ
viously such nice distinctions Of gait cannot be
taught regimentally. They must depend en-.
trely on the imagination of the actor and his
power to throw himself into the character he is
assuming. Such things come instinctively.
good actor is capable of 1t, bad actor Is
not. Nor can quite subscribe to the opinion
that:English acting is to-day in perilous::state
but on the other hand, will assert that there is
greater individual capacity in England than
either in France or in Germany. It has been
tho cry from time immemorial that the British
drama is In a state of decadence. 1t Is tho ten
dency of the superior persona to gibe at the
actor-manag er. Luckily the future Of the drama
ID not dependent on the platonic affections Of
the literary dandy. 1t rests with the actor
manager. l contend that the good work that
has been done for the stage in the mast and will
he done IN the futurs has been n nd vii, he done
by tho actor-manaRer. because he Is tho artist
nendipg the establisbment of the national thea.
tr.--to whom Won and loo, forward with hone.
ful but doubling enthusiasm"
A disappointed dramatist arrives at tho same
skeptical conclusion by a different process of
reasoninp 1Tbe averaoe manaoer be savs
"bo. M 1--we NJ ort IN, game Ia honuses
80, aa... .n, h,,,au.a. - ,on,a, 90 -, "a
.. ~ a.a..aa..a,. ~ 20 ~ - -
10. =, S,s ~ ~,
m.o W. " - e w o
u companies anu imagihe they arc learning 10
acI- As VOL iook 70 lno thcatricol eshuicates
as TO the managers OF England. discussion,
rear ls useless uhuer present staSe coholtiohs'
unless some benefactor filings his purse into the
argument. The natural school can neither
walk nor speak blank verse-arts that are abso