New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-07

there sit and spoon In the same way when the
hero and the villain hurl defiance at each other.
unless they happen 10 DO 1t In the open country
they get their faces right up 20 a wall and let their
ep;thets rebourd from IT, And the audience likes 10
have them do it that way.
DISPENSING WITH THE GANGPLANK.
The subject Of the sky being formed OF strips Of
pajnted cloth sometimes even hanging down among
the trees has already been alluded TO- and il is TOO
pairful TO discuss at length here Everybody VINO
goes to the theatre knows all about it, but the au-
dience has to accept it o convention But before
the subject Of getting and of the stage IS lett
behind It may be we'll 10 say word abou; how
people on the stage get and off ships. As gen
eral thing, actors ana stage managers think that
they are licensed TO use the proscenium entrances
no matter what the scene may be- so, when II rep
resents a ship the width Of the stage being the
width of the ship and tho space at the sides pre-
sumably water and air. they come on and go OH az
the prcscenium entrances just AS usuai. Thus they
Guido ST. Peter for this nothing more or less han
walking on board the ship out Of the air at a level
with the deck and walking of the ship back into
the air again. And the audience stands II.
Then there is the matter Of lights The lamps
that stage people in their houses are of a
in poor home occupied by an honest mechanic be
thirty feet wide. fifteen feet deep and twenty feet
high. (This in itself is little convention when
there IS not space to discuss further hcre) one
little lamp with red shade VIII light that room
'lamp that does IT, because when the lamp is put out
the lamp is lighted or brought back the room Is
bright again. II is not always bright again instant
require time find ont that the lamp is back. but
the effect comes coon enough TO leaVe no doupt uat
it is the lamp that has produced it. This dscrep-
ancy of time between the lighting or the sXtin-
gushing of the lamp and the coming OF light or
darkness is another OF the little OF the stage
which the audience doesn't mind
1t is not. perhaps, revealing any great secret 10
say that the footlights and the border lights are
turned of and on as nearly as possible at me tine
next 10 impossible 10 be sure Of getting the two
play called 1.-The open Gate" given at the
ne N mrs. p at 81 nohey
theatre. The stage manager was not only unac-
customed 70 the play itself but he In "a strange
interior Of room OF a house. at side OF the
ing left off, according TO stage custom 40 that the
audience could see into II. The scene was almost
denly a little lamp was brought into the room and
Immediately not only the room but the dooryard.
the road and the landscape mile on were brill
iantly lighted.
THE ACTORS DIMNESS OF SIGHT
When darkness comes II Is not absolute dark
ness That is another thing. No absence Of light
on tho stage ever leaves absolute darkness unless
the scene is be changed. and then 1t does not al
ways The audience still good deal.
though IL is clear that the actors cannot at all.
Another difference of visual power between tho
actors and the audience ~ akin TO this. IL actor
stands out of sight of the audience, say behind "a
screen. the other actors cannot see him. no matter
what their own positions may be. II the screen IL
in front Of the one who Is hiding the others may
pass close TO his side up ard down tho stage.
with nothing at all between them. but they cannot
him. On ;he contrary. an actor may be hidden
from the other actors and still be visible TO the
Of the audience. but that Of the audience does not
depend on that OF the actors. The audience has the
Just So sounds which can be heard all over the
auditorium cannot DO heard by an actor standing