Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-12-03
TIE ideal STAGE WOMAN.
Olga Nsthsrsols Says the Best Woman,
on or Oh the Stage is One
Who Is True to Herself.

follow as the night the day thou canst
not then be false to any man.. Be
true to yourself. That is the main
issue.
81 have been criticised for the way I
| portray human nature To my mind it
all lies in nutshell, the secret of hui
man existence. 1t is be true to your
SELF. Don't treat yourself falsely. 1t
is you who must be the important
one
Olga Nethersole was talking to re-
| porter about the characterless eharac-
| tiers of the stage-those scarlet hero
ines that are always condemned, yet
| that theatre-goers want to see.
do you know what l call an i'm
moral woman" queried the actress,
with the inscrutable look in her eyes;
| ''it is the woman who passes her life
with a man she doesn't love; 1t is the
woman who is never true to herself, to
her own instincts, and who consequent
| ly never can be true to others. What
sanctity does marriage license and
marriage service give to a union where
the essential element of saneity is
lacking?
For eight years have studied wo-
men of doubtful-no. not doubtful; say
rather of stakable-character 1t
| is my opinion that any of these is bet
| ter than the man or woman who mar
ries without love.
DUTY TO SELF.
self is the first thing TO be thought
of, because the first duty of all for a
woman is not to her friends, but just
to herself. Now that sort of woman
has violated the custom OF the country,
I admit. Often. in spite of it all, and
in the teeth of everything she has at
least loved and has been true to her
self!
There will come a time when men
and women bothwill be honest, will be
moral; not because they are afraid net
to be, but because they will choose 1t
as the best. There will come time
when the worst crime will be to sin
against ones self, and to go out of
the world leaving behind child mis-
cradle and crippled and deformed. 1t
is a terrible thing to feel that the mis-
cry CT the world is more because one
has lived in the world"
Miss Nethersole gave an interesting
story of her search for a play In which
the good woman" might figure.
"A long time ago." she says, 'and it
teens a long time now since l first be-
gan my work, l realized that there
must be something more for us than
that-than the work-the thing that in
spires the work. And ! said to myself
| intended to set my own ideals, to be
two things, true and honest My
friends insisted that l leave off that
sort Of woman ard / tried. To play
Shakespeare one must have a Shakes
peare audience. 1t is almost impos-
sible at this day to move the public
deeply through any but modern play.
1.-The public anticipates the future
it can be led forward more easily than
it can be led backward. 1t is hard to
believe that Shake5peares women are
flesh and blood. So | went to two of
our best modern playwrights in London
and gave them a commission for play.
A POOR PLAY.
Tragedy or comedy, either,' / said;
modern or in costume / paid them
| 81 900 on account and promised them
practically their own price when the
play was accepted. They brought me
the scenario of The Termagant; l
was delighted. 1t was fine, from a lit
| erary standpoint, dramatic, and 1t left
out that sort Of woman.
But at the end of the second act
| there was break. technical error,
| that I saw at once was fatal to prac-
teal success. The last acts were not
the logical sequence of the first two
acts. They refused to alter the play,
and I resolved to practice 1t anyway
| had srasty' time with them over it,
I'VE had great first night. The
critics compared 1t to a production Of
Sir Henry Irving's. and that, for
London critic. is as far as praise can
go. For the first two acts my audience
was delighted. Then there came that
break from comedy to tragedy, so illog-
ical. and l lost them. 'Pooh!' they
said, and looked at each ether inquir-
ingly. That was the end OF The Ter
magant' and the good woman.
But / have not given up trying.
Time and again l have read something
that impresses me, sometimes by a
young. unknown author
Now, have I answered the question,
Why do | play that sort Of woman
Because / must play her until l can
get an emotional character Of the other
sort; because the public pays and has
right TO be consulted; because | am
manager as well as an actor: be-
cause my plays point the greatest
moral ever written"