Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-10-25
THE PLASTER OF
PARIS AUDIENCE
(By Virginia Harned !.

10Y virginia
The man who never let's himself
out when in the play house deprives
himself of one of the chief delights
of life's feast-a hearty Taught He
is like plaster-paris,-mix in it the
water of solemnity and let it stand
and dry, and it becomes hard and un-
bending.
Now and then the actor will dis
cover a plaster-paris auditor in the
front row-his face is set, his coun-
tenance is a defiance. Let the PLAYER
get a good look at such a countenance
and come to realize that he is play
ing to a lump of plaster, all sponta-
neity is at once annihilated. He is
as great a kill-joy as an undertaken
at a wedding, or a death's-head at a
banquet!
Those audiences see the best act
ing which inspire the performer by
hearty, genial and merited applause.
On the other hand a cold house made
up of p~laster-paris faces chills the
genial current of the actors art, dulls
achievement, causes it to sink to a
fiatness which would otherwise be
spontaneous and electrical.
The great Charles Matthews, the
comedian, once discoered a plaster
paris face during a performance and
it so disconnected him that he was
obliged to stop the performance and
going down to the footlights address,
ed the gentleman, at the same time
giving him one of the most comical
looks: Il beg your pardon, sir, but
if you don't laugh | can't go on"
This sally was received with a of
applause and the unconsciously- Of
Tending auditor laughed louder than
anybody else throughout the evening.
The auditor who does not unbend,
does not enjoy! He not only mars
the actors efforts, but makes it i'm
possible that he should derive the
pleasure which is to be obtained from
a good play. Again, as an illustra-
ton of the value of unbending and
thus avoiding the plaster-cast face, l
shall, as Monenius Agrippa said:
Tell you a pretty tale" Albert
Smith was once embarrassed by the
plaster-cast expression on n of his
auditors, who neer gave sign OF
satisfaction or appeared to enjoy any
thing that was SAND. The actor
finally came to the conclusion that he
had offended the auditor, for no mat
ter what joke he uttered or song he
sang, he went unrewarded by either
smile or laughter. The same stiff,
unbending expression met the actors
gaze. At the conclusion of the per-
Torrance, Mr.. Smith said: II never
acted SO poorly" while the auditor
with the plaster-cast face, rising from
his seat, was heard to remark, with
tI,o n a /, cot ovnrnccinp " nnUnr
was so thoroughly bored" If this
auditor had allowed himself to ex-
press a hearty approval and had SYM
pathized with the actor in his efforts,
he would have witnessed a better
performance, and would, doubtless,
have spent a ~pleasurable evening.
The actor, however, does not eX-
pect that an audience should be in a
perpetual state of giggle, for there Is
another kind of applause which Is
even more INSTRUMENTATION!
Garrick appreciated this when he
banished forever the loungers who
had been allowed for so long a time
to be present on the stage during per-
formances. A tear or a hushed au-
dience is a greater compliment to
the actor than a prolonged and wild
guffaw. When the performer cannot
command silence in certain scenes he
very well knows that he has not in
terested the audience, and that he Is
a failure-the saddest and most de-
jecting thought that can enter the
mind of an actor. The great Thomas
Betferton, the master of his art, had
the highest esteem for a silent and
attentive audience. st was easy"
he said, "for any player to rouse a
house, but to subbdue it, render 1T
rapt and hushed to a murmur, was
work for an artist"
But there is a vast difference be-
tween the rapt attention of an in
terested auditor and n with a plas-
ter-paris face!