Evening star., 1907-11-09
SICK OF THEIR ROLES
? SUPPOSE am asked the question

at least twenty times every sea-
L son. Don't you ever get sicR OF
your parto'' observed a player OF note
THE question, oft reiterated. would De
ha rdship If the answer were not 80 easy
Yes. l do. Yes, we all do. Actors get
sick of their parts and sick OF themselves
when they are compelled to cling TO roies
until each individual word Of the part
creates a sort of acute mental nausea
do not speak for myself only. l think
know the minds and moods OF actors. we
| arrive at a pitch OF distemper Win OIL
| repeated parts when we actually ureau
| going to the theater The approach Vi
| the making-up hour produces internal
eroaps The mere thought of moping
| through the sickening part-Wnether IL oe
! comic or tragic or In between-pecoihes
an insupportabie misery. one pesiis "
take a taundiced view of his fellow play
ars He jmasines that they are secretly
sneering at him for his monotonous nne
! frenzy or his dismally stale Wltuclsihs.
| And as the role becomes more ana Hiore
! of an abomnation one finds hlmseh men
| tally railing at the stupidity OF the , auui
| ences-fools that they must De 10 iausti
! at such unmitigated. outWorn rot, or 10
| work themselves into state OF entnusl- :
asrn or to dissolve into tears over such
/ NYptchsG ~
| gins to feel sorry for the woman to whom
| he plays opposite. 1t Is an outrage that
he is compelled to infict his nightly
| mouthing and. perhaps. two matinees IN IN
! the week-upOn her, If she suffers so
| abominaby under it as one suffers under
| her nonotonous reiteration, how tired she
must be of life
"Offhand. 1 should not like to say which
| is the worse-mumbling over the words OF
serious part for year or 50 on end
Or scuttling through the supposititiousiy
humorous passages of an alleged comic
piece for an equal period. When the
serious piece begins to wear upon the
actor he feels like fool in all his nerve
cells with each repetition of 1t. Inc
blowhard speeches that he has to emit
come bounding back upon him IN mock.
cry. if he have any dormant sense ot
humor When he puts the quaver or
sentiment or of sensibillty INTO ms Vo.c.. :.
he feels like an unutterab!e counterrel II
and four-fush. 1t is Impossible. at that
stage of it, for him to believe that ne Is
actually deceiving anybody out In front.
1t seems to him that the audience simply
must detect his hollowness and sneer at
It, Doing the serious part, one or tne
most abject things that l know IS tne
making o. stage love to the opposite
woman of the piece for one or Two "a
sons on end. There's job to test the
patience, not to say the sef-respect: "
your paragon of actors! Face almost as
close to hers as your own nose is TO yours
YOU exude the frayed sentences. simulate
the breaks in the voice of the protesting
or imploring lover. roll your eyes ABOUT
AS a burro does his ears breathe swelling
promises pant declarations. roll tne
stricken woman about in your arms IKE
something in the process OF being Weish-
ID or massaged. smooth her cold-creamed
forehead pat her hypothetical halr-re-
;nembering her solemn directions aoou. l
not mrssing it up-until. when the slow
poison of it all has sunk in to its deepest.
YOU often feel like boiling from the stag
and hopping the first passing street car,
And this Is particularly the case l. the
woman you are playing opposite to nap
nens to be somebody for whom you
entertain feelings of respect. You sup
posa 1t to be incredible that she does not
come to regard you as a mere musk OF
emptiness, a sort Of verbose maniKln IN
vortex of cheap make-believe. That Is
the hardest thing of ALTO do the stage
lover for forty-two weeks, say IN one
role and then, say, for another 1oFty-
two weeks I know. for I've had to DO
1t. often and often.
when you're doing comedy, and stick
Ing to the one role, it all becomes inef-
fably fat and depressing long before the
termination of a season You Wonoer
why they scream so over 1t out In 'front.':
You cock your ears as Il to ascertain II
1t is not merely a claque of ushers making
a noise like laughter When you become
convinced that 1t Is really the audience
in the throes of laughter you find your
self girding at their. low state OF intelll-
sence And you become sensitive as TO
what the others in the piece are thinking
at the moment when you unleash your
choice bits-bts that have long ceased
to leave anything but the pulpiest 1mag-
Unable taste in your mouth. You suppose
them to be snickering In the wings. You
catch yourself. too, criticsing the others
weary severely. You are certain that they
are laving down In their work going
back frightfully. stopping it over, max
ing wratchsd exhibitions. of themse ives
and all the time. of course, they are play
ing their parts at least as we'll as you are
playing yours with all of the weight Of
WEAKNESS upon you
"All of this accounts for the fact that
stage managers are perpetualy calling
rehearsals of pieces that have long been
on the road The stage manager does
this to buck the people up to their work,
He storms, scolds tells all hands that
they are becoming unspeakably vile In
their work and he makes them rehearse
the old thing again and again. Just
as soon as he sees that their WEAKNESS
of their parts Is making them lax again
he rehearses them some more.
Sick of our parts? l should say we
do become sick of them! lot Is writ
ten Of the hardships of stock company
actors and actresses. They're not so
badly off. They work, as do we all. but
they don't suffer as we do from cioyed
palate-look at the new dishes that they
sample while they are working"