The sun., 1908-05-17
PRESENT STATUS on ACTING
AN ART THAT HAS CEAN0ED
EFs WITH THE NEW DRAMA.

-@""P-Fs'--~"-
the Minute HeDrosIl,cfion Of IIis An.
4 thors Sense 0f IAro and Cbaracssr.
II remained for Boston to discover that
Nazimova cannot not, tho Same Boston
which discovered thas Nance o'Neil can.
And Boston made this discovery, too, In
direct defiance Of the Transcript, whose
4 critic expressly stated that Nazimova was
above all else an actress. IL 10 something
10 have defed the Transcript. But TO
object to Nazimova on the ground that
she cannot act will hardly increase the
Difference due to the dramatic Judgments
now formed In the city Of Warren and tho
old Museum company. You may object
! TO Nazimova because Of her foreign accent
or her exotic personality or the character
OF her repertoire, but you cannot object
to her because she does not know how
to act. II she knows nothing cleo shs
knows the art OF acting from A to 2.
Perhaps what Boston really meant was
that she chooses to exhibit her knowledge
Of 2 o good deal moro than OF A; she keeps
her effects well within the subtle and sug-
Restive circle Of modern dramatic technique.
Orperhaps Boston just meant that 1t doesn' Z
like her. Boston probably knows what
II likes'-O pitisbie. fatal knowledge!
O enemy Of sweetness and hght!--just
like any other city or town. including our
own little village, that makes provincial
cult of It's cosmopolitan character. Be
that as 1t may. Boston has at least provided
q topic for the day. for II II can anywhere
be said that Nazimova doesn't know how
TO act the art Of acting must be greatly
nisunderstocd
And since the art OF acting and the art
Of play writing are inseparably linked,
real progress In one being impossible with.
out corresponding progress In the other,
d survey Of the dramatic season now draw
ing rapidly to close will include discussion
both Of the plays and the players. This
paper must break the ground, leaving
individual performances for later con-
eideration, and looking moro generally at
the present aims and tasks Of the actors
art.
We hear great deal Of the golden days
sf stock companies; old timers tell us.
with tear in their eye. of what splendid
and versatile training those companies
afforded. Of the range Of parts the actors
played. Of their conception Of acting as
something finer than the mere trading on
personality Of to-day. As matter Of
fact this talk 10 largely delusion, the dear,
reminiscent delusion Of the man who lives.
like Boston. in fabled past. The stock
companies were always, az they are now.
divided into classes. q first heavy slow
comedian" q Juvenile. an ingenue. 60.
Each player had his or her @line" Of work.
and played every part according to the ira
ditions Of that line with almost parrot
like sarnoness. They do still. Plays 90
performed becaine-and beoome--not indi-
vidual expressions Of an individual author,
but expressions Of a stock list Of characters.
The actors did not trade ON their per-
sopslities.' TO be surc; far worse. they
traded on a convention. When somebody
tells you that John Drew 10 no actor (as
somebody always does every little while)
because he always plays himself, what
that person means 10 no more than this:
Mr. Drew does not disguise his face in
side whiskers. wear wig. talk with crack
IN his vioce or shout a climax at the top
Of his lungs. That with a delicate and
subtle command of technical resources he
exaetly conveys the kind Of modern man
his authors have created and points their
situations these critics do not realize.
" they did their whole conception Of acting
would be altered.
It was Of course inevitable that the arti-
fetal bombast and the rhetorical deciama-
ton of the old fashioned school Of heroic
acting should die with the old fashioned
bombastic plays Even in their day there
were some who saw through these plays.
Jce Cowell, comedian. in his autobiography
says OF a play by Noah the New York jour-
nalist. produced at the old Park Theatre
In 1872: AThe drama was supposed to be
written In blank verse. that is, good, whole-
some. commonplace language. the wrong
end foremoet, after the manner Of Sheridan
Knowles The dramas that came grad
uaily to take tie plaes OF these outlandish.
inbuman affairs which offered a raging
ground 70 Kean or Forrest. or the conven-
tional farces, were more and more realistic
in tone, more and more. closely connected
with actual life, and SO an actor who rsnted
and declaimed magnifcently became more
and more absurd. But there was curious
kind OF thrill and pleasure to be gained from
oratorical outhursts, not unlike the pleasure
opera goers still take In a SINCERE tremen-
tio,isly sustained top note. Without these
effects the theatregoer felt somehow
cheated. OF course. the old style Of acting
wouldn't do in these new, realistic plays.
And Of course the old style Of plays
wouldn't do. could hardly be tolerated.
after Sudernnann. Pinero and Ibsen. But
the new acting seemed tame. and because
In tho modern drama the players were
more and more called upon TO express ideas
az well as passions. TO play contemporary
men aud women rather than parts dssr
manding makeup and elaborate disguise
ei voice or feature. the new acting seemed
iess difficult. less artful, more trading on
personality.
And those delusions still unconsciously
prevail. though in happily lessening de-
gree. As the old style drama and the old
style players recede into the past there are
fewer of US to remember the great ones who
are gone, even the vaudeyillized Shake
speare, Of Augustin DAILY and Miss Rehan's
stepping out Of character to become "for
the moment a sort OF majestic incarnation
Of abstract solemnity and magniflcence,'
We no longer demand or even welcome
sonorous vocal outbursts ind attempts yet
the grand Style When Miss Charlotte
Walker in THE Warrens OF Virginia
screams ct the top Of her lungs and beats ct
she door few Of US are greatly thrilled.