The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-05
ART OF silence
ON THE STAGE
Characters Without Lines Ere
quently Effective
IN THE GREEK COMEDIES
In "Timon of Athcns.-Piay Wins
Pardon From Great
Napoleon
From de WASHINGTON Herald.

Silent characters have always been
interesting when introduced into plays
where the other actors speak. Their ST.
lence is sometimes more eloquent than
the spoken words of the others
Some of the most effective characters
in plays of the past and present, and
especially in comedies, have been of this
kind.
Theatregoers of the last generation still
remember the shouts of laughter which
used to follow the Lone Fisherman in
'Evengeline" whenever he would unfold
his battered old camp stool on the stage
and betake himself to fishing in the i'm
| aginary waters which lay in the unseen
regions beyond the wings
The silent burglar is one of the anus
ing points in the merry comedy, Seven
Days" He is the first on the stage at
the rise of the curtain and looks on and
shares in all the action of the piece, I'M
seen and unheard by the actors therein,
until an instant before the final curtain
falls.
Such characters as these. mute either
from choice or from actual bodily in
| trinity have been the stock in trade of
dramatsts from the earliest beginning
Of the drama down to the present time.
Employed by Greeks
Every schoolboy who remembers his
Greek grammar will recall the anecdote
of the actor who applied to the Athenian
comic poet Aristophanes, then engaged
in composing his undying satire of So
crates and his philosophy. 1.-THE Clouds"
The story says that the mountebank ask
ed the poet for his patronage and an OPP
portunity to appear in his drama.
Upon what qualification asked the
poet
Il can stand upon one leg longer than
any man in Athens
Yes, by Zeus! but a goose can stand
so, even longer" was the reply. From this
one may fairly suppose that even though
such silent comic attitudes were in vogue
on the Athenian stage 2590 years ago,
they were not approved of by Aristo-
planes ...-
In the Elijah drama there were
occasional dumb characters, but mostly
In tragic situations. In Shakespeare S
'Timon of Athens" now seldom played,
Lavinia, whose tongue had been cut out,
traces the recital of her wrongs upon
the sand with her staff, and so brings
retribution upon her abuser.
Frequent in French Drama
In the French drama of the late 18th
and early 10Th century we frequently find
silent characters. Yelva, the star and
title role of 'Yelva, the Russian Orphan"
like the burglar in Seven Days" was
acted entirely in pantomine until the final
climax, when q sudden shock restores
her speech. The burglars speech also
seems to be restored by a sudden shock.
| in the form of a shot from the rear.
Yelva was a prime favorite in its day in
| Paris.
Another play of this kind was IL Able
| de l'Epee," which, 1t Is said, had inftu-
enced the feelings of the great Napoleon
| to such an extent that 1t caused him to
do thing which he Is credited with hav-
! ing done very seldom, namely, to change
his mind. This play, by Koezebue, was
adapted into French and produced in
| Paris during the Napoleonic regime. 1t
| had for It's leading character the Able de
rEpee, who Is known to fame as a man
who introduced into France the sign
language for the deaf and dumb He had
but recently died. and his memory was
dearly loved by the French people. His
| nephew, bearing the same name and en-
gagged in the same work, had recently
| been entangled in some political intrigue
and condemned to perpetual exile by the
great first consul. During his exile the
play was produced. and his dead uncle
was the hero. On the opening night the
theatre was packed from pit to dome,
and Napoleon himself in the royal box.
Won Pardon for Offender
| De lEpee has in the play protege, a
deaf and dumb waif whom he has res
cued from the streets of Paris and edu-
Gated. The dumb youth grows UP into a
| fine young man, and at last, through the
efforts and teachings of the able, in a
most thrilling scene establishes his right
to recognition as peer of France.
At this point, the chronicler tells us,
the audience broke into the widest APP
plause calling the actors before the cur
tain. When the actor who. played the
part of the Able appeared the audience
rose en- masse in their seats. and turn
Ing to the box where Napoleon sat, amid
such cheers as only the emotional French
can give, called out to him, Give us
back De rEpee. Pardon the nephew for
the uncle's sake!'
Napoleon was greatly moved by the
play, it is related, and, remembering the
great services which both uncle and
nephew had done the state. he nodded
his royal head, and then and there signi-
fled that he would pardon the offender,
which he did without delay.