New-York tribune., 1912-03-17
LA PosE MAP6UsRrZE IN ZhE HEWDURhAP clRc0S At TIE
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stance, the most satisfactory performer
must necessarily have been the man with
the best voice and the clearest enuncia-
ton. two attributes that might very easily
belong to the worst actor Of to-day. Com
ing down to the days when plays were
presented i'm courtyards-and that Is not
so very long ago-it must have been a
hopeless task for an actor to attempt any
delicate methods Of expression.
To-day everything Is different; every ef-
fort is made to get perfect settings, per-
feet lighting and perfect acoustics and the
audiences are a marvel of orderliness and
patience. And so we are enabled to adopt
more natural methods OF expression. and
in the same ratio audiences have become
more critical of our work. Therefore, with
the intimate modern theatre the note Of sim
cerlty is growing more and more impera-
tive.
When | talk to you about truth and
sincerity. / trust / am not in danger of
leading you into what has been called the
natural school Of acting. Of-course. you
can't always do the thing that is natural
on the stage You are bound to remem-
Der the artificial conditions and TO remem-
her also that you have lured each member
Of that audience into the theatre. nailed
him to his seat taken s. away from him
and dared him 10 move. Now. if you don't
let that poor creature see and hear all that
IS going on, l consider It nothing short OF
Broadway robbery To disregard the neces-
sary conventionallties merely for the sake
of being natural Is ridiculous and unintel-
ligents ] have witnessed a performance
arranged by a manager of the natural
school so that the principal speaker in a
long intimate scene was seated with his
back to the audience There was no reason
for this beyond the fact that II was sup
posed TO look natural; in reality, II looked
ugly and was exceedingly irritating
Il want to say a word about listening.
The art Of listening on the stage is a
branch OF our training to which you must
pay special attention. AS matter Of fact
that, too, belongs mainly 10 the study OF
tho use OF the eyes. But the repose which
suggests the active mind-following each
word as II Is spoken-is exceedingly difficult
10 acquire and is generally the result OF
ripe experience. AS rule, Il is the eye
which suggests the receptive brain and the
listening mind, but you can listen with
your hands and neck and with your arms
and legs. I have not had an opportunity
OF witnessing Messrs. Weber and Fields
since they have come together again, but
! saw them about nine years ago, and I
came 10 the conclusion that the fun OF
their entertainment was I'm large measure
due to Mr. Weber's unusual capacity for
listening. 1 have since heard that I'm the
days when Mr. Weber and Mr. Fields were
beginning the late Joseph Jefferson hap
pened to see their entertainment, and took
the trouble TO go around and personally
compliment Mr.. Weber on his ability as a
listener. Try to remember that II the char
acters on the stage are not listening, II
they evince lack of interest in what is
being done and said around them, that
condition will be communicated TO the audi
ence. and they, too, will become restless
and detached.
II took an early oportunity OF telling YOU
OF my retiring disposition. so you will un-
derstand that l have no wish 10 talk about
myself. But Pm going to tell you how
study, because Mr.. Sargent asked me to do
so. like, II possible, to hear tho author
read his play before l see MS. at all. He
generally reads II very badly, but IL he has
drawn his characters from life he usually
visualizes his models as he reads and how
ever badly he interprets you can generally
catch Just breath Of life which may vital
ize your whole conception. I then attempt
TO fit the authors character upon some
living person that 1 have met or observed
somewhere at some time II may be per-
son I know well, or IL may be some one
have seen in a railway train, and who,
for some reason or other has left an inn
preston on my mind. This allows me to
visualize a living character as ] study the
lines. My method of learning lines is,
first, to become thoroughly acquainted with
the whole play and then to read my part
from beginning to end, and then read 1t
from beginning to end again and to keep
on reading 1t through until I am rough
perfect throughout, the last act equally
with the first. The advantage | feel in
this Is that l do not have to unstudy any
conception I have made in the first act by
reason OF an error as to its relation with
something that takes place In succeed
ing act. In reading IL through TO get the
lines into my head | read il in the same
way as l intend to play it-not rapidly, for
words only, but absorbing everything AT
once. This may seem slow method. but
feel that get a vital conception OF the
part from beginning to end while the char
acter Is still fresh and before my ideas have
become somewhat stalled by long rehearsals,
lOf course, having arrived at this rough
perfect state, then I give all the time l like
to individual scenes or speeches. do not
recommend this method 10 you II 1t doesn't
appeal TO you. We must all find out the
way that suits us best
Don't forget the value OF pause. Don't
be persuaded that the audience wants
mainly speed and noise Don't be under
the impression that the success OF your
comedy is to be gagged by the number OF
laughs you get, or the success OF your play
by the number of curtain calls at the end
Of the act Both are fatal errors known
TO everybody but stars and managers.
"a word as to makeup. We all make up
a great deal too much; as l have already
said, we are bound TO conform to certain
conventionatics Of the stage, but we are
advancing In our Ideas in making these
conyentionally less crude. The only