Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-10

</OU may have heard the story related of George
Bernard Shaw and his supreme confidence IN
the plays of his making; SO supreme, indeed,
that he rarely if goes to the trouble of witnessing
their prenieres. One night however, friend OF Shaws
discovered him devating from his established custom,
and perceived him in the act OF going into theater to
attend the opening performance of of his dramas
whats up, Shawl called out the friend mischiev-
ousy. "Are you afraid your play will be falure?'
certainly not answered Shaw. Il wrote 1t, and
know cannot fail merely going into the theater
to see whether or not the audience is success
There solid truth in this quip than the ayman,
who will simply charge Shaw again with being an
immoderately conceted soul, may And it IS to
disclose of the of the audiencehat most
widely talked Of yet least generally anayzed thea
trical eement-that take my pen in hand. We hear
lot about the secrets of play making, play producing
acting and the allied theatrical arts but never word
about the great element-the great puzzling,
battling element-that gives life and being to all these
things The psychological analysis of the audience is
undoubtedly the queerest of theatrical problems. do
not refer the tastes of the audience That question
has been treated many times. What mean is the prob
lem of ainning audience in the words OF Shaw,
making that audience a
In the first place, let give you table of audiences
in their relative ratio of difficulty in SO far as winning
them over is concerned:
l. The deadhead audience.
g. The Understandable audience.
g. The fashionable audience.
The speculator-ticket audience.
s. The cod-theater audience.
These five species of audiences are, in the order
named the stubborn of all the various kinds of
theatrical audiences. Let why. An audience
composed of deadheads is the hardest audience for
actor and playwright to please, because like all other
individuals who get something for nothing deadhead
is suspicious Of the quality of the thing he is getting for
nothing Why, he asks himself did get the ticket for
nohngo He doesn't stop to view the gift of his
a courtesy present; but Immediately argues that
the seat would not have been given him if the show had
been any good And the odd paradox here is that the
deadhead who thinks this has in all probability been
striving to get that free seat for several days 1t is
theatrical axiom that deadhead is the hardest person
in the world to please
An ultrafashionable audience is severe proposition
because being "al dressed up, it will not unbend 1t
is certain fact that the person dressed the
more formal he becomes. Analyze yourself and
you will agree that this is true Accordingly, ultra
fashionable audience will be @dgnfed' that it will
not applaud or laugh openly even let tear get into
its eye Take the in such audience, for in
stance. They will fight against receiving sensations
from the stage; they will ste their emotons they will
keep their minds fixed the stage only now and again
The are simple. Being goved, they will not
applaud for fear of splitting their gloves They will not
pay attention to the actors because if they affected
by the play and cry Bit the powder will be washed off
their faces in spots and their eyes and will become
red This latter must never happen! They will not per-