The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-11-30

tilf nhHaher OF pronerNcS- Or stage
fixtures employed; iur foreigner wili A.
coTpligh twice rnrch with half the ma
ural employed bv 'hc American. te wilt
ilE - have his scene rpcsS iI single
definite fashion, whereas the Amsricsu
D. morc spt 20 force bis scene go speak
niiy conflicting IDEAS iladdon Cham
-trE lcfslt arranged ono 81 tuc beat IN
ieror settings ever pot -lIon New
fofk stage II ~ tire last act OF ''Tante.''
Vn TIE pro-I mime tlc scene Is Kerred
70 al = room in an inn outside ~ Lon
upl There are only six Or eight pieces
o. frrnlture on tne entire stage piano
some chairs and cabinets. ~ inst glance
the room iooEr a iittle rlch FOR the In
iefior OF an Ordinary country inn: but
a. "a matter cf fact AZ H. an exact copv
az tie beet room in an inn known AZ
Tie Compleat Aneler' - Marlow-and
the yery room iu which .Nr. Chambcfs
.loie tne act Just before returning 20
Lonuon ordered this room carefully
photographed. Most French interiors
too. are few in the number of pieces OF
furniture employed. bat one feels OF
typical French Interiors too often that
tAey arc of the stage stAgey-mere
negligible backgrounds having nothing az
all 70 do with the characters in the fore
ground. and, on their own accounts say
ms nothing ~ al. giving the auditor no
eNIias information IS 10 the tastes. habits
or station ~ life OF the people they
serve Gut the. Usual French Disregard
OF stage settings, however complete IL
always Interesting. and. % course. ea silly
a
wants 10 know as 8, sits before a play
" not where II .tll happened or even
what happened. bot what the characters
nave TO say about the thing supposed 10
have happened.
American audiences. Oh the other hand
IKE familiar scenes. and often prefer a
production 10 play. particularly " the
production rs crowded with physical ac-
uon' many successful plays OF today are
IN reality not plays at all. but spoken
moving pictures. II Is the practical.
liNabie look OF u stage room that counts
most Tor the effectiveness OF any sup
posed scene; a spectator believes almost
implicitly in a stage scene In which lie
thinks ne could live most happily. Barrie
had very fine Interior In the last act
OF What Every Woman Knows
In that it had an extraordinary livable
quality; the chairs looked IL they had
been much sat upon: the fireplace, dug
beckoned one over the footlghts for
shin warming. Three years ago. Haddon
Chambers arranged a splcndidly effective
scene for his play. "Passers- BY II
was an exact copy OF the study OF his
old apartments at II Wavcrton street.
London. The cleverness Of that stage
room was IN the fact that although IL
stood without resrrangemcnt for three
acts, one never got a sense OF ssmcnesS
nor WAS the eve ever tired by the mo-
potony OF looking at unchansfng objects
with 'his lighting; the paysace OF time
from night TO dawn md the correspond
Ing changes In the lighting gave the
same scene as much variety as three en-
tlrely different scenes would have bad
Most English playwrights. like Plnero
Maughan and Barrie make u their bust
ness TO find actual rooms and then ada nj
the rooms TO their characters For "Thc
Land OF Promise" Miss RGrke's next
play. Mr. Maughsn spent good two
months In the interior of Canada visit
Ing and living In more than score OF
farmhUuses. 1t almost seems law I'm
play making that. whether or not play
shall be a work OF one or two dimensions
whether II shall make single or double
appeals pretty largely determined by
the pains that the playwright takes with
his settings as well as with his char rae
ters: backgrounds often speak louder
tba n dialogue