The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-06-17

think a moment one viii begin to re-
alize that 1t was not,
First of all to dispose OF the value
OF that often though less repeated
this:
Nobody goes to the stage unless he
enjoys 1T. Anything that one enjoys
doing is not work for him.
Therefore an actor must find hut
little work In playing" For the sake
OF argument it might be granted that
as far as the work of the regular the
atrtcal season is concerned that syllo-
g1srn expresses the truth. even though
In so doing one is passing over the
deadly facts that the actor daiIy faces
he task of living somebody else's life
Tor q Few hours, or studying that other
ne during most of the time when he
Is not actually living it, aud above all
of portraying 1t, with it's apparent Joys
sorrows, nerve and emotion, ac-
tivity, mental and physical and ex-
tremities of gaiety or the reverse. no
matter what his personal feelings or
desires or experiences Of the day have
been.
It sounds rather alarming doesn't
it? Remember, too, that you are la
BILE to make the same mistake yourself
and SO put the other members of the
company in danger of being upset in
their parts by your inaccuracies. Does
this strike you as a pleasant PLAY
time" thought?
Even yet we have seen only a very
very small part Of the difficulties Of
stock work. We will not try to see
them all, for this is only a newspaper
STORY not a ~cyclopedic Guide TO
Stage troubles But there are two
other features that can readily be un-
derstood and Sperhaps a passing
glimpse Of these will help us to appre-
cfate better the next performance we
see given by a stock company.
First of all compare the work of
members OF a stock company with that
done by actors who are preparing for
a production which is expected to run
for the season or to spend a season on
the road without a change of bill every
week or so. In either of the latter in
stances the actor has three or four or
six weeks in which to familiarize him
self with his part, with the play, with
the situations. with the work of the
other members of the cast, and more
than all, with the character he himself
is to represent.
Perhaps he is fortunate as to know a
living counterpart of tina character.
Perhaps he only finds that counter
part after having studied the part in
the play. Or. perhaps the character
ltself IS new to him and he is unable
TO lind a parallel in real life. At any
rate he studies the character as one
would a man whose place he was to
axe Tor the next few months, in the
nope that none of the mans friends
would find out the deception. he trios
TO know positively how that character
would look, think, speak and act undo |
given conditions.
the rehearsals begin and
Ime acCor mas to make use Of this |
49, "1euse IN the way he plays the
Pal NO look, no accent, no move
ment OF the hand, head or foot Ia too
inslgnlncant to be overlooked. Per-
maps the part is one in which the ac-
Tor can build to such an extent the+
ne Will make" it. to use the theatrical
Term meaning that he will give it with
sucn Ialthfulness to detail and put so
much personality into it that snrines
into recognition as a distinct faa+11raS p
dramatic work. More likely 1t has mr.
such responsibilities, but even then he
tries 70 make it live, for that is bis
and to do that reouires
study and downright hard work.
NOW consider the same actor with
me same part in stock. He gets the |
part on Monday which he is to NAV the |
Following week. He has the same
work cut out for him that he bad in |
preparing for an ~all-season nroduc-
tlon-and he has six days TO do II in
instead or six weeks. And more-dur-
ing those six days he must keen nm his
part In the bill for that present week
a performance every night and two or
TOUR matlnees, according to the cir |
cufnstances. o what chance has he |
TO make" his new part? To put it
selhshly, what chance has he to do
himself Justice in it? He NAV "pet
by in it and if ne is one of these kind
or men who are satisfied with slipshod
work he will be content to get by and
no more. But 1t is to the credit Of the
profession that there are few men and
women engaged in stock work who
are satisfied with that, and so every
new part is met with a determination
to get everything out of it that can be
got out, and to make it as nearly per-
feet as possible.
But to consider the stock game
directly:
Take any play-probably one of
S~akespeare's will be the most con-
venient-and imagine that a director
has told you that you are to play some
particular part. Now take that one
of the play, and with paper and
pencil copy out your part. That is.
write out your lines and cues, leaving
out the rest of the speeches. If you
never have seen a part" such as ac-
tors use, the following arranged from
last act of The Tanning of the
Shrew, will give you the form: (The
part Is that Of Petruchio.)
Let each one send unto his wife, and
he whose wife is most obedient to
at first when he doth send for
her
Shall win the wages which we shall