New-York tribune., 1919-03-30

when the curtain rises. All starts fair
ali Is real natural. SO then
If Miss Smith. the actress, chances to trim
over carpet on her entrance the thing
passes unnoticed. In England it would evoke
a delightful flush all over the house and 8
spasm of intimate sympathy and Uttered
round of applause.
All is real-easy: unconcerned: almost
phlegmatic-in the Italian audience before
the play begins, especially in Roman thea
tres. / have found it the same in Bologna.
in Genoa, in Milan and in Naples, and in
deed o(fen in Florence; though while. in
this isst city, the audiences can be amaz-
lngly real, there is faint suggestion that
they are on the verge of becoming slightly
self-conscious. The reason is not far to
seek.
But it, rule, the Italian audiences
take their seats Indifferent to what is to
come or who is in the house, it is another
matter as soon as the curtain is up. With
out childish eagerness, but with all the in
terest of live, full-grown beings, the mind
OF the audience begins to move and con-
centrate Its force upon the stage. One can
see that nothing is hamperng the actors
no flow of the wrong electric waves-and
the great compliment of subordinate atten-
tlon from all the spectators is going to
help them.
The most Indifferent audience in Italy is
in the matter of attention rather like the
picked audiences which in 18S0-1900 used
to visit the Lyceum Theatre in London to
see "The Bells" and Nance Oldfeld.v THE
Lyons Mail" and the Shakespearian drama.
The Italian theatres are of all sizes and
periods. There numbers of ancient
theatres being used at this day In Flor
ence, the Pergola C657), the Nazionale :.
the Niccolini and the Alfieri. In Rome. the
Argentina and the Vale. In Bologna, the
Communale Q763), the Tcatro del Corso
(ls05). In Naples the San Carlo (1737);
IN Verona, the Filarmonco. A list of them
all would take up several pages of this
magazine. There is hardly a city which is
not able to boast great or little master
piece of construction, and hardly one which
does boast of it,
You may not even have heard of Fano,
Of Forli, of Reggie, of Imola, of Sabionetta;
yet all these places can boast theatres of
note. In Reggie, for example, small town
and unremarkable, is one of the largest
theatres in Italy; in Fano one of the Oldest
But if Italy refrains from boasting of it's
monumental theatres it is chiefly because
1T continues to use and enjoy them. The
citizens enjoy their nightly pleasure of
sitting in their masterpieces, and they take
1T all for granted. To them it is as natural
that Bibiena, Sighizzi, Pozzo and Morelli
should have provided them with the best
buildings of their kind in Europe as, that
the best actors in Europe should presently
be walking and talking before them. Thus
has the grandest theatre in Europe come
to exist-by people expecting nothing less
from the Muses-and taking it all as
matter of course . and as matter
for delight.
AS for their actors and actresses, you
must not imagine that Italian crowds rush
hither and thither to catch sight of cele-
brated performers. Such a thing could not
be and has not been known. Italians are
not vulgar-never think that-nor have
they the raw sentimentalty of the modern
Anglo-Saxon theatregoers. So that when
Tomaso Salvini was alive I have seen him
returning to his home in the tramcar and
not one single cry, lisp, or gasp from the
people in the tranl-no nudging, conscious
attempts to seem not to notice him-no
"Oh, Mr.. Savini, may l shake you by the