New-York tribune., 1922-05-07
|non't Initiate, but
Create. Is Watts's
Advice for Acting

watching actors act o0eS NV 'e"s"
young actor how to act This Is
=. oDirion of LyOnel Watts the youth
rnslishman who plays the role of
.,,rc.snt eloper Nicholas in
s.,-,s MeChntic's production of the
w. Milne comedy, The Dover Road,
;. Ne Bijou Theater, Mr. Watts freely
t..ses that he does not go to the
'S@ S.,sr often when he himself is not
..,;,r. . He is in the theater enough IN
.. s." Confessional life not to want to
..,s ~ his free evenings there.
a., actor cannot learn to act nat
.mr Nv watching other actors, OBJ
We We. Mr. Watts, who is just as youth
w. ,oot;nc off the stage as he Is IN
aTAs AZ Dover Road" "if he learns to
:. tba, way ne merely initiates what
s ~. arc else has done He does not
. .rsste. painter cannot become
srest painter and develop his own
50 bv merely copying the paintings
:, others. no matter how great master
r;ecss they may be. He must develop
.;s own themes and his own 'echnique.
.' w., - 6 !. with actors, They must
rot imitste others, even the aoies' men
in their profession
81 believe that every actor should
consider how he, personally, would
fool and act in the situation in which
the character he is portraylng is IN
volved and then proceed to act it IN
.bs. fashion. He must feel the part;
:. he does that he will act it naturally
do you base your characteriza-
tons upon some person you have
known Intimately or observed closely p
M Watts was asked.
"No; never approach part in that
manner. l imagine the character the
suthor has written and then put my
self in his place and try to act as !
think I really would in such circum-
stances
4Ycur Nicholas in The Dover Road
then, is really Lyonel Watts" ,"
"Well, let us say, Lyonel Watts
Nicholas It is myself being the part
try to act. An actor must feel the
emotion he is trying to get across.
II he does that he does not have to
'emote in speaking the lines-his
emotion will get across to his hearers
without his troubling about it. To
ME 'emoting' on the stage always de-
fssts itself. If one feels the emotion
he is seeking to portray the voice will
take care Of itself
Did you ever notice how many
actors keep their voice in the back
part OF their throats when expressing
emotion? That is quickly tiring and
strains the voice, which soon becomes
unnatural and loses its effectiveness.
The voice should be produced in the
front part of the mouth-lingual and
labial instead of cultural"
"You never seem to put your hands
in your pockets while on the stage,
like nine -tenths of the young actors.
How have you escaped that vice?'
Il do put my hands in my pockets
IN The Dover Road Only twice, how
ever Charles Hawtrey taught me not
to do that. He told me an actor should
not put his hands in his pockets more
than twice in a play In the next play
with him, in which played a juvenile,
went through the entire play without
once putting my hands in my pockets.
think Mr.. Hawtrey taught me more
about how to stand, walk and what
TO do with my hands than any one else,
but / never tried to copy him even in
such things as that.
An actor cannot avoid being him self
on the stage any more than he can in
real life. AS man is so he acts. He
plays himself in many circumstances.
but 1t is the being himself which give,
'ndivlduallty to his characterizations-
which makes them cohere. There is the
same individuality back of every role
that Charles Hawtrey plays, vet no two
Of them are alike. The same thing can
pc said of any great actor. Sir ua,rv
rving could never have played Ham
ct as your Edwin Booth did, to take
extreme examples, yet Irving's Ham
ct was akin to his other roles. As a
man is so he acts"