Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-04-13
The Audience Does
Its Bit Of Actin g
By Phi1ander Johnson.

wish. an assemblage OF the greatest
artists of the theater to present the
greatest plays OF the library, each
accepting the role to which he is
best fitted. regardless of its length
or. immediate prominence. AS she
spoke. with impressive uncompro-
missing conviction. ! could almost
hear a new Lady Macbeth exclaim-
ing. Out, damned spotlightl''
Her plans for the future contem-
plate a revival OF Tanning OF the
Shrew." 1t will need a player, in
deed, for her opposite, to prevent
all impression that Petruchio may as
we'll for once give up the enterprise
and take to the woods.
= X
Seldom has a season progressed
so far without bringing announce
nents OF buoyant intentions with
reference to a summer stock COM
pany. In fact, the stock company
project has become diffused 1t dis
tributes itself during an entire
season. This year instead OF arriv-
ing with the April flowers, it has
vanished with the snowhakes. 1t
will rcassert itself, and soon. 1t hap
pens that it was compelled to take
its breathing spell just at the time
when its prospectus is usually in full
cry. Stock companies for summer
wear have always arranged their
programs on the idea that play
goers had become sufficiently ia
miliar with substantial entertainment
during the regular season and re-
CURED something fluffy. Musical
entertainment is almost out of the
question, for the costuning pace set
by the big revues is too difficult to
follow. The plays available on
royalty have been pretty well
combed over, and about the only
thing in spoken drama that has not
been tried in local stock is what
would seem the easiest and least ex-
pensive OF all, season OF standard
comedies; those that are still talked
about, though never seen.
\ =
Such a season would be easier
now than while ago, for the great
opponents of roles still prc-eminent
in literary prestige have passed from
observation. The fear of direct COM
parison no longer asserts itself, and
if new Shakespearean stars can
shine out SO lustrousiy-and royalty
free-it is hard to see why new ex-
ponents of the later English drama
lists should not be encouraged to
present their claims. So far as the
difficulty of such an enterprise is
concerned, it ought not to be as
great as that involved in offering
plays which rely so little on lines
and character drawing that the
actor seeking to compel by personal
emphasis is almost sure to leave the
impression of overwork. AS for the
feelings of an audience, it should be
no more disquieting to observe the
Indifferent moments of a, flapperish
Lady Teazle or a loungelizardly Bob
Acres than to face the Intellectual
struggles so often made to wiring
heroics from cofloquiaI common
places. Those old dramatiStS took
care of their actors as Donizetti did
OF his singers. arranging their
climaxes with deft consideration for
human capacities, and enabling even
those not endowed with very su-
perior gifts to make a flourish. In
the Shakespeare plays the actor was
frequently provided with rhyming
couplets, in concluding his scenes, in
order to make sure that his exit
would be marked by some special
demonstration.
Should it be decided that the
public cannot be Jared into response
without a salaeious slam, the old
plays have material that would make
"Gertrude's Stocking Supporter. or
Ten Nights in Turkish Bath" or
whatever their titles were, seem
tame by comparison with course in
Wycherly, Otway and Congreve,
who compelled ladies going to the
play to wear masks to conceal their
identity. What they should have
worn were earmuffs. 1t might all
be done under the guise of educa-
tional enthusiasm and classical re-
search. The audacity would be no
greater than that which initiates the
Partisan comic journals in designing
New York revues.
* x =
There must inevitably be an effort
at change from the routine which,
as it now seeks to vary costun,ing
with an occasional idea, merely
turns from the bare to the thread
bare. The ideas might seem fresher,
even in salacity, if traced further
back along the stream of time to-
ward their original sources.
"a < 4
The theater finds it impossible to
preserve the modesty of the audi
tory nerve and that of the optic
nerve both at once. Those oldtimers,
who listened to blunt Angio-Saxon
monosyllables without quiver, had
they beheid dancing lady undraped
even only to the knees would have
cat,eal-ed Gin ole HOf, nd Z, 4