THE BISHOP OF MANCHESTER AND THE THEATRICAL PROFESSION.

Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2241, 12 May 1877, Page 3

THE BISHOP OF MANCHESTER AND THE THEATRICAL PROFESSION.

THE Bishop of Manchester, in connection Avith the Church of England Mission now going on in that city, addressed the members of the theatrical profession from the stages of the Theatre Royal and the Princess's Theatre on Friday in last Aveck. On both occasions the actors, members of the ballet, and subordinates Avere present in large numbers, and the Bishop Avas accompanied on the stages by the mauager and directors.

The Bishop, after a short sendee at ' The Royal,' addressed the company at some length. He adverted to St. Paul being advised not to adventure himself into a theatre, and said he (the Bishop of Manchester) Avas the first bishop of the Church of England, if not the first bishop of the Christian Church, avlio had ever addressed a congregation in a theatre. The circumstances in connection Avirh the theatres today Avere different to what they Avere in St. Paul's day. He desired to address them on the delicate, difficult, and the somewhat perilous work in Avhieh they Avere engaged, lie thought that Christanity ought to penetrate into theatres, but it, Avould be an idle dream to to think that they might be made directly spiritual. He should bo quite satisfied if purity and modesty in Avord, deed, gesture, and conduct, were the ruling principles of the theatre. He did not think any one could sec a A\ rell-graced actor in such plays as Othello or Hamlet without being benefitted by it. He thought a player should not be ashamed to refuse to take a part in any drama, Avhieh would compromise his proper dignity as a man, oilier proper modesty as a Avoman. If they could realise that, the stage Avould be purified. There Avere those Avho thought that it Avould be better for society if the theatres Avere swept aAvay altogether. That had been once tried in the times of the Puritans, and it had brought about a terrible reaction, and the plays of Congreve, Farquhar, and Vanburgh, no actor Avould uoav study, and no manager dare to putupon the Boards. He quoted an extract from the ' Theatre' on stage decorum, in Avhieh the writer, af'or speaking of the gross indecency of the stage in the first year of King Charles 11., went on to say, ' Are Aye better now ? How about those costumes and queer dresses that have made the drama more than ! ordinarily conspicuous '! The ladies Avho so [ much delight in abbreviating their Christain names talk innocently enough, and if their j tongues do Avandcr in a Avroog direction the i tendency is toAvards a certain slang which has found its way even into society, towards indecency never." But how by dint of Avhat they put'oil"and what they put on do they I contrive to look V Are Aye not justified in guessing that, the ribalds of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Avho Avere so highly gratified to hear ugly words dropped from pretty lips, might have regarded some of the extravaganza-, as iioav promineiv '. among theatrical entertainments, Avith j virtuous abhorrence f He did not Avant to abolish the theatre, but to purify it, and to j make it a great instrument for providing healthful and harmless recreation for those j who sought it. He believed public taste • Avas much to blame. In the year 1858, j Avhen lie avus on a Government Commission, . he Avent to Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, ; Avhere he found living the great actor ; Macready, occupying himself in good Avorks. j He had come in contact Avith Mr and Mrs ; Charles Kean in Canada, and he had since ' n'iet Helen Faucit, a most accomplished lady, at Lord Egei ton's. With such names before him, he did not think that the stage should be necessarily degraded; but, on the contrary, be thought it might be pervaded by high and worthy motives. He did not think* he had been more than half a dozen times in a London theatre in his life, but he remembered being in Drury Lane and seeing Macready and Heleii Faucit play in Othello, and he I Avas very much the better man for it. It ; might be said by some of the actresses that they did not like to pose themselves before Avauton and gloating men, AA-ho looked upon them Avith their lustful and lascivious eye.-,, and that they did not want to pose in an attitude which, as Christian maidens, digraded them in tl «'r e.es. They might say, what Avere they to do ? If they remonstrated they might be told to go somcAvhere else ; and he did not knoA\'. how they Avere to get out of the difficulty unless there was some consideration slioavu on all sides. Modesty and purity fought never to be compromised in a theatre. , AfteiAvards the Bishop spoke at the Princess's Theatre, and said he did not j believe any one Avould think it Puritanical if one Avished the skirts of the ballet dancers Avere a little longer, and he did not think that any one would say it Avas over : righteous if he Avished that no woman avus , ever called upon to pose herself in a ballet j or pantomime in any Avay that Avould compromise her maidenly and Avomanly modesty and purity, and in thejpresence of men who ! Avent to these theatres—they were as often old men as young men—Avho sat in the pit Avith opera-glasses, and who gloated upon , the poor girls. It Avas not the Avomen avlio : were the offenders, but the men Avho j degraded the theatre. They Avould bear j witness that he had not said he considered it Avas a sinful thing to go to a theatre, or that the theatrical profession was a sinful | thing. As he Avent about the toAvn at Christmas time and looked upon the hoard- j ings he saAV announcement of the various doiims by which enterprising managers attracted the public to their theatres, and j he confessed he should be glad if some of | those attractive paintings Avere slightly : more in harmony with ideas of modesty | and decency. He had noticed one large yelloAV placard, inviting people to a house where it Avas promised the entertainment should be ' cheerful, popular, and respectable ' and he should like all theatres to keep'distinctly before them those three ideas. Yet, Avhat was presented to the public is popular, for if it Avas not they might as well close their doors. There was no use in playing to a beggarly audience, to empty boxes, or a thin pit. It Aye Avere to have theatres at all, they might as Avell be attractive, and let them be cheerful for there Avas no sin that he kneAv of in cheerfulness. They remembered the lady of the play to Avhc»m it-Avas said—-Thou hast a merry heart,' and they kneAV the reply ' Yes, thank God, I keep it on the windy side of care.' We should try to keep our hearts as much as possible on the Avindv side of care. At the Theatre Royal, Manchester, Mr. Sidney, the manager, had thanked him for having spoken there. Mr. Sidney said, 'We players are a volatile race ' Perhaps that Avas so, for perhaps their profession made them so, and perhaps it made them a little unreal. Mr Sidney encouraged him to think that he had not spoken in vain when he said that he would find no persons whom he had addressed who would take his Avords more to heart than those connected with the theatrical profession. Volatility Avas not a sin, but there Avas a time to be serious, and he asked them to think that in whatever parts they played in the dramas that Avere j enacted, they had to play a part in the ! o-reat drama of life, and that the King of Kings Avhom they served Avas watching every play and observed every bad thought or light word Avhieh escaped their lips. He hoped they would, not do anything, and would not be called upon to_ do anything, thai Avould corrupt or imperil the souls of their felloAV women or fellow men.

The hymn ' Rock of Ages' was sung at the conclusion of the Bishop's address, and his lordship pronounced the benediction.