MUNICIPAL THEATRES.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 78, 29 September 1898, Page 4

MUNICIPAL THEATRES.

Shall a community have the direct control of its amusements ? is a question the complete answer to which may be thought to have scarcely emerged from the vague dreams of the- collectivist, but two recent incidents indicate forcibly that the prospect has more body in it than " the baseless fabrio of a vision." One was the reception by the London County Council of an influential deputation asking for a subsidy in aid of a municipal opera house ; the other the opening of the new addition to the Guildhall School of Music, which is to be exclusively devoted to the musical and dramatic training of students who purpose following the profession of the stage. As the Guildhall School is a civic institution established by the London Corporation, and largely supported by its funds, this innovation may be considered as a decided move iv the direction of municipalising the theatre. The experiment is interesting from the fact that, apart from the aspect of bringing the stage under communal management, its primary aim is to raise dramatic representation to a higher level of efficiency, and to clear from the path of talent many of the disagreeable obstacles which under existing conditions present an almost insuperable barrier to aspirants. That these obstructions will to some extent be removed seems probable. The school is now thoroughly equipped with all the chief accessories of dramatic technique — theatre, stage, scenery, raeohanical appliances, dressing-rooms, &c. — ana inose who are most concerned in the movement believe that the effect upon the British stage must inevitably be to raise its tone and efficiency by the provision of a constant influx of highly-trained men and women perfected in all the details of dramatic art. But passing beyond the view of artistic development, the experiment has a wider significance as instancing a fresh expression of the possibilities which in these latter days seem to strew the track of niumcipalisation. It has been predicted that in "the good time coming" everyone may listen to the strains of entrancing music and see pourtrayed through the medium of the electric forces, iv the quiet of one's own drawing-room, the scenes enacted in theatres scores of miles away, but that phase of communal service is still folded in the misty future. What, however, does seem possible is that <the stage, as nationalised or civic property, may yet rise into eminence to fulfil its mission as the free educator of the people. An ideal stage, a stage lofty iv tone, pure in associations, purged of incompetent professionalism, and controlled by .refined publio sentiment, may be difficult of attaiument so long as human nature remains what it is, but those who recognise the importance of collective responsibility are inclined to believe that in this direotion, more than in any other, lie the best chances of ultimate success. It is, in any case, very certain that the present experiment will not be isolated, and future developments will be watched with keen interest.