TIMES HAVE CHANGED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 3 October 1936, Page 9

TIMES HAVE CHANGED

ACTING TECHNIQUE OF TO-DAY LEAVES NO ROOM FOR TRAVESTY

Some amusing observations are made by Sir Guy Standing in an article, written by him recently, in which he contrasts the old school of acting with that of to-day. Do you remember the fluttering heroine, with the door-knob eyes? he asks. The villain whose moustache alone worked a pantomine of conspiracy? The handsome blonde giant who was plainly the hero, by the way his shirt turned open at the throat?

I do. And very well, indeed. But the reason why you, of the present generation, can’t recall them is because motion pictures have driven that tribe off the stages of the world. [ They’re good only for the burlesque; show to-day. And that doesn’t presage that twenty years from now the actor of to-day will be the object of satire. I I believe the stage and screen tech- j nique of to-day leaves no room for j travesty. Acting to-day is marked by j the most revolutionary technique in the history of the drama. It is restrained where yesterday it was flambuoyant; thoughtful where it used to be sheerly emotional; realistic where <

it was fantastic. The chief reason why this generation’s acting will not be burlesqued by future decades is that it is thoughtful acting. It isn’t that the actors and actresses of yesterday were incapable of fine performances. They could and did give many, but they have to learn all over again. Although I come from the old school, I have no nostalgia for it.

Florid and exaggerated pantomine is dead. The little tricks that were so dear to the old school simply can’t be worked into talking pictures. | Consider any of the famous theatri- ; cal stars of several decades ago—Nat Goodwin, for instance, whom I consider the world’s greatest all-round actor. He: would be termed “ham” to-day. There was nothing wrong with his acting then. It was fine. But the technique of acting has changed. There is no set of rules that can be put down for an actor to follow. There is no longer a specific gesture for a certain situation. Gestures, particularly of the florid variety, are. definitely bad to-day.