MR. HENERY IRVING ON ACTORS AND ACTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7080, 26 July 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR. HENERY IRVING ON ACTORS AND ACTING.

Mb. Hkxrt Ibviso presided at the annual dinner of tbe Royal Gen oral Theatrical Fend. There waa an unusually large attendance. Mr. Irving, in proposing tho tout of the ovening, said, referring to the position of actors at the present day :—" Tbore are more prizes for tbe actor nowadays than of yore. The taste for the drama is more widely diffused; playgoers have multiplied; actors have a greater sphere of popularity, and better salaries than were known many yean ago. It has long ceased to be a maxim, even in fastidious oirclee, that "going on tbe stage" is the last phaso of social deterioration. Acting is more generally reoognised as a fine art than it evor was before, and we no longer tronblo oortelves to answer those who assert that the stago is inconsistent with culture. It baa been recently stated that, while it is true that gentlemen of education are eager to enter the dramatio profession, gentlewomen are not □timbered amongst our recruits. We have bean told that the prejudice of parents and guardians ngainst the stage as a vocation is as strong as ever, and that our actresscs aro not, even to a limited extent, drawn from the wellbred and the well-educated olasies. Speaking from my own knowledge, I can say that nothing can be more erroneous. There is a perfect multitude of gentlewomen eager to eater the profession that, as a rule, are debarred by only one disadvantage—inability to aot. The enthusiasm for our calling has never reached a higher pitch ; and I can find no more striking illustration of this than the great change in the tons whloh actors themselves adopt in spoaking of their profession,. When I read their spceckes of not rainy years ag9, I am struck by the depression, by the apparent cbnscioxitness that the drama appealed to but a email section of the inanity, and that the stage was altogether in a very bad way. That is not onr pre«ont tone. Nobody speaks of tbe theatre < now with bated broach. We stand eroct and confident in the good opinion of our fellowcitizens, sure that our art has recoived its worthiest award from the best intelligence of thu time.