THE THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2274, 30 September 1897, Page 45

THE THEATRE.

By 0. M.

It would seem as if the desire to den another character were innate iv the human mind. Wo have only to look at children to recognise that. Yet, strangely enough, our modern theatre, with its limelight moon and realistic forest, did not originally arise from a craving for bißtrionism. Tha primitive English theatre — in the open air generally — with a lantern for the moon and a frtick to lepre&ent a forest, simply took the place of the non-existent novel. The people "went to the theatre merely to hear a story, and because, printing being unknown and the art of reading rare, stories had to bs told, not published. We go, having read all about the story pravioufely, to ace how it i* staged, and how Hiss So-and- So differs from Madame Such-and-Such in her interpretation of the frolicsome Rosalind ; or, .if Shakespeare be beyond us, to ravel in the sight of the hero jumping from a real bridge into a real tank oE raal water. The rise of the novel has not killed the thealre, but it lias given it a different, and possibly a lower, place. It makes us lean dependent on the imagination ; we must have reali-m. On the other hand, not carir,g so mach for the story, we have more leisure fco criticise the acticg; and, theretore, iniiuito aro the pains of: the present-day actor to keep pace with expectations.

Caiinus are the differences bstween mind and tuiud as regards the stage. There are come who view it with indifference, if not dislike — to whom acting is always acting,, never reality. They cannot lose themselves in the mimic life behind the footlights. Occasionally they may feel an intere sh in it ; but ths unreality 01! ic all, the unnaturalnees of the lend tones, the absurdity of ths csxaggerated gestures, are never lost sight of. i Even to ths theatre-lover the sameness of | stagd land is occasionally appalling — the j same old painted street, the same old draw- j ing room (furniture kindly lent by Messrs So-and-So), and invariably made to do duty I for all centuries and all placss ; yet he quickly loses sight of tbeso incongruities in the charm of the play. He never quite loses his belief in felageland : he may see it bare, dismal, in the day time ; he may talk with its votaries and find them very ordinary people, yet back he goes to the light and the music, willingly yielding himself to the illusion and to the charm.

In former days the stage was often an adjunct to the church. T.-ie clergy gladly utilised it to advocate their own view?. S'Oiple little plays they were, representing the fa'l of man and the doctrines and events arsing from if. The devil suppHed the comic element, and Irs many mishap? were pioductiva of much laughter — also, ler, us liopa, some spiritual benefit to the souls o£ the audiencj. The mirae'e play of Osetammcsrgau, perfomied every 10 years, is almost the only survival of this old custom. Salted to a simple-minded peasantry, tbey would ill accord with highly civilised lifo. The " Sign of the. Cross," snblima in tODeasit undoubtedly i^, will not likeiy be followed or many others in that lint', or, if it is, the ci\?z3 will bo a short ono. A true riligious spirit acruates the unpaid peasant actora at Obcr.iminejga.n, and nothing but this, to Biitish minos, could Fanction the staging oC plays taken from biblical narrative.

Never ag^iu can the union between church aad stage exist, on the old footing or the clergy control and compose 'he dramas to be enacted. There has baen a bitter quarrel between these iwo once-time friend?. Stage fell away aud got into bad habits, and, though she is reforming, Church wi'l have nothing to say to hhr.e r . From the Etigma attaching to her mad career of license iv the reign of Char!e3 II the stsge haß never recovered. Alas tint the moral dov/nfall of the theatre should be coexistent with the first appearance of actresses, whose parts were formerly taken by boys. Yet so it was, and I mention this solely that I may pay a tribute to the many pure and brilliant women who during the present century have helped to bring the thaatre into comparative good r<?pu f e. Progress move 3 slowly still in some qu^itere, and* there is only too much reason for the careful mother's horror when her young daughter announces her intention of going on the stage.

What can we do 1 There is nothing Intrinsically wrong in the theatre; there Bb.ou.ld be nothing evil in a profession which teaches men and women elocution, and acquaints them with the noblest thoughts of all ages. The modern stage is more moral than the modern novel. The average play put upon the New Zealand stage is all but worthless as regards literary merit, bufc as regards tone it is unimpeachable. A few, again, are not only good in tone, bnt replete with literary style. If. the clergymen and other worthy people who tirade in our newspapers against the iialf dozen obnoxious

plays that are occasionally Btaged in this colony were straightforward enough to recognise these higher efforts of the histrionic music, more attention might he given to their complaint?. Why should tho stage tamely receive censure when deserved praise ia never accorded it ? What clerical voice was raised in honour of Rignold's noble representation of Henry V ? None whatevor. Faults are picked out with readinasp, but virtues are passed by in silence.