ACTORS WHO CAN NEITHER SPEAK NOR HEAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2303, 21 April 1898, Page 49

ACTORS WHO CAN NEITHER SPEAK NOR HEAR.

A Marvellous Theatrical Pjirformakcb. There is an impression abroad that deaf mutes number among their other&fflictionsa lack of mental power and intelligence bordering on imbecility. ■ The impression is as fallacious as most of its kind, the reverse being the case in the majbtity of instances. Barring those pleasures in which the possession of the faculties of hearing and speaking are absolutely essential to participation, the deaf and dumb manage to indulge in most of the sports and pastimes anpyed by those more happily situated. They enjoy cricket and football and other outdoor sports with the same zest, and play them with equal skill and intelligence. The same may be said of indoor recreations. If you wish to enjoy a really good dance you, could not do better than obtain tickets for A DEAF AND DUMB BALL. Just now I mentioned certain pastimes barred to them by reason of the necessity of speech and hearing. However, there are certain of these in which, by means of a compromise, they are enabled to participate ; and in this connection most people will be surprised to hear that many excellent actors are to be found among them, and stage performances of first-rate merit are by no means exceptional. With the aid of a hearing interpreter I recently had the opportunity of a chat with a deaf-and-dumb gentleman who has been described by one of our big London managers as an actor second to none en the metropolitan stage. The same evening I was also afforded an opportunity of witnessing his appearance with his company in a well-known piece. The performance was a thing to be remembered. The hall was packed, yet, with the exception of a very few, THE SPECTATORS WERE SOLELY COMPOSED OF DEAF MUTES. There was, of course, no orchestra, the time preceding the rising of the curtain being occupied with animated silent conversations between various members of the spectators. The effect was most curious — almost weird, in fact. Every now and then a spectator in a far corner of the hall stood up and violently gesticulated to someone at the other side of the room. By some magic process it was conveyed across the hall to the person in question that someone wished to speak to him. Then he in turn stood up, and the two carried on an animated conversation over the heads of those between them. Meanwhile old friends were chatting merrily throughout the hall. It was a perfect sea of fluttering fingers; a stupendous study of facial expression and gesture; a babel of conversation. Yet not a sound was heard throughout the whole building, Ib was uncanny. Here was a whole mass of people, smiling, chatting intelligently, interchanging Ideas and n*ws, andjet a silance

you could cut with a knife. Presently, in the same mysterious fashion, the curtain glided noiselessly upwards, and all eyes were rivittod in attention.

At some performances ifc is customary to have a hearing and speaking leader to interpret the play to hearing visifcr.s. On this occasion there was no such aid ; 3 T et the play from beginning to end was so perfectiy acted, THE GESTURES AND ACTIONS OF THE ACTORS

were ao subtly suggestive, that ifc was as intelligible as though every word were perfectly articulated.

One was naturally a little at a loss at the opening of the piece ; but once the thread of the play evolved itself its action was as clear as daylight, and it proved in every way as enjoyable and amusing as though the parts had been spoken.

All the parts were spelled by means of the familiar sign language, with appropriate facial and physical expression far more real and convincing than that common on the regular stage.

My own impression was that most actors might learu a good deal about gesture that would be of service to them if they paid a visit to the deaf-and-dumb performance.

Among the spectators there was the most rapt attention and tha keenest; perception of the points of the play.

Hare and there a pair of white hands with fluttering fingers shot up in tha darkness and dropped again as suddenly, giving way to the language of an answering pair. Two n&ighbours were exebanging criticisms of the pJay. -

Now and again the utter silence was broken by a roar of clapping, as some special piece of acting commended itself to the spectators. It died out as suddenly, leaving a few o£ the more enthusiastic spectators still applauding. One went on for some time by himself, but nobody took any uotJce. It could not interfere with their enjoyment, for they Gould not hear it. Yet. clapping, curiously enough, is a sign of joy among these silent people, just as it is among their more fortunate iellow creatures.

Presently the curtain came down — one cannot say rang down, for a sign must do duty as a boll — and the spectators dispersed, LAUGHING HAPPILY. AND CHATTING MERRILY IN THEIR SILENT TOXGtTE, mimicking the actors with a facility of expression only possible to one whose ideas must be expressed by its means.

After the piece I learned a few interesting facts about the methods used in preparing these plays. The books of the piece are distributed to the members of the company, with their parts marked, juat &3 io done on the professional stage.

The "parts themselves are also learned in the usual way, except that all the actor's attention is directed, of course, to the possibilities of expressing oach word and sentence with the most appropriate and expressive gestures. Thus it is necessary, as, on the legitimate stage, to pay the utmost attention to special dramatic situations — for the reason that, unless each little portion is equally well acted, the piece must prove more or less unintelligible to the onlookers, who have only their eyes to enable them to enjoy the 1 piece. ' Sometimes, but very rarely, ifc is necessary ! to invoke the assistance of a hearing friend I when an unfamliar sound or the appropriate, j gesture of soma uausnal soliloquy or dia- | loguo has to be interpreted in the piece. Otherwise these silent actors are rarely . dependent upon outsiders, and pursue their art with a finish that to the hearing spectator is little short of marvellous.