THE DEAMA AS A MORAL TEACHER

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 1628, 9 December 1879, Page 3

THE DEAMA AS A MORAL TEACHER

{Daily Telegraph) " The Drama as a Moral Teacher " has been discussed at Manchester by clergymen and Bctote, the Bishop of the diocese- winding up the deb»to, Canon Woodhdnw, who read tho opening piper, argued that "it ■was ' plays rather than ballads th«fc~ now inflaeneed a people as much as their laws." "If the devil," he t aid, " ought not to have all tlio good .tunes, vrhj should he have all Ibo popular nmosomento ? The theatre ha 1 } (his advantage oror tlio pulpit, that it employed the eyes as well a* the ears." As wo have societies that gufply pure literature, •• "why should thcro not be," ho asked, "ft natural fund to buy one of the theatres m. London, to pay good authors , handsomely for good plays and good actors handsomely for performing them, to train promising young men and women, and to pension actors who have deserved well of their country?" '''English managers," he added " had driven away from tbe theatre the intelligent and refined," but as "there were good and noble men and women m tho theatrics! profession as iq oil others," reform wai still feasible: Mr Hermann Yez ; n, who thought a plan might be deriVecf by whioh a '• number of the beat actors and actresses might co-operate to e»tabli?h a theatre which* should have all the adrantsges and' merits of the' Tnwltre Francaia and should also be a source of profit to its members without the aid of State Subvention or public subscription." This belief on the part of a successful actor -who 7 knows the - stage is more remafknblo than the proposal by Canon' Woodh'ouse, ' who naturally takes the sanguine view of an outsider. It is notable oil another ground. That a subsidised national theatre might regenerate the drama we cannot deny, for tho experiment has not been attempted, and cannot be realised until benevolent capitalists, wearied' of endowing hospitals arid colleges, poor forth their donations on the stage. But the great company of good acton '■ suggested by Mr Veßin— working together on the joint-stock principle, with shareholders electing directors, and all sharing tho profits — has been suggested for years, and : yet lias - never been . happily ■■ carried out. Some English attempts of tho kind revivo many recollections of jealousy and diicord, nor, is it easy to invent any principle on which a division of profits could be amicably arranged. It is quite possible to conceive an lago who might insist that it was. his performance which filled the homo ; and: even Hamlet - might not bury m Ophelia's grave his right to a superior abnre of the receipts. Wo can also easily imagine the difficulties that might arise if. a committee of actors and actresses had to allot parts to tliehuclrea and to their colleagues. A typo of tbe remonstrance* to be expected is indi-. cated by the well-known anecdote of the lady —not young— who, on being asked to play tho Nurse m "Borneo. and Juliet," answered, '• Certainly not j I have played^ Juliet for forly jean, and I will take that port, and nothing else." Mr Vezin i» a man of courage to face without fear such obvious obstructions to theworking of a co-operative, theatre; • ; . ,

That the drama may be a moral teacher is unquestionable, but tho doubt arises whether any art will not to some extent suffer if its own life is, so to speak, warped to suit- some other end, however noble m itielf. A painter or a fculptor who should think of advancing: temperance or social reform or a political cauto by some picture or statue specially designed would probably fail m both ends ; ho would spoil the work of art and do little to adrance his other object. Tho same- thing applies crcn to a novel or a poem. Stories written for a purpose aro somctirnos tolornblc; like Miss Martinraa's "Tales of Political .Economy," they hare a temporary fame j but as enduring works of art they fail, simply becnuso they have been fashioned for an ol>pct n»t rightly included m art it«clf. No poem expressly written to exalt some horo or to please apolitical party can ever take its place amid the highest works of its author: Addison's " Campaign" is sated from utter obliWon by a fow lines, and Wordsworth's political sonnsts aro his worst. Thoso parts of Dickcns's stories whoro tl» talo is twulcd or delnjod to suit some social or logal reform tho author had at heart arq always the see' ions which create atonse of unrrnlity and artifice. We do not deny that the drama may teach, but wo doubt whether tbe drama will' fetch if it sets itself j to do to. The first aim of tho dramatist must j bo to produce a good play — ono that fulfils the old and obvious canons of the art — exciting and increasing tbe interest of the audience from first to last m the characters m what they s»y and de, end m their ultimate fate. To bring up grojt men, intense emotion.', and terrible events before the errs and ears of the spectators, and to HIVO to noblo thoughts appropriate language, arc m thomßolvcs tlio worthy ends of tho finest tragedies that have boon writtei There is ho direct moral m " Hamlcfc," "Othel'o," or " Macbeth," but witueaiihg them we aro taken outofouraolvos ; our soulu

oro filled with pity or torror, and .wears lifted, ahoto. tha -path. o£ -petty caros.: This In itself i* ono of -tbe objects of the . higher dram*, 1 and' thei^pjayi would "-bo' spoiled, dot improved, if the dramatist" latticed a moral on to each, with epilogues against fmlrinide, jealousy , or ambition. ; - Mon. : '■' does not live by broad alone," nor oven by moral precepts. Ho requires to have- human naturu held up to him m tho mirror of tho stage, na it ought to be m literature, the pulpit and tho press. A powerful preooher do[>io(B m grove Words . tho remowe o£ a sinner; auartiet will do tLe eatno on canvns or m raarbjo ; tho writer of a fiction follows edit -will) his -parable m thrco volumo* ; and tho dramutiat does' liia duty ia. a! .work interpreted by living men and- women. There- is no essential distinction botwecn - tho diff- rent - representations ; eomo - aro vivid ' and substantial, others, tame and -weak ; but they all have the game Mid m viow,lho arousing of tho mind by something moro rtriking than tho mere suggestion of thoughts. There was a lime when tho pulpit was not pioturesquo ; when cold logic and dry assertion, wore alone considered suitable, to a sermon. At another period- Puritans denounced pictures and ■story-books - a'i "doviros. of "Satan. Music was formrrly associated in'roany minds with' the world and tho Devil. In nil these things :we sco surrender and change. Pr etchers try. to . enliven their sermons by pictures, m words,... by anecdotes and illustrations; illustrated books and talos arc taken into " godly " households and read oven on Sundays j and music has - long sinco been welcomed as an adjunct •to rojigion at homo and abroad.' From thU progrekS wo may judge "what V-ira'y.od.rae, '.It.may.be that tha. time will arrive when the religious people who now go to picture galleries, 'concerts, and lectures, and read novels and magazines, will frequent theatres, as places "where essentially tho same illustrations of art and life are giten, though with additional emphasis and- moro .startling effect. ■ '...".. •' ' ' 'Thase gentlemen at Macchesior who lalkod so exhaustively about the drama and its teaching power, however, forget a purpoed of the theatre which its present patrons would be sorry . to see ignored. Quite apart f-iom morality, people go to the play to be entertained, to be stirred with vailous emotions, to bo interested, to be amused.. Three objects should not bo subserved at the expense of morality; and there, can bo no real nnd lasting pleasure whdro virtue is derided or viee -excused' But wo contend that a tragedy,- a esmedy, or a farce-may.be good m. itself, even though no moral may- be" obtainable, from tho 'performance. As Tennyson a«k», " Is any moral shut within the bosom of the rose?" 'Is a porpetual- prda'ehing to follow us throughout life ? .Who go to: the theatre once a week or month ?. Overtasked bruinworkers, barristers' with too many brief*,-, doctors who have bent that day over twenty bods of paid city clerks who i have . toiled nfc dreary' desks,, or artisans weary m head or hand, 'or men nnd ;women whose lives nre : uncheered •• by_ .society or success. When the • theatre ringa with their laughter atj some absurdity of word or gesturo, some wild drollery of situation, some quaint quip of fancy, eomo touch of true oomic art, who grudges them tho ohnngo, tho diversion, the relief- P Would they be-be(.tor if one prosy playwright wrote to provri that punctuality is tho" sorl- of business', or another to ■llustrato that procrastination was the thief of timo ? ..This is an ago of crowded citios, of fiorco' l rivalry, of ' hard 'work ; and .all the more do ne require to be vividly amused. That some of tho many theatres now open m London* minister to a low form of public taste is quite possiblo ; for among three' or four millions of peoplo thore aro many whoso ideas of : art, whose demand for amusement aro not high. London, however, .must- l>6- -taken .» for— what -it-is — nobmerely a pjaco of residenco, but a placa of, transit and of temporary occupation. The' long "runs-" of eomo popular pieces testify to tho fact that- visitors from all parts of the realm, from India and (he colonies/ form a Jarjso proportion of tho successive audiences. They aro away from liomo fot days or weeki 1 , and they rush to thej theatre,, not to hear tho moral lccturrs they can naeily get by their own firoside'in books, but- to bo interested, excited, or. amußed. For' these birds of postage half Our London thoatrcs are decked, half our lighter amusements prepared, and hence a- certain lavislincss of | appeal to tho sehics rathor than 'to tho | intellect. Tho conga aro. bright and catching | m melody. -and words, tho " scenes aro .full of color, stage mechanism is perfected, and performers are selected not only for their- talent but their comeliness. This is not a high kind of art, but it is for holiday • -visitors, not for tho residents of London all thb year round. For tin . thero are superior theatre's and good plays; : That wo might easily aspire, to higher standards of dramatic writing and acting art is evident enough, bat that there- Jias been retrogression we deny. The drama does not directly preach so much ai it did m generations when it served many as literature and . amusement at the same time Now books tire so common that playwrights and actors leave to them much of the instruction. of the time, anil tend naturally, though perhaps m excess, to fulfil their own immediate anil-p roper function— to I^elay, to divert, and to amuso. ... I