Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1932. ENTER THE ACTRESS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 23 January 1932, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1932. ENTER THE ACTRESS.

liT“Enter the Actress: The First Woman in the Theatre,” Miss Rosamond Gilder raises a question which is not easy to answer. From the tragedies of ancient Greece — the oldest form of drama that we know —onwards, female characters have been portrayed on the stage. Yet for 2000 years in the history of the theatre they were played by men. What was the reason of this masculine monopoly? Morality? The influence of the Church might, in Christianised Europe, account for the exclusion of women from roles for which they were naturally fitted, but it would not account for it in ancient Greece and Rome. Tradition? In the enormous open-air theatres of Greece, which accommodated an audience of 17,000 or more, a female voice might not have carried, even with the aid of the megaplione-like masks the actors used, and hence, perhaps, a convention was established which was automatically followed, even when the conditions originally responsible for it had changed. An objection to this theory js that the modern drama is an independent growth, and did not inherit the

practices of the old. A more probable explanation is to be found in religion. Both the ancient and the modern drama developed out of religious celebrations. In Greece women had rites and ceremonies of their own, but were not permitted to officiate in others. The Church, also, did not allow women to take part in the conduct of services. Actresses were admitted to the theatre on the Continent some time before they graced the English stage, where they first appeared towards the end of the Commonwealth, consolidating their position during the Restoration. The female characters in Shakespeare, as is well known, were performed by boys, and this had an interesting effect on his technique. - Shakespeare was a master of stagecraft, and had a keen‘sense' of the fitness of things theatrical. The fact that these roles were filled by boys accounts for his fondness for dis-

guising his heroines as hoys, Rosalind and Viola, for examples. This made for natural acting. The presumptive girl masquerading in male attire actually was a boy. The illusion was heightened because, if we may employ a paradox, it was not an illusion at all. Again, Shakespeare was most careful to avoid situations which the limitations of his male “actresses” would render unreal or ridiculous. The theme of “Anthony and Cleopatra” is passion. The atmosphere vibrates with passion. Yet the passion is convened indirectly by suggestion. The lovers are rarely alone together, nor do they utter fervent protestations of love. The cause of their restraint is clear. A boy could represent the youthful raptures of a Juliet well enough, but to express the transports of a middle-aged charmer would have been beyond him. Had a Mrs. Siddons been available in Shakespeare’s day, “Anthony and Cleopatra” would probably have been const-.' i< ‘ed on quite different lines.