Londoners have grown
accustomed to estimate the merits of a play by the number of
performances which are given of it in uninterrupted succession. They
have forgotten how mechanical an exercise of the lungs and limbs
acting easily becomes; how frequent repetition of poetic speeches,
even in the most competent mouths, robs the lines of their poetic
temper.
Numbness of intellect, rigidity of tone, artificiality of expression,
are fatal alike to the enunciation of Shakespearean language and to
the interpretation of Shakespearean character. The system of short
runs, of the nightly alterations of the play, such as Mr Benson has
revived, is the only sure preservative against maladies so fatal.
Hardly less important is Mr Benson's new-old principle of "casting" a
play of Shakespeare. Not only in the leading roles of Shakespeare's
masterpieces, but in subordinate parts throughout the range of his
work, the highest abilities of the actor can find some scope for
employment. A competent knowledge of the poet's complete work is
needed to bring this saving truth home to those who are engaged in
presenting Shakespearean drama on the stage. An actor hardly realises
the real force of the doctrine until he has had experience of the
potentialities of a series of the smaller characters by making
practical endeavours to interpret them.
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