Acting Shakespeare: Modern Tendencies in Playing and Production

Summary

One of the most frustrating aspects of theatrical art is the ephemeral nature of the actors’ performance. No other art is so urgent as the drama in its impact, and demonstrations in no other art have a more transient existence. The three-hours traffic of the stage is an insubstantial pageant: once it has faded, the watcher is left with nothing but a memory. We go to the theatre to enlarge our experience in an emotional and intellectual exercise of more vitality and liveliness than is possible in any other medium, yet this very fullness of experience makes it difficult to communicate that experience to others.

We have all met the veteran playgoer who saw Irving, the not-so-aged who remembers Benson, and the comparative youngster who has seen a performance by Olivier. We have heard them trying to share their experiences with others, and we have seen how not one particle of the real quality and essence of the performance has been communicated. Efficient comment on the nature and quality of an actor's performance is a difficult exercise.