be allowed to see; and, moreover, there is truth in
what a French manager once shrewdly observed--"Those who can't
understand the jokes won't be hurt, and those who can, can't."

CHAPTER VIII

CASUAL NOTES ON ACTING

Mr H.B. Irving on his Art

To the reviewer of books fell the task of criticizing Mr H.B. Irving's
book, "Occasional Papers," as literature. The dramatic critic has the
right of considering the views expressed in it concerning the stage.
There are two essays of importance, from reading which one may learn the
ideas, admirably expressed, of Mr Irving concerning his art--"The
English Stage in the Eighteenth Century" and "The Art and Status of the
Actor." The study of them, which they deserve, leads to certain
conclusions hardly, it may be, anticipated by the author.

In his defence of the actor's art against its detractors Mr Irving seems
to ignore a fact which may be expressed in a phrase taken from the
greatest of actor-dramatist-managers, and modified. There is acting and
acting: the distinction is not merely in quality but also in kind. It
would be difficult to define acting so as not to include the efforts of
the music-hall artist, and even of the circus clown; any definition
excluding them would be arbitrary, and also historically inaccurate. If,
then, acting is to embrace these as well as the admirable performance of
Mr Irving in _Hamlet_, disputes concerning the status of the actor as an
artist must often arise.

In fact, until one reaches the actor's performance in dramas sincerely
intended to be works of art, it is difficult to treat his art seriously.
A step farther: one cannot accept as a work of dramatic art a piece that
does not seek to cause an illusion, or any play which formally admits
the existence of the audience. A workable distinction may be found in
using the terms "drama" and "entertainment," "actor" and "entertainer."

Mr Irving's essays lead to another distinction--artificial, no doubt. He
speaks of the sixteenth century as "the century of great drama," of the
seventeenth as "a century in which the interest shifts from the drama to
its exponents, the players." The nineteenth, according to him, is
"noteworthy for the extraordinary advance made in the presentation of
plays on the stage." In other words, the seventeenth is great drama, the
eighteenth great acting, and the nineteenth great stage-mounting.

The seventeenth, says Mr Irving, "is in theatrical history the cent