nterests of dramatic art enjoy foremost
consideration.

The artistic aspiration of the actor-manager may be set on the
opposite side of the account. Although the actor-manager belongs to
the ranks of the capitalists (whether he be one himself or be
dependent on one), yet when he exercises supreme control of his
playhouse, and is moved by artistic feeling, he may check many of the
evils that spring from capitalist domination. He can partially
neutralise the hampering effect on dramatic art of the merely
commercial application of capital to theatrical enterprise.

The actor-manager system is liable to impede the progress of dramatic
art through defects of its own, but its most characteristic defects
are not tarred with the capitalist brush. The actor-manager is prone
to over-estimate the range of his histrionic power. He tends to claim
of right the first place in the cast of every piece which he produces.
He will consequently at times fill a role for which his powers unsuit
him. If he be wise enough to avoid that error, he may imperil the
interests of dramatic art in another fashion; he may neglect pieces,
despite their artistic value, in which he knows the foremost part to
be outside his scope. The actor-manager has sometimes undertaken a
secondary role. But then it often happens, not necessarily by his
deliberate endeavour, but by the mere force and popularity of his name
among the frequenters of his playhouse, that there is focussed on his
secondary part an attention that it does not intrinsically merit, with
the result that the artistic perspective of the play is injured. A
primary law of dramatic art deprecates the constant preponderance of
one actor in a company. The highest attainable level of excellence in
all the members is the true artistic aim.

The dangers inherent in the "star" principle of the actor-manager
system may be frankly admitted, but at the same time one should
recognise the system's possible advantages. An actor-manager does not
usually arrive at his position until his career is well advanced and
he has proved his histrionic capacity. Versatility commonly
distinguishes him, and he is able to fill a long series of leading
roles without violating artistic propriety. At any rate, the
actor-manager who resolutely cherishes respect for art can do much to
temper the corrupting influences of commercial capitalism in the
theatrical world.

It is probably the less needful to scrutinise closely the theo