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Untitled Article
mimicry is acting , and who at times may be promoted to the lackey honour of being a candle-bearer to ' Majesty' itself . ' Who are to be our audience ? ' I answer , ' The great body of the working classes , —the mechanics . ' Did I hear aright , ' exclaims Sylvester Daggerwood again , c Ay , sir , you did ; the mechanics
must be your future audience , if your acting be true to nature , and will bear the test of unhackneyed native criticism . I tell you again , sir , the mechanics are your audience ; they possess no artificial feelings , they are as God made them , and such is not the case with the audience you have been accustomed to play before , half of whom have been insolent aristocrats , and the other half
sycophants , with scarce an original idea amongst them . The ipechanics , I tell you , are your audience , if you possess genius ; and if you possess it not , get yourself forthwith transformed into a parasite for the tables of the great , for verily we need you not . No , sir , prescriptive " respectability" must cease , and to suit us
you may as well forget at once four-fifths of your parts , and begin anew . The nobility of nature is in league against the mock ^ ability of art . ' / But mechanics , uneducated mechanics ! they cannot comprehend good acting !* * Stop , sir ! good acting is the true representation of human passions , and human passions existed ere school education commenced . You must
unlearn your stage tricks , and trust to nature alone . The minds of the mechanics are undebauched by the monkeyings of affectation , aud they are fit for the operation of the teacher / * But , ' exclaims an affected actress , * am I to play before greasy , unwashed men of occupation ? Am I to be looked on by such vulgar people ? ' ' Why not , lady ? there is less real coarseness in
them than in the tribes who at present haunt the boxes . They will look earnestly , but they will not look lasciviously . Their minds may be pure , though their externals be uncouth ; and it is with you to show your power in civilizing them , in humanizing them , in refining them . Try your skill ; it is a fair field for your exertions . It is said that of old ^ Love wrought a marvel upon the
citizens of Abdera . Try , then , the effect of your beauty and winning accents in modern times ; but be that which you seem , or your playing will be but mimicry . If you are not beneficent in spirit , the lines of your face will be marked with hypocrisy when you put on the appearance of it , and your power will vanish before the instinctive perception of the untutored . Wear the smile of the heart , and not the smile of the cheek , or you will fail
to call up gracious smiles from the hearts of others . Be unbending in spirit to the assaults of vice , for the mock frown which knits the brow to ape the semblance of virtue , carries no earnest conviction with it . Think not of selfish joy , be not absorbed in the malignant wish to mortify a rival artist , or an ugly fiend will peep forth , mocking all your efforts . Think not of self , think pnl y of the impression you have to make on a large number of
Untitled Article
618 Ou Theatrical Reform .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 618, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/34/
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