One proviso, however, must be made; where any important effect depends
upon a given object, or a particular arrangement of the scene, the
playwright cannot too soon assure himself that the object comes well
within the physical possibilities of the stage, and that the arrangement
is optically[15] possible and effective. Few things, indeed, are quite
impossible to the modern stage; but there are many that had much better
not be attempted. It need scarcely be added that the more serious a play
is, or aspires to be, the more carefully should the author avoid any
such effects as call for the active collaboration of the
stage-carpenter, machinist, or electrician. Even when a mechanical
effect can be produced to perfection, the very fact that the audience
cannot but admire the ingenuity displayed, and wonder "how it is done,"
implies a failure of that single-minded attention to the essence of the
matter in hand which the dramatist would strive to beget and maintain. A
small but instructive example of a difficult effect, such as the prudent
playwright will do well to avoid, occurs in the third act of Ibsen's
_Little Eyolf_.
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