"From calm,
through storm, to calm," is its characteristic formula; whether the
concluding calm be one of life and serenity or of despair and death. To
my personal taste, one of the keenest forms of theatrical enjoyment is
that of seeing the curtain go up on a picture of perfect tranquillity,
wondering from what quarter the drama is going to arise, and then
watching it gather on the horizon like a cloud no bigger than a man's
hand. Of this type of opening, _An Enemy of the People_ provides us with
a classic example; and among English plays we may cite Mr. Shaw's
_Candida_, Mr. Barker's _Waste_, and Mr. Besier's _Don_, in which so
sudden and unlooked-for a cyclone swoops down upon the calm of an
English vicarage. An admirable instance of a fantastic type may be found
in _Prunella_, by Messrs. Barker and Housman.[2]
There is much to be said, however, in favour of the opening which does
not present an aspect of delusive calm, but shows the atmosphere already
charged with electricity.
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