This, then, would appear to be a sound maxim both of
art and prudence: let your first ten minutes by all means be crisp,
arresting, stimulating, but do not let them embody any absolutely vital
matter, ignorance of which would leave the spectator in the dark as to
the general design and purport of the play.
* * * * *
[Footnote 1: See Chapter XXIII.]
[Footnote 2: Henri Becque's two best-known plays aptly exemplify the two
types of opening. In _Les Corbeaux_ we have almost an entire act of calm
domesticity in which the only hint of coming trouble is an allusion to
Vigneron's attacks of vertigo. In _La Parisienne_ Clotilde and Lafont
are in the thick of a vehement quarrel over a letter. It proceeds for
ten minutes or so, at the end of which Clotilde says, "Prenez garde,
voila mon mari!"--and we find that the two are not husband and wife, but
wife and lover.]
[Footnote 3: Mrs. Craigie ("John Oliver Hobbes") opened her very
successful play, _The Ambassador_, with a scene between Juliet
Desborough and her sister Alice, a nun, who apparently left her convent
specially to hear her sister's confession, and then returned to it for
ever.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184