An
English audience, for instance, does not require to be told what was the
difference between Cavaliers and Roundheads; nor does any audience, I
imagine, look for a historical disquisition on the Reign of Terror. The
dramatist has only to bring on some ruffianly characters in Phrygian
caps, who address each other as "Citizen" and "Citizeness," and at once
the imagination of the audience will supply the roll of the tumbrels and
the silhouette of the guillotine in the background.
To return to the general question: not only must the dramatist reckon
with one all-important audience which is totally ignorant of the story
he has to tell; he must also bear in mind that it is very easy to
exaggerate the proportion of any given audience which will know his plot
in advance, even when his play has been performed a thousand times.
There are inexhaustible possibilities of ignorance in the theatrical
public. A story is told, on pretty good authority, of a late eminent
statesman who visited the Lyceum one night when Sir Henry Irving was
appearing as Hamlet.
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