The
fall of the curtain gives time for reflection, and for the ordering of
impressions which, while the action was afoot, were more or less vague
and confused. It is therefore of great importance that each act should,
to put it briefly, bear looking back upon--that it should appear to
stand in due proportion to the general design of the play, and should
not be felt to have been empty, or irrelevant, or disappointing. This
is, indeed, a plain corollary from the principle of tension. Suspended
it may be, sometimes with positive advantage; but it must not be
suspended too long; and suspension for a whole act is equivalent to
relaxation.
To sum up: when once a play has begun to move, its movement ought to
proceed continuously, and with gathering momentum; or, if it stands
still for a space, the stoppage ought to be deliberate and purposeful.
It is fatal when the author thinks it is moving, while in fact it is
only revolving on its own axis.
* * * * *
[Footnote 1: This method of heightening the tension would have been
somewhat analogous to that employed by Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere's
instructions to her butler, cited on p.
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