This may be a convenient place for a few words on the modern fashion of
eschewing emphasis, not only in last acts, but at every point where the
old French dramaturgy demanded it, and especially in act-endings.
_Punch_ has a pleasant allusion to this tendency in two suggested
examination-papers for an "Academy of Dramatists":
A--FOR THE CLASSICAL SIDE ONLY.
1. What is a "curtain"; and how should it be led up to?
B--FOR THE MODERN SIDE ONLY.
1. What is a "curtain"; and how can it be avoided?
Some modern playwrights have fled in a sort of panic from the old
"picture-poster situation" to the other extreme of always dropping their
curtain when the audience least expects it. This is not a practice to be
commended. One has often seen an audience quite unnecessarily chilled by
a disconcerting "curtain." There should be moderation even in the
shrinking from theatricality.
This shrinking is particularly marked, though I do not say it is carried
too far, in the plays of Mr.
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