In French light comedy and farce of the mid-nineteenth
century, the aside is abused beyond even the license of fantasy. A man
will speak an aside of several lines over the shoulder of another person
whom he is embracing. Not infrequently in a conversation between two
characters, each will comment aside on every utterance of the other,
before replying to it. The convenience of this method of proceeding is
manifest. It is as though the author stood by and delivered a running
commentary on the secret motives and designs of his characters. But it
is such a crying confession of unreality that, on the English-speaking
stage, at any rate, it would scarcely be tolerated to-day, even in
farce. In serious modern drama the aside is now practically unknown. It
is so obsolete, indeed, that actors are puzzled how to handle it, and
audiences what to make of it. In an ambitious play produced at a leading
London theatre about ten years ago, a lady, on leaving the stage,
announced, in an aside, her intention of drowning herself, and several
critics, the next day, not understanding that she was speaking aside,
severely blamed the gentleman who was on the stage with her for not
frustrating her intention.
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