. The art theatre; a discussion of its ideals . hepenult. If he cannot, he should be politely in-vited to become a professional and join company. When you enter a little thea-tre you ought at least to be confident of hearingbetter speech than in any Broadway production. The second requirement is partly a matter ofphysical endowment and partly a matter of train-ing : a musical voice and flexible register. Theremay be people with impossible voices. If so,they should stay off the stage; they are no morefitted to become actors than a one-handed manis fitted to become a pianist. But most
. The art theatre; a discussion of its ideals . hepenult. If he cannot, he should be politely in-vited to become a professional and join company. When you enter a little thea-tre you ought at least to be confident of hearingbetter speech than in any Broadway production. The second requirement is partly a matter ofphysical endowment and partly a matter of train-ing : a musical voice and flexible register. Theremay be people with impossible voices. If so,they should stay off the stage; they are no morefitted to become actors than a one-handed manis fitted to become a pianist. But most voices,if not naturally musical, can be trained so thatthey are at least passively pleasing; and most ofus possess undeveloped tone-registers of which wenever even dream. It is the business of schools ofacting and studio theatres to develop this quality. But after all, the potentially musical voice isof small importance if it goes not in companywith the third requirement: a feeling for the ex-pressiveness of speech. For otherwise the golden100. THE LOST SILK HAT Acting and Actors instrument in the throat will return to dust withits harmonies una wakened. This matter of feeling is a variable quantityand an elusive quality; but we may be sure thatit is never absent from the true actors enables the herald to speak his one line in amanner worthy of his courtly surroundings; andit enables Sarah Bernhardt to ring every changeof feeling through the music of her inflection. Itis first of all a feeling for the rhythms of speech,for the cadences of the poets lines; but morethan that, it is a reflection and a suggestion ofthe subtleties and intensities of the emotions thatlie hidden behind the action. For words are atbest but symbols, and the impression called updepends upon the way of speaking. An inex-pressive voice affords but a hard dry shell ofmeaning, whereas the same words from the lipsof a master of speech may call up visions of pas-sion or of calmness, of tenderness or
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