by George Iles

from the PREFACE:

A good play gives us in miniature a cross-section of life, heightened by plot and characterisation, by witty and compact dialogue. Of course we should honour first the playwright, who has given form to each well knit act and telling scene. But that worthy man, perhaps at this moment sipping his coffee at the Authors' Club, gave his drama its form only; its substance is created by the men and women who, with sympathy, intelligence and grace, embody with convincing power the hero and heroine, assassin and accomplice, lover and jilt. For the success of many a play their writers would be quick to acknowledge a further and initial debt, both in suggestion and criticism, to the artists who know from experience on the boards that deeds should he done, not talked about, that action is cardinal, with no other words than naturally spring from action. Players, too, not seldom remind authors that every incident should not only be interesting in itself, but take the play a stride forward through the entanglement and unravelling of its plot. It is altogether probable that the heights to which Shakespeare rose as a dramatist were due in a measure to his knowledge of how a comedy, or a tragedy, appears behind as well as in front of the footlights, all in an atmosphere quite other than that surrounding a poet at his desk.

Contents:

JOSEPH JEFFERSON: How I came to play 'Rip Van Winkle.' The art of acting. Preparation and inspiration. Should an actor 'feel' his part? Learning to act. Playwrights and actors. The Jefferson face.

EDWIN BOOTH: To his daughter when a little girl. To his daughter on her studies and on ease of manner. On thoroughness of education. On Jefferson's autobiography. On the actor's life. Lawrence Barrett's death. His theatre in New York in prospect. As to his brother, John Wilkes Booth, the slayer of Lincoln. Advice to a young actor.

CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN: As a child a mimic and singer. First visits to the theatre. Plays Lady Macbeth, her first part. To a young actress. To a young mother. Early griefs. Art her only spouse. Farewell to New York.

CLARA MORRIS: Recollections of John Wilkes Booth. The murder of President Lincoln. 'When, in a hunt for a leading man for Mr. Daly, I first saw Coghlan and Irving.'

SIR HENRY IRVING: The stage as an instructor. Inspiration in acting. Acting as an art: how Irving began. Feeling as a reality or a semblance. Gesture: listening as an art: team-play on the stage.

HENRY BRODRIBB IRVING: The calling of the actor. Requirements for the stage. Temptations of the stage. Acting is a great art. Relations to 'society.' The final school is the audience. Failure and success.

ELLEN TERRY: Hamlet--Irving's greatest part. The entrance scene in 'Hamlet.' The scene with the players. Irving engages me. Irving's egotism. Irving's simplicity of character.

RICHARD MANSFIELD: Man and the Actor. All men are actors. Napoleon as an actor. The gift for acting is rare. The creation of a character. Copy life! Self criticism. Discipline imperative. Dramatic vicissitudes. A national theatre. Training the actor.

TOMMASO SALVINI: First appearance. A father's advice. How Salvini studied his art. Faults in acting. The desire to excel in everything. A model for Othello. First visit to the United States. In Cuba. Appearance in London. Impressions of Irving's Hamlet. The decline of tragedy. Tragedy in two languages. American critical taste. Impressions of Edwin Booth.

ADELAIDE RISTORI: First appearances. Salvini and Rossi. Appears as Lady Macbeth. As manager. First visit to America. Begins to play in English.