The Theatre State Sir Henry Irvine mm& ■ Hi '■v- 11 ARTletVeRITATI LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap. Copyright No. She!f.i?Ji.2 6 4% /IT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1 . The Theatre and the State The Theatre in its Relation to the State By SIR HENRY IRVING RICHARD G. BADGER & CO. BOSTON •*» «• *7 & & o & o Copyright 1898 By Richard G. Badger & Co. All Rights Reserved GEIVED* NOV 1 % 1898 *er of Go?} QEO. H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 141 FRANKLIN STREET, BOSTON The Theatre in its Relation to the State. IN a well-organized community everything has its purpose and its place ; and the whirligig of time gives, in the average, to each its proper value and importance. Thus the record of any specific institution is in miniature the life, or, at least, the re- flex of the life, of the community. So it is that, as a nation grows in power, it must grow in wisdom, or else the gar- den of its prosperity must lack those flowers of advancement and security which have their roots in content and which are watered by hope. Now in a university, — whose educa- tional process should be as truthful in 6 THE THEATRE quality as it is wide in range, — when we discuss any matter, we must do so with an equal mind. We must, when considering abstract propositions, — no matter how their working out may be hedged in with practical difficulties, — recognize the principles of the greatest and the final utility. Remember that, if premises are correct and argument be exact, what ought to be is the sure fore- runner of what is. The wise and noble words of Polonius, in his exordium to his son setting forth to battle with the world, have a larger significance than may be taken in a play, or even regard- ing the narrow environment of the father's view : — " To thine own self be true ; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." I have been compelled to lay stress on exactness, because I am about to deal with a theme which is now and fef THE STATE 7 again subject to violent and unreason- ing attacks, chiefly from a class of per- sons with whom morality has the pro- portions of an exact science, and to whom toleration should be a final goal of intellectual ambition. Lessons of history should give to thinking people ground for thought. "It is the germ of the future which we seek in the past"; and, if I venture to call your attention to a few isolated matters of recorded history, without pretending for an instant to connect them in any way, I trust that you will not take me as even attempting to suggest an his- torical narrative, but only as illustrating my theme with indisputable facts. The same word, " theatre," having been used continuously as designating places of amusement and illustration from ancient to modern times, and under conditions of infinitely varying width, so as to render impossible com- parison as to aim, scope, or effort, must 8 THE THEATRE of course be held responsible for much of the prejudice which exists in many places. What, for instance, can be held, in the moral aspect of the case, to be in common between the theatre of pagan Rome — where blood and lust and extravagant pandering to the worse vices of humanity were the memorable features — and the Elizabethan " thea- tre,' ' where the grave simplicity of the general audience was marked by the exceptional laughter of " some quantity of barren spectators " ? Or, further, what has it in common with those well- regulated theatres of to-day, supported in some of the most enlightened of foreign countries in part by State, and maintained among English-speaking peoples by purely individual effort? Nay, further still, what is there in com- mon with the lecture-halls of univer- sities, of colleges and teaching institu- tions, which still bear the generic name of cc theatre " ? For all practical pur- &f THE STATE 9 poses we may take the word " theatre," in its popular significance, as a play- house,— a specially arranged place for the representation of the drama. By " drama " I mean drama as I hold it to be, the simulation of life in whatever aspect it may be taken, — serious or humorous or satirical, — but not the mere amusing displays of personal gifts which to-day are so prominent a feature in the relaxation of the people. From your watch-tower of learning you can watch with unprejudiced eyes the relative forces of education in trav- ail, and see action and reaction each doing its share in the great work of the furtherance of humanity. You can afford to theorize. Men and commu- nities not so effectively isolated from some of the worries and labors of stren- uous life may find their aspirations baffled and their moderated efforts crippled by their surroundings. But you can theorize to the full. The past io THE THEATRE and the present and the future are all elements in the consideration of what ought to be. Nay, the present, which is, after all, but a moving panorama before our eyes, and the past, which is but the dim shadow of humanity thrown backward by the eternal sunlight, are of lesser importance than the illimitable future which stretches before us, and which is in some degree, however slight, to be moulded by our own efforts. " When the dumb Hour, clothed in black, Brings the dreams about my bed, Call me not so often back, Silent Voices of the Dead, Toward the lowland ways behind me And the sunlight that is gone ! Call me, rather, silent voices, Forward to the starry track Glimmering up the heights beyond me, On, and always on ! " Whatever institution is of collateral, if not direct, good should be at least acknowledged as a factor of beneficence & THE STATE n to the commonweal ; and in the history of the country we find that, in the main, this is so. Little by little — some- times, alas ! by very slow and short stages, indeed — legislation throws a pro- tecting arm around such, and even com- pels or enables the whole community to aid an effort specifically. It is thus that the Royal Academy of Art ob- tained its charter, and later a local hab- itation by a grant of public money con- sidered at the time enormous. It is thus that the British Museum and the Department of Science and Art and the growth of the National Gallery have been fostered. Indeed, the plastic arts are, up to the present time, fairly well cared for. It is thus that throughout the length and breadth of the land libraries have been and are being erected by the means of public moneys locally collected. Many of us can remember a time when a great section of the pub- lic held that high education would de- ^ *m 12 THE THEATRE base and disorganize the masses. In- deed, the creation of the School Board system was against strenuous opposi- tion. Even now are to be found very many who hold that any education in the graces of life given in the schools of the poorer classes will have a malef- icent effect. But such ideas pass, in good time, into the limbo of forgotten things. Sometimes, when we look back, even at the history of our own time, we wonder how such narrow ideas could have ever had an existence, much less a force. We find, then, this general tendency to increase in many ways the sweetness of life, to relieve its dulness, and lift the minds of the people from the sordid realities of life. The aim and purpose of the drama is to cultivate the imagination, and through this means to bring home to heart and mind the lessons which tend to advance the race. Imagination is one of the most potent factors of hu- & THE STATE 13 man progress. It stimulates effort, it enlarges the bounds of thought, it creates for the individual new realms of possibility, it clears away the intel- lectual mists of sordid reality, it har- monizes the seeming divergences in the great scheme of creation, it recon- ciles by its restful change poor hu- manity to the wearisome details of life, it brightens, invigorates, and freshens the jaded faculties. To the suffering it brings anodyne to pain, for the weary it creates possibilities of rest and repose, to the vigorous it affords a healthy and noble stimulation, generous in aim, im- measurable in scope, and myriad in detail. Surely, in the well-being of a nation, all that tends to such a whole- some and useful end is of prime impor- tance. Life on its practical side is, under the best of circumstances, so hard, so full of dangers, so restless in its de- mands of work to fulfil the ends of need or ambition, that the addition «mra 14 THE THEATRE of grace and beauty and the serenity that comes from happiness are excel- lences of unapproachable worth. In the ever-widening efforts of beneficent government such ends should be, and in the main are, borne in mind ; and perhaps the greatest evidences of the civic advance of our time are afforded by the rise and multiplication of works which aid and encourage thought and grace and sweetness. The sweeping advance of science seems to open men's eyes to the many benefits of art; and the wide-spreading knowledge of art seems to shed its own enlightenment on the progressive needs of life, whence the discoveries of science have mainly their source. You here, in a university whose very name implies a recognition of all branches of knowledge, must re- joice when you think of the progress of humanity, which, though eternal, moves faster with the passing of the years. fcf THE STATE 15 The theatre must always be an in- direct mechanism of teaching. Its work must be in the main transcen- dental ; for mere realism is insufficient to stimulate the imagination or to rouse the sensibilities, or the emotions. Now, in order to effect its object, the theatre must be a piece of very complete and elaborate organization. In fact, an inner knowledge of its working shows it to be one of the most difficult and varied pieces of mechanism of which human effort is capable. The mere study of the necessities and resources of theatre art — the art of illusion — should give the theatre, as an educa- tional medium, a proper place in State economy. Just think for a moment : a comprehensive art effort which con- solidates into one entity, which has an end and object and purpose of its own, all the elements of which any or all of the arts and industries take cognizance, — thought, speech, passion, humor, 16 THE THEATRE pathos, emotion, distance, substance, form, size, color, time, force, light, illusion to each or all of the senses, sound, tone, rhythm, music, motion. Can such a work be under- taken lightly or with inadequate prep- aration ? Why, the mere patience necessary for the production of a play might take a high place in the marvels of human effort. Remember I am not speaking now of the art of acting ; for this art alone, which is, after all, the purpose of the playhouse, is one sui generis^ and which requires the labor of years to master. Surely, a medium of education such as this, whose end — unless we accept the dic- tum that to arouse emotion without the exercise of corresponding effort is im- moral—is the training of the sterner and loftier and rarer emotions and passions of men, and which in its own doing necessitates thought, study, constant and unvarying labor and self- & THE STATE 17 devotion, should have fitting recogni- tion. It is hardly sufficient that in the economy of the State such exercises with their economic difficulties should be left entirely to the chance of per- sonal enterprise. To cultivate sym- pathy, that sweetener of the toils and troubles of life, that high-souled help- mate of endeavor ; to widen the under- standing of it ; to train the minds of the young to its beneficial exercise ; and to stimulate in all high and unselfish feeling, — is a good office in the govern- ment of men. And for this end I say the theatre ever makes. When we come to think that co- existent with all great public move- ments have been great waves of imaginative effort, we can well under- stand that action and sentiment, which is a child of imagination, are closely correlated. With the waking of Eng- land at the close of the sixteenth century, when her exploring ships 1 8 THE THEATRE opened up new worlds, and her mer- chants and her adventurers swept the known and the unknown seas, adding to the national as well as the individual wealth, and enlarging the bounds of the national domain, came the rise of her artistic cult, beginning with one of its greatest glories, the rise of the drama, — the work of Shakespeare ; for Shake- speare's work was not only literary, it was done for the stage. With civil dissension came cessation of imaginative work of the highest kind, until, the turmoil of party strife abating, political satire was followed by efforts of pure imagination, by the ever-growing im- portance of art and art methods, by the rise of the novel and the recrudescence of the stage. From then till now the increase has been perpetual. Art of every kind has flourished. New arts and new phases or developments of art have arisen. Painting and sculpture, whose products a century ago were fef THE STATE 19 represented by scores, are now num- bered by thousands. Music has in- creased throughout the country in every conceivable phase. There are many great musical academies and a Royal College of Music. Sculpture in many and varied forms seems to have restored some of the glories of the past, and there is manifest an ever- widening possibility of materials for the sculptor's art. Architecture in its domestic aspect has become a new art, and houses of to-day show sometimes the extraordinary advance from the crude utility of even a few years ago. Even the handicrafts which follow on higher artistic effort have developed to an immense degree ; and the beauties of interior decoration in both form and color — of furniture, papers, glass, plate, china, and all the paraphernalia of domestic life — are apparent to all. The beauty of books — printing and binding — has wonderfully increased. 20 THE THEATRE Even the conventions of dress have been enlarged ; and there are, through- out the varying fashions, possibilities of individual taste which were unknown in a less liberal age. As to the develop- ment of literature, your librarians can tell best of that, with their groans concern- ing overladen shelves and their en- treaties for more space by which to cope with the increasing rush of vol- umes. Even granting that a large proportion of the works published are not of greatest worth, the residue is a noble tribute to the zeal and taste, the brains and energy, of the race ; and, when we think that of the large pro- portion of those works which are of a purely imaginative kind, we may well accept the manifest conclusion that imagination plays no little part in the life, the history, and the development of mankind. In the midst of these many develop- ments of specific art, let us see how has & THE STATE 21 fared the one institution which makes use of them all, — the theatre. We shall, I think, find that through good and ill it has held its place, and can show as high a ratio of progress as anything else in the State. As a practical working institution, the theatre in England dates from the time of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. And in that age we find by analogy its place fairly marked by the records of the statute book and the royal ordinances. There is a common idea that actors are by law considered as vagabonds, the historic basis being a contemplation of the statutes regarding vagrancy. These statutes, crude and general in terms as were all or most of the early enactments, having been made and renewed between the twenty-third year of Edward III. and the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth, were variously repealed and consolidated in 1572, the act being the 14th Elizabeth, chapter 22 THE THEATRE 5. In this act, strolling players un- licensed are certainly classed among cc rogues, vagabonds, and sturdie beg- gars," who are in the preamble of the act termed c< outrageous enemies to the common weall," the penalty on con- viction being " that then immediatelie he or she shall be adjudged to be grievouslie whipped, and burnt through the gristle of the right eare with a hot yron of the compasse of an inch about," — a punishment only to be abated by some responsible householder taking him or her into service for a full year under proper recognizance. A second offence became a felony. The clause of the act " expressing what person and persons shall bee so extended within this branch to be rogues, vagabonds, and sturdie beggars," includes the fol- lowing : " pretended proctors, game- sters, persons c faining themselvs to have knowledge in phisnomie, palmes- trie, or other abused sciences,' quasi- & THE STATE 23 laborers who will not work, unlicensed jugglers, pedlars, tinkers, pettie chap- men, counterfeetours and users of licenses and passports, shipmen pre- tending losses at sea." The following inclusion deals directly with the subject of actors : " all fencers, beare wardes, common players in interludes and minstrels, not belonging to any baron of the realme, or towards any honor- able personage of greater degree . . . which shall wander abroad and have not licenses of two Justices of the Peace of the least, whereof one bee of the quorum where and in what shire they shall happen to wander." This certainly marks an epoch and has a distinct bearing upon what has become lately a sort of shibboleth, cc the social status of the actor," of the time. It must, however, be remem- bered that at that period communities were small and constables few, and any incursion of a body of unaccredited 24 THE THEATRE persons was apt to create alarm, even if not in itself a real element of danger. At that time, too, actors complying with existing regulations had a secure position of their own. The counte- nance of the court was given to players who were then, as now, under the jurisdiction of the lord chamberlain ; and, as is noticeable, the protection of a great lord saved the strolling players from the odium of arrest, with its grievous penalties, those only being liable who avoided fulfilling the con- ditions laid down by the law. It must also be remembered that in all the Sumptuary Statutes cc players in their interludes " were exempt from the penalties of wearing clothes out of their degree. All things are, however, relative ; and a better illustration can hardly be taken of the real meaning of the vagrant classification of the statutes — certainly, one which will come home to you who belong to this great univer- & THE STATE 25 sity, which then, as now, basked in the full sun of national honor - — than another item in the category of cc rogues, vagabonds, and sturdie beg- gars " laid down in the act : — All schollers of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge that go about begging, not being author- ized under the seale of the said universities by the commissarie, chancellor, or vice-chancellor of the same. Gentlemen, you will note that, if the Elizabethan player on tour had to sub- mit to dangers and indignities that compete with the modern perils of railway travel and undisciplined hotel service, he was not alone in his trial. Then — as I have the honor to do to-day — the player kept company with the scholar. Well, the times have changed. Under more favorable social conditions the scholar and the player alike may now follow their bent under less harrowing circumstances than then 26 THE THEATRE obtained. When, however, laws fall into desuetude, they may often hang on unrepealed. cc What is every one's business is no one's business " ; and, though the vagrant conditions of the players were so changed that they themselves did not even know their legal obligations regarding travelling license, the craft was preserved in