Part 117

There is nothing that can be so well counterfeited on the stage as moonlight scenery. And yet there is nothing which requires more work. The artist begins the task by painting a moonlight scene. In daylight such a scene is a ghastly sight. It is done in cold greys and greens, in which Prussian blue and burnt umber play an important part, and the lights are put in with white slightly tinged with emerald green. The strong moonlight of the foreground is produced by a calcium light thrown through a green glass. The fainter light upon the scenery at the back of the stage is obtained from “green mediums,” a row of Argand burners with green chimneys. These are placed upon the stage just in front of the main scene, and are “masked in” from the view of the audience a “ground piece.” A row of them is often suspended from the “flies,” in order to light the top of the scene. This upper row is masked in by “sky borders.” Thus a soft green light is thrown over the entire distance, while its source does not meet the view of the spectator. A usual feature of stage moonlight scenes is water, because it affords an opportunity for the introduction of the “ripple”--a charmingly natural stage effect. The main scene in a moonlight view is always painted on a “drop”--that is, a scene made like the curtain let down between the acts. The position of the moon being determined, immediately under it, beginning at the horizon, a number of small irregular holes is cut in the drop. These are then covered on the back with muslin and painted over on the front to match the rest of the water. Behind these holes is placed an endless towel, about 8 ft. in height, running around two cylinders, one at the top and one at the bottom. The lower cylinder has a crank by which the towel is turned. In this towel is cut a number of holes similar to those cut in the drop. A strong gas burner is placed between the two sides of the towel. When the machine is turned the flashing of the light from the passing holes in the towel through the stationary ones in the drop produce a fine ripple. It is always better to turn the towel so that the holes pass upward, as that helps to make the mimic wavelets seem to dance up toward the sky. Instead of a towel a large tin cylinder has been used, but it is cumbersome and noisy. It is necessary to turn this towel with great steadiness, otherwise the ripples will go by fits and starts, and entirely lose their natural appearance. Stars are easily put into the sky. Each twinkling orb consists of a spangle hung upon a pin bent into a double hook. The slightest motion of the drop causes these stars to shake and the flashing of the light upon them produces the twinkle.

One of the most beautiful effects produced upon the stage is the change from day to night or from night to day. Of these the former is the more striking, and a description of it will serve to explain the principle of both. In order to produce the proper effect the back drop is made nearly double the height of the usual scenes. The upper half of it is painted to represent a sunset sky, and the lower half to represent moonlight. It is hung so that the upper half alone is visible. The scenery of the distance is then painted upon a separate piece, which is “profiled”; that is, the irregular line of the horizon made by trees, mountains, or houses, is sharply cut out with a circular saw. This piece is placed immediately in front of the sky drop. A few feet further in front is hung what is known as a cut gauze drop. This has sides and top of canvas painted as the case requires; while the centre is filled with fine gauze, which lends an aerial effect to the distance. Red “mediums” are employed to give a soft, sunset glow to the scene. At the proper moment, the back drop is very slowly and steadily hauled up, while the red “mediums” are slowly turned off and green ones turned on. The moon is made in the night half of the sky drop, and rises with it. When it rises above the distant horizon the green “mediums” are turned on to their full power and the green calcium light is brought into play. The effect of this change, when carefully managed, is always very beautiful, and is sure to draw forth applause from the audience.

Moonrise, in a scene where there is no change from daylight to darkness, is often produced with a muslin drop and a “moon box.” The muslin drop is painted to represent the sky, the clouds being painted on strips of canvas cut in the required shape and sewn on. The moon is made with a box on one side of which a circular hole is cut. Over this hole is pasted a piece of white muslin. A couple of wires serve to draw the moon upward. Of course the white illuminated circle shows plainly through the muslin sky, but disappears when passing behind the canvas clouds. By having another piece of muslin painted red and imperceptibly fading to white, placed at the back of the drop in the moon’s path, the orb of night can be made to appear red at the horizon and gradually change to pale yellow as it sails slowly upward. Floating clouds are easily imitated by hanging in front of the sky drop a gauze drop upon which are sewn muslin or canvas clouds, and moving the whole slowly.

An ocean of heaving waters is made in this way: Each bounding wave is cut out separately. The first row is set up with a distance of three or four feet between each billow; and the second row is set so as to show in the openings left by the first. Small boys furnish the motive power. The waves are rocked back and forth, not from side to side; and the effect is very good. The noise of water rolling upon a beach is well imitated in a simple manner. A box of light wood is lined with tin. By putting two or three ounces of bird-shot into this and causing it to roll around, the desired sound is produced.

Fire scenes are sometimes dangerous; but with proper care they may be rendered comparatively safe. That they are not so hazardous as is generally supposed by the uninitiated beholder may be learned from the following description:--One of the most familiar fire scenes is that which occurs in the “Streets of New York,” in which a three-story house burns down, the roof caving in, the shutters falling, and the walls breaking with a wonderful appearance of realism. The house is painted on three separate pieces, the top one of which is swung from the flies; this constitutes the roof. Upon the second is painted half the wall, and it is joined to the bottom piece in an irregular zigzag line. The simple dropping in succession of these pieces to the stage produces the falling of roof and wall. The fire itself is represented by chemical red fire and powdered lycopodium used separately, the former to give a red glow and the latter to represent flames. The shutters, which are to fall, are fastened to the scene with a preparation called “quick watch.” This is made of powder, alcohol, and a lamp wick. The window frames and sashes are made of sheet iron, covered with oakum soaked in alcohol or naphtha. These sashes and frames are not fastened to the canvas scene at all, but are placed a short distance behind it on platforms. The quickest possible touch of flame ignites the oakum, and, in a moment, the fire runs round the sash, and nothing apparently is left but the blackened and charred wood. Steam is used to represent the smoke that issues from the crannies in the walls of the burning building; and an occasional crash, followed by the ignition of a little powder to produce a sudden puff of smoke, gives the spectator the idea of a falling rafter. Behind the entire scene is placed a very large endless towel, upon which is painted a mass of flames. This is kept in constant upward motion, and, when viewed through an open window in the house, gives a good idea of the supposed furnace raging within.

_Selecting a Play._--The following excellent list of plays adapted for amateurs was published in the _Queen_ some years since.

IN 3 OR MORE ACTS. M. F. REMARKS.

Babes in the Wood 7 4 Don Cæsar de Bazan 9 2 Drama. Game of Speculation 9 4 Heir at Law 10 3 Jealous Wife 12 5 John Bull 14 3 Ladies’ Battle 5 2 Robertson’s translation. Love Chase 10 7 New Men and Old Acres 11 5 Palace of Truth 6 5 Plot and Passion 7 2 Drama. Pygmalion and Galatea 5 4 Rivals 8 4 Five acts. Society 11 5 Still Waters Run Deep 9 3 Can be acted in a drawing-room.

Most of the above are beyond the talent and stage resources of any but the strongest amateur companies.

IN 2 ACTS. M. F. REMARKS.

Bachelor of Arts 8 2 Good comedy. Charles XII. 7 2 Very good dress piece. Charles II. 4 2 Popular comedy and dress piece. Court Cards 5 4 Follies of a Night 6 2 House and the Home 3 3 Jacobite 3 3 Liar 4 3 Little Treasure 5 3 Very pathetic. My Heart’s Idol 7 3 Not a Bad Judge 9 2 Capital for amateurs. Our Wife 7 2 Good dress piece. Paul Pry 7 2 Secret Agent 8 3 The best dress piece for amateurs. Sweet Hearts 2 2 Time Tries All 6 2 Who Killed Cock Robin? 2 2 Wonderful Woman 6 3 Very popular. Woodcock’s Little Game 4 3 Capital light comedy.

IN 1 ACT.

Area Belle 3 2 As Like as Two Peas 3 2 A little vulgar. A.S.S. 3 2 B.B. 4 2 Bamboozling 6 3 Betsy Baker 2 2 Birthplace of Podgers 7 3 Boots at the Swan 4 4 Very sparkling. Book the Third 2 1 French _Proverbe._ Box and Cox 2 1 Box and Cox Married 3 3 Brown and the Brahmins 4 7 Burlesque. Comical Countess 3 1 Conjugal Lesson 1 1 A little vulgar. Cool as a Cucumber 3 2 Cozy Couple 2 2 Creatures of Impulse 4 3 Burlesque. Cup of Tea 4 1 French _Proverbe._ Cut off with a Shilling 2 1 Day After the Wedding 3 2 Dead Shot 5 2 Deaf as a Post 4 4 Dearest Mama 4 3 Delicate Ground 2 1 Light comedy. Diamond Cut Diamond 7 1 Done on Both Sides 3 2 Acts well in a drawing-room. Double Bedded Room 3 3 Doubtful Victory 3 2 Dumb Belle 3 2 Eclipsing the Sun 3 2 Eton Boy 3 2 Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady 6 2 Pretty dress piece. Fitz Smyth 6 2 Funny. Give a Dog a Bad Name 2 2 Grimshaw Bradshaw Bagshawe 4 2 Funny. Happy Pair 1 1 Sparkling _Proverbe_. He Lies Like Truth 5 2 Very funny. He’s a Lunatic 3 2 Very amusing. His Excellency 4 2 Household Fairy 1 1 _Proverbe._ Ici on Parle Français 3 4 Popular, but difficult. Irish Tutor 4 2 John Dobbs 5 2 Capital for amateurs. Lend me Five Shillings 5 2 Funny. Little Toddlekins 3 8 Almost the best farce for amateurs. Loan of a Lover 4 2 Love and Rain 1 1 Pretty _Proverbe_. Love Laughs at Locksmiths 6 6 Mad as a Hatter 5 2 Morning Call 1 1 _Proverbe._ Mummy 6 2 My Heart’s Idol 7 3 My Preserver 5 5 Nice Firm 8 2 Nice Quiet Day 5 3 Night at Notting Hill 3 2 Funny. Nine Points of the Law 4 3 No. 1 round the Corner 2 0 Good two-character piece. Only a Halfpenny 2 2 Funny. Our Clerks 8 4 Pacha of Pimlico 6 2 Funny extravaganza. Perfection 3 2 Easy and pretty little piece. Phenomenon in a Smock Frock 4 2 Mathews’ piece. Pipkin’s Rustic Retreat 5 3 Poor Pillicoddy 2 3 Very funny. Pork Chops 3 1 Extravaganza. Quiet Family 4 4 Raising the Wind 6 3 Capital old farce. Regular Fix 6 4 Very good light comedy. Retained for the Defence 5 1 Difficult. Rifle, and How to Use it 4 3 Rough Diamond 4 2 Popular farce. School for Coquettes 3 3 Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing 7 4 Pretty drama. Slasher and Crasher 5 2 Slowtop’s Engagements 2 2 Light comedy. Spectre Bridegroom 7 2 One of the most telling of farces. Spitalfields Weaver 4 1 Telling. Taming a Tiger 3 0 Thumping Legacy 7 1 Very funny. To Oblige Benson 3 2 To Parents and Guardians 17 3 To Paris and Back for £5 9 7 Funny, but a little vulgar. Too Much for Good Nature 4 7 Trying it On 3 3 Very good indeed for a drawing-room. Turkish Bath 5 2 Turn Him Out 3 2 Tweedleton’s Tail Coat 4 2 Twice Killed 6 3 Two Bonnycastles 3 3 Two Flats and a Sharp 1 2 Pretty comedy. Two in the Morning 2 0 Best farce for two males. Uncle’s Will 2 1 Very sparkling. Unwarrantable Intrusion 2 0 Under the Rose 2 2 Good. Vandyke Brown 3 3 Good farce. Whitebait at Greenwich 3 2 Popular, but difficult. Who Speaks First? 3 2 Your Life’s in Danger 3 3

First catch your actors, then choose your play. In other words, fit your available square men into a square piece, and do not try and pare them down to the exigencies of a round one. As a rule dramatic talent and ambition is more common among the emotional than among the sterner sex. Women, too, adapt themselves more easily to any part. Also, their range of parts is narrower. It is easier to make people laugh than to cry, and they also prefer being amused to being harrowed. Of course low comedy is just as difficult as a higher line, but a feeble imitation passes muster better than in the serious parts. Englishmen are less averse to playing the fool in a fool’s part than risking an exhibition of deeper feeling. It is easy, therefore, to group your lesser lights round the central low comedy man, reflecting his genial glow, more or less, according to their several abilities, and to graft upon the whole a farce. A farce need not be vulgar. A farce, too, like charity, covers a multitude of sins in the way of dress, properties, or scenery. Almost any incongruity of the former is allowable, and any makeshift or hitch in the latter can be carried off by a ready wit. But supposing comic talent to be altogether absent in your company, you will probably find the “old man” element predominating. The younger, better looking, and more stalwart the individual the more convinced he will be that his strong point is the impersonation of old men. Yet old men’s parts are difficult. The very make up in anything but the broadest farce is a work of art in itself, and the gait, the tone of voice, the laugh, the down sitting, and the up-rising must never be lost sight of for a moment. Usually, too, the old man character is an adjunct rather than the central figure in a piece, and does not bear upon his shoulders the burden and heat of the day. Yet in skilful hands it is capable of unlimited expansion, and with weaker vessels can, at worst, but sink to the level of low comedy.

Of all the parts most difficult to fill that of the lover is the worst. Like good tenors, there are not enough stage lovers brought into the world. Englishmen are so shy, so afraid of making themselves ridiculous by exhibiting sentiment and emotion. They are not given to making love particularly prettily in real life, much less upon the boards. The result in amateur circles is generally a stick. All the same, the lover is an absolute necessity in most plays, and must be procured somehow or other.

A judicious weighing of the strong points of each member of your company, and a nice balancing of their weak ones, must decide you finally in the choice of the piece to be acted. Take into consideration which characters have much to do together, and whether the weaker one can be pulled through by the stronger. The performance is sure to hang fire if a pair of feeble knees have the stage all to themselves for long, making each other and the audience nervous. On the other hand, if your company is much of a muchness, choose a “level” piece in which the parts are fairly equally divided. If the opposite is the case, give your best actors the strong parts, and subordinate the others to them.

Make up your mind from the beginning that some one is sure to consider him or herself ill-suited and ill-used. Women are greater sinners in this respect than men--more vain, more jealous. But if a piece, however small, is to “go,” each one must subordinate his own importance and his own part to the general effect. The cleverer the actor the more he will make of the smallest part. Nevertheless, the fact remains that private theatricals are productive of more quarrelling and bad blood than any other known form of social amusement. For this reason a stage manager, pure and simple, is absolutely essential. His word must be law and his rule of iron. He must give an eye to the general effect; he must order the sitting down and the getting up, and the crossing, and especially see that there is plenty of the former. He must see that when several characters are on the stage together they group well, do not get behind each other, and balance on the stage. At full rehearsals he should see that, if it is not practicable to rehearse on the stage itself, they take place on a square as large as the stage, and with each piece of furniture and property in its right place; also that the correct exits and entries are adhered to. This prevents amateurs feeling strange when they come to a final dress rehearsal on the stage itself. Any special little scenes between two characters can be gone over and over again privately.

Finally, having got your ingredients together, do not aim too high. The more plot, the more action in a piece, the easier it is to act. Beware of plays which read well, are full of smart dialogue--they require very finished acting.

A “dressed” or costume piece, though more trouble to get up, is more attractive than one of modern time. But when feasible, evening dress refines a modern play very much. Powder must be carefully put on, or after much heat and action, the performer assumes merely a grizzled aspect. In a dressed piece do not neglect the smallest details, and take care the female and male characters are dressed in the same period. In an outdoor scene, avoid an open parasol or umbrella as you would poison. It shades the face unless very dexterously manipulated. Let ladies look well to their “chaussure,” and the length, and especially the hang of the short skirts. These ought to be round, nothing looks so bad as a dab behind, showing the lining from the front.

“Making up” is a very delicate matter in a room where the audience is so near. It is generally overdone. Rouge is usually put on too low, it ought never to come below the cheek bone. Many people do not need to pencil their eyebrows at all, and a mere dab of black on the lower lid is better than a continuous line. When this latter is used, however, it is becoming to continue it a very little beyond the junction of the two lids towards the temples. For a bucolic part of either sex, a nice fat rosy cheek can be made by adding a little cotton wool judiciously rouged. Remember an “old man” does not want his eyes blacked at all.

Now, to touch on a few faults of amateurs.

Firstly, there is a tendency to play too much to the front of the stage. Do not be afraid of the stage; use it all. Do not come on and stand front face to the audience, addressing your remarks to them instead of to the character with whom you are conversing. Turn well away for your asides, or they sound ridiculous, and give the other a similar chance of making his. Remember, it is no crime to take a turn up the stage, with your back to the audience, and say a sentence, with your head well thrown back over your shoulder.

A second most important point is not to run your sentences together. Divide them well, giving each its particular character and its full value. Pause between them. Each word tells, and is put there for a purpose. And here let me beseech the amateur prompter to have some mercy on his victims, and not to hound them on, if they stop a moment, as if their lives depended on their getting the words out.

This brings me to a vital point, that of playing slowly enough. Amateurs can hardly do “business” of any kind--such, for instance, as writing a letter--too slowly.

Do not be ashamed of over-acting; it is better than under-acting a part. Learn your cues with your part, and insist on getting them correctly. Amateurs cannot take too much trouble.

One word as to elocution. Find out the pitch of your voice which carries best, and which is at the same time the most natural and the least exertion to you. You cannot fail then to be heard, always providing you remember not to drop your voice at the end of a sentence, and not to clip the final consonants of words.

A few practical hints, to close, as to stage and scenery. Do not attempt to put a piece with much action and several characters on to a small stage. The result is simply ridiculous. The stage _must_ be raised, but a foot or so is enough in any ordinary-sized drawing-room. If it is too high, the players’ heads appear too near the ceiling. If possible, keep the front row of audience at least five feet from the footlights. Take care these latter are not too strong, but have plenty of lamps fixed on the back of the front wings and over the curtain inside. For this reason wings, though more trouble to set up, are preferable to a box scene. They also obviate the necessity of practicable doors, which do not shut or open properly, and never look real. It looks better to cut off the corners of the stage at the back, or, at any rate, to make the side narrow towards the back. Any trouble devoted to details of furnishing and setting the stage is well repaid by the effect; but of course the size and quantity of furniture must be ruled by the size of the stage. In an evening room scene, take care the lamps or candles are in the centre of the stage. Outdoor scenes are very difficult to manage on a temporary stage. A back painted scene is necessary, and in a room painted scenes look so coarse.