Show 1 t f M f M M t M t M t M 4 M M 4 AUDIENCES AS AS' AS i THE TilE STARE STAGE S j SEES ss THEM i I IM t M 4 M M 44 44 4 M f 4 4 4 i iBY BY WILLIAM FA FAVERSHAM I think it was Draper w who o first noticed noticed no no- that while the average average individual was Intelligent alert and alive to the necessities of preservation self a mob composed of average Individuals was unintelligent lethargic and utterly reckless of itself The same series of relations may be viewed as as s an animal body with m marked mental moral and physical attributes an and 1 of general characteristics char coar- utterly irrespective ve of of any arty anyone anyone one compone component t individual It do does s not seem se-em to be an aggregate of the qualities qualities quaIl quaIl- ties of its various parts but a resultant a-resultant of their forces Every country has a typical audience which presents what may be termed national or lacic traits Each large city has its own audience and each I I class of or plays draws an audience particular particular particular par par- to the class In respect to d danger danger dan dan- ngel n- n ger gel nearly all audiences behave alike In 1 this regard they are singularly similar sun sim liar Hal to sheep or other animals which when alarmed alarmed blindly follow the lead lead- er When a 8 fire occurs or t Is Is' Is Isan an alarm of fire they behave in the me same ame manner Strangely enough they all nil listen promptly to a strong voice and take heed to an air of authority Nine times Umes out of ten a panic is checked immediately by an actor with a strong baritone or ox- or basso voice who the stage tage calls out to the people to sit down that there is no danger LAW OF SYMPATHY This law of sympathy extends to their perception and appreciation of humor pathos fear teat suspense and tragedy Laughter never starts at one point but at fifty and it e ends ds as it began began began be be- gan although never nevel at the same place Every has what may be called his time equation in regard to the duration of the effects of a piece of h happy humor and measures different cities and c cd by th the inappreciable ble differences of these brief intervals It is the same with dramatic and tragic situations Although the return from the audience is not as palpable as Inthe in inthe inthe the case of comedy In many Instances it takes the form of applause while in others Its only audible expression is a deeper breathing and ad a motionlessness of the body that sometimes becomes a stone like rIgid rigidity I ty The rustle rustIe of an audience is a constant constant constant con con- stant factor and may be compared to what sailors call the sound Round of the sea I have met old salts who declared that by listening to what the waters were saying they could tell exactly where they were on the ocean To one of the audience who takes part In the noise or rustle it seems always the same although al although al- al though perhaps a little bit louder houder or lower at one time than at another but butto butto butto to the actor it varies perpetually It has a a. sharpening indicative of Irritation irritation tion a deepening which marks resentment resentment resentment resent resent- ment it shows a a. diminuendo as Interest Interest interest Inter Inter- est in a plays heightens and a very Unpleasant unpleasant un un- pleasant crescendo when the performance performance perform perform- ance lass lags It is said aid that on one occasion when Salvini was playing Othello to a house containing three thousand people people peo peo- pie that in a pause between two sentences sentences sentences sen sen- the actors on the stage heard the doorkeeper rattling Inthe Inthe in inthe the foyer The breathing of an audience may be separated from the other sounds Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times it comes conies sharp and short and sometimes it Is so long as to be pain pain- ful This varies more than th the rustle As between one Itself nation and another an an- another other English and Americans seem to express emotion snore more frequently by slower or faster movements of the l lungs than the the continental people In Inthe Inthe Inthe the main the continental people seem to be affected more quickly and fre- fre by humor than the Saxon Anglo-Saxon and more rapidly but less deeply by tragedy New New York Sunday Telegraph |