Show THE DRAMA TRAGEDY AND COMEDY tife their IR OFFSHOOTS AND INFLUENCE INFLUENT CE the drama not only occupies but i is s entitled to occupy a very high position among all civilized communities as a means of instruction amusement and rela reia relaxation kation A large amount of talent is employed in the production of dramatic works and a still larger amount in performing them and delineating the characters drawn by the authors but as a general thing neither authors nor actors pay that due duo regard to the permanent results which the influence exercised by the drama upon the masses i justly demands nor is this to be wondered at when the condition of society throughout the world is fairly considered si dramatists do not assume the position of public reformers they find that flie ilie drama has been to a very great extent placed under tinder the ban of religion by y zealots zealous and bigot ted ecclesiastics they find also that society possesses ce certain tain tastes and desires whether correi or incorrect and their main objects being beilig the gaining of appi appl applause ause notoriety and pecuniary compensation they seek to minister to those tastes and desires arnd arid please the many instead of endeavoring deavo ring as their main object to raise the moral tone of society and imbue tile the public with mo more moro correct tastes we do not wish to be understood as saying that dramatic authors and actors ure uro are ire regardless of what influence their works and performances may exercise tiley aey try to depict vice that it may be shunned to portray virtue that it may be admired and sought after but these are not the principal objects aimed at and the existence of morbid tastes and pru prurient I 1 desires have called forth eff efi efforts bits on oh the part of both authors and actors to gratify the wishes of the many at the expense of correct taste and chaste feeling at various periods of the history of the drama the tone of society has lias made th this AS more conspicuous than at others Shake shakespeare spears plays in the original and many of the old comedies as well as the works of some of the older dramatists abound with expressions and passages tha frare rightly rejected in their modern i representations presentations the influence exercised by certain plays prove how powerfully the drama act acts upon society where it is largely patronized and the necessity for dramatic representations having a tendency to elevate the moral and social tone of society one fact will speak more to the purpose than a page of argument but a few years ago tile the lord chamberlain of england was compelled to exercise his power as theatrical censor and prohibit the performance of ot jack sheppard in the london theatres theartres the atres in consequence of the rapid in crease of juvenile thieves following its representation other instances of a similar character might be adduced did space permit there has been quite recently I 1 a 11 rapidly ridly growing taste manifee manifested both east and west of us for the theatrical atTical representations of a character that the loosest expounder of morals would scarcely attempt to defend and it is highly indicative die dle dica tive of the tone of public feeling that crowds should flock to see a lad iad lady y out lady godiva of coventry notoriety by performing in a costume remarkable emar kable kabie for no nothing thin so much muel 1 as its scantiness in some som e large cities comprising within their limits vast masses of population therease there ther oare eare are numerous theatres theartres the atres which aro are conducted to gratify tastes of every shade some confine their representations almost exclusively to what is termed tee tio the tho legitimate drama others gratify their patrons with the light and spark sparkling ling vaudeville burlesques and extravaganzas forming the principal part of the entertainments while others again cater to the most morbid tastes and nightly enact scenes of blood bluster and thunder with terrific broadsword broad sword combats to the tile admiring terror of crowds reeking with tile the fumes of drink and energetically mixing with the smoke from the red fire of the tableaux or the gunpowder exploded on tile the stage the sime bime same bame article from tobacco still more offensive to sensitive nostrils in such cities almost every kind of theatrical taste can be gratified but in other places in the outside world where there is only one theatre or at most two the prevailing taste of the tho theatre going public will very materially influence the proprietors or lessees lessels in their choice of pieces they will unquestionably select those best calculated to draw by meeting tile the public taste thus as the world goes the public is to a very great extent responsible for fol the class of plays presented before them we have a theatre in our city which in its erection involved a very different object from that which generally governs those who construct such places elsewhere it was not erected to meet a public want and by so meeting it make money but to meet a public want and by so meeting it provide a place of relaxation amusement and instruction asa As a p public we give an expression of our feelings with regard to the kind we prefer by our attendance or nonattendance at their performance but when our hopes our objects and aims are placed in juxtaposition with those of tile the world at large and it is considered how vally the human mind is influenced it will be seen that much more care and judgment Z are requisite in selecting pieces for performance here than is considered necessary elsewhere we have had tragedy comedy and farce and dramas of various kinds presented here buta but a class of plays vei very ca gerly eagerly sought after by many in the world have never been placed on the boards of our theatre and we are glad of it tragedy is presumed to deal with those passions which act most powerfully on the human mind it has its admirers in every place where the drama holds a position and most likely it has them here too though we admit we are not among the number most of the tragedies that hold a place on the stage are marked by a loftiness of thought and language and fend display an acquaintance with the heart of man given up to the government of passion that commend them to minds of a certain constitution ution but there are plays abounding with as beautiful sentiment as chaste imagery 0 as poetical figures and as eloquent aan Jan language guage as the mosi mostad most ad mired tragedies yet lacking those objectionable features in tragedy which horrify the highly sensitive mind nothing but the most morbid taste could I 1 feel any other emotion than that of disgust at the brutal smothering of desde mona on the stage by othello or of the entrance of macbeth with the gory daggers from murdering 0 the innocent and amiable duncan it lt is related of mrs siddons that in her rendering of lady macbeth she left lef tsuch sueh such a feeling of gloom and horror upon the minds of the audience that the most lively farce put on the boards afterwards on the same night could not remove the im and could scarcely excite a smile smil c such plays as the lady of lyons richelieu damon andy and pythias at ia 8 A 8 you lakeit like it and others 0 of a similar in I 1 class can gratify the most fastidious seeker meeker after language and sentiment and thought and characteristic description yet the emotions and feelings excited by their performance are pleasant and genial while the plays are instructive and elevating in their tendency there is another cl assof plays known as sensational some of which are entitled to retain a place on any stage 0 As an instance we may cite the colleen bawn while working out gut the dramatic incidents comprise din the plot it gives a faithful picture of a certain class of society in a country of the old oid world with which few not natives of that country are acquainted the strange sensation experienced in a certain part of the play is so brief and is succeeded by such pleasurable emotions preceding and at the denouement that the latter are rather heightened than otherwise by the revulsion in this the dramatist has manifested better taste than did the talented author of the collegians the work from which it is adapted but there are some sel sei sensational eisa elsa plays which heap horror on horror and have been written expressly to attract crowds ofa of a class before whom the agony has hag to be piled plied on to an enormous extent or they would not believe they had received the worth of their money none of these haye have been produced here yet that we are aware of comedy deals with what are sometimes called the lesser vices of bf society and i seeks to correct them by satire and hol hoi holding ding them up to ridicule in fictitious characters comedy is always pi easing pleasing always amusing often highly instructive out of comedy grows farce broadly humorous and often ridiculously exaggerated its object is to make people laugh and it is maily many times more effective than the doctor in giving a healthy tone to the mind and thereby arresting the progress of various physical ailments but there is still another class of plays that are always welcome teach many a wholesome lesson often stir up hidden memories and incite resolutions for doing good goodin in tile the future while they amuse and please us that style of plays known as ille the domestic drama comprises some of the neatest and choicest productions of the modern dramatists matises ts old phils birthday the chimney corner the porters knot the cricket bricket on the he hearth arth and many others that might be named present such faithful pictures of actual life that they approach aa as near to holding the mirror up to nature as any that we can think of dramatic productions are nearly all if not altogether exaggerations we rarely if ever meet in actual life with facsimiles fac similes of the characters we see on the stage they are the embodiment of certain characteristics peculiarities and whimsicalities that are met with and a number of individuals may be required to furnish sufficient charac charae character tei tep to form one personality for the stage thustle thus the mirror held up to nature presents a distorted or exah exaggerated 09 aerated picture before her it cannot help being otherwise the principle events of a lifetime or it may be of a few days only crowded into the space of two or three hours necessitate it yet the illusion is many times so perfect that an audience will thise with the characters I 1 be melted to pity convulsed with laughter stirred with patriotic feelings or thrill with emot emotion iori and though they may feel and say its only a play an influence has been exercised upon them before which they have yielded for the time and traces of which linger Unger after the salient points of the performance have faded from memory we wish tos to see ee the drama cultivated among us an and ana cultivated to const constantly fly wield an influence for good inspire thoughts and feelings that will be elevating and ennobling and ever evel be h a source souise of amusement and healthful relaxation to our citizens citizen jj |