Читать книгу Plays for Earth and Air - Edward 18th Baron of Dunsany Plunkett - Страница 3

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Though the first four plays in this book were written for earth and the rest for air, the first play, “Fame Comes Late,” has been done on the air, and “The Bureau de Change” on both air and earth; the rest have all been done in their appropriate element except “The Pumpkin” and “A Matter of Honour,” which have never been acted. I think all these plays for the air could be as easily done on the stage, though a little adaptation would be necessary for “The Use of Man.”

“Mr. Sliggen’s Hour” was played where I was not able to rehearse it, and there seems no doubt that it went badly; I read it afterwards in public and it went all right; so I may as well explain the point of it, which may have been missed when it was played. The point is that magic has pronounced that some people’s attitude shall go from one point to another very remote from it in an hour. Everyone knows what magic can do. But in this play you see it doing it. The thing can only be shown in dialogue, and the great change therefore has to be made naturally and gradually, according to the ordinary rules of conversation. There are no violent jumps, and the progress should be made with each line as gently as walking downstairs. Magic has decreed that a man shall move his audience to tears and that they shall laugh at him within the hour. The first downward step is when they praise him, soon they defend him, then they excuse him; and so on.

Probably the future of plays for the air lies with television. At present every character has to be slightly exaggerated, so that the audience shall have no doubt as to who is speaking; even each voice has to be rather unusual, so that it cannot be mistaken for any other voice in the cast. When the audience can see each actor, none of these things will be necessary. Radio plays may even compete with the theatres then; or rather the arm-chair and the fire from which such plays may be watched will compete with the best seat of any theatre in the world.