DOI Heft:
No. 315
DOI Artikel:The art of the theatre
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21358#0033
THE ART OF THE THEATRE
passion a reverberating force. With so all-
comprehending a scope, with the literature
of time wherewith to build its spectacles,
the theatre should bring the sum total of all
the arts to its aid in giving each spectacle
its fullest expression. 000
The art of the theatre is not and should
not be pictorial art. In its most ideal form
it consists in bringing the contributory, in
themselves incomplete, arts—i.e. play-
writing, acting, and stage-decoration—to
a perfect harmony and artistic unity. It
should, indeed, be “ a union of arts deli-
cately balanced." What is required, then,
in the first instance is an artist-interpreter
with imagination and creative power to
analyse the spiritual imagery of the play-
wright, and to visualize completely his
intentions. In the processes of staging
and dressing the play, and in the designing
of the lighting, the creative force must be
on a parity with the emotional and spiritual
sequence of the play in order to enhance
the art value as well as the dramatic value
of it. Gordon Craig, who has for years
SKETCH DESIGNS BY EDMUND
DULAC FOR “ MAKE-UP ” OF
SPANISH CAPTAIN AND DUENNA
IN “CYRANO DE BERGERAC”
(DRURY LANE THEATRE)
insisted upon the necessity of a man of
creative faculty in the position of stage-
director, says : “ Do not let yourself be
attracted away by the idea of scene as an
end in itself, of costume as an end in itself,
or of stage-management or any of these
things, and never lose hold of your deter-
mination to win through to the secret—the
secret which lies in the creation of another
beauty—and then all will be well." a
Interesting in this respect and deserving
to be commended as a step towards an
ideal is Basil Sydney and Doris Keane's
revival of the world's greatest love-tragedy,
“ Romeo and Juliet,” at the Lyric Theatre.
Design and colour, lighting and move-
ment alike testify astonishing creative
energy of the one directing mind which
was responsible for the mise en scene. The
keynote of the decoration is simplicity.
Nearly all detail is eliminated, with the
result that the effect gives the impression
of a definite and unified whole. The
scheme throughout the five acts is treated
in large and simple masses and the colours
17
passion a reverberating force. With so all-
comprehending a scope, with the literature
of time wherewith to build its spectacles,
the theatre should bring the sum total of all
the arts to its aid in giving each spectacle
its fullest expression. 000
The art of the theatre is not and should
not be pictorial art. In its most ideal form
it consists in bringing the contributory, in
themselves incomplete, arts—i.e. play-
writing, acting, and stage-decoration—to
a perfect harmony and artistic unity. It
should, indeed, be “ a union of arts deli-
cately balanced." What is required, then,
in the first instance is an artist-interpreter
with imagination and creative power to
analyse the spiritual imagery of the play-
wright, and to visualize completely his
intentions. In the processes of staging
and dressing the play, and in the designing
of the lighting, the creative force must be
on a parity with the emotional and spiritual
sequence of the play in order to enhance
the art value as well as the dramatic value
of it. Gordon Craig, who has for years
SKETCH DESIGNS BY EDMUND
DULAC FOR “ MAKE-UP ” OF
SPANISH CAPTAIN AND DUENNA
IN “CYRANO DE BERGERAC”
(DRURY LANE THEATRE)
insisted upon the necessity of a man of
creative faculty in the position of stage-
director, says : “ Do not let yourself be
attracted away by the idea of scene as an
end in itself, of costume as an end in itself,
or of stage-management or any of these
things, and never lose hold of your deter-
mination to win through to the secret—the
secret which lies in the creation of another
beauty—and then all will be well." a
Interesting in this respect and deserving
to be commended as a step towards an
ideal is Basil Sydney and Doris Keane's
revival of the world's greatest love-tragedy,
“ Romeo and Juliet,” at the Lyric Theatre.
Design and colour, lighting and move-
ment alike testify astonishing creative
energy of the one directing mind which
was responsible for the mise en scene. The
keynote of the decoration is simplicity.
Nearly all detail is eliminated, with the
result that the effect gives the impression
of a definite and unified whole. The
scheme throughout the five acts is treated
in large and simple masses and the colours
17