DOI Heft:
No. 322 (January 1920)
DOI Artikel:The art of the theatre: the designs of W. Bridges Adams
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21359#0164
THE ART OF THE THEATRE
"THE POLISH DANCER.” PROLOGUE SCENE
SCRIM TRANSPARENCIES WITH BED
BETWEEN; APPARITION ON ROSTRUM
BEHIND. DESIGNED BY W. BRIDGES ADAMS
(By permission of Rosa Lynd)
that^he feels himself to be an integral part
of the production, would certainly do a
great deal to keep him in his proper place
without unduly galling him. But perhaps
the best thing of all would be for the pro-
ducer to learn scene-designing for himself,
in which case he can give exactly the right
proportion of prominence to the trappings
of the play. 0 0 0 0 0
For that much-abused person, the com-
mercial manager, Mr. Adams has some
good words to say. 000
The fact that the most original and
attractive scenic designs are seldom found
in long-run productions does not mean
that his taste is bad. But, accepting the
principle that the mounting of a play should
be such as to make the majority of an audi-
ence feel at home in it as quickly as possible,
he is scarcely to blame for selecting a style
which will prove adequate to the many
rather than one, however beautiful, which
will mystify the many although giving
delight to the few. There are, for example,
158
a hundred and one ways of producing
Shakespeare, from the method of Mr.
William Poel to the method of Sir Herbert
Tree. Both of these extremists have, at
their best, done work of which the stage
might well be proud, but of both, even at
their best, it could be said by the critical
that they left the problem of Shakespearean
mounting no nearer solution. Ophelia in
a farthingale is very possibly the truest to
Shakespeare, and for an audience of the
Elizabethan Stage Society this is no doubt
the way to dress her ; but for an average
audience this would simply deflect in the
direction of the mounting a certain amount
of attention that should have gone to the
play ; it will take them some time to get
acclimatized to her, and proportionately
less time will be left in which to consider
her as a human being. In other words,
you will have sacrificed an essential to a
non-essential. The same thing holds with
the setting of a play. 000
E. O/H.
"THE POLISH DANCER.” PROLOGUE SCENE
SCRIM TRANSPARENCIES WITH BED
BETWEEN; APPARITION ON ROSTRUM
BEHIND. DESIGNED BY W. BRIDGES ADAMS
(By permission of Rosa Lynd)
that^he feels himself to be an integral part
of the production, would certainly do a
great deal to keep him in his proper place
without unduly galling him. But perhaps
the best thing of all would be for the pro-
ducer to learn scene-designing for himself,
in which case he can give exactly the right
proportion of prominence to the trappings
of the play. 0 0 0 0 0
For that much-abused person, the com-
mercial manager, Mr. Adams has some
good words to say. 000
The fact that the most original and
attractive scenic designs are seldom found
in long-run productions does not mean
that his taste is bad. But, accepting the
principle that the mounting of a play should
be such as to make the majority of an audi-
ence feel at home in it as quickly as possible,
he is scarcely to blame for selecting a style
which will prove adequate to the many
rather than one, however beautiful, which
will mystify the many although giving
delight to the few. There are, for example,
158
a hundred and one ways of producing
Shakespeare, from the method of Mr.
William Poel to the method of Sir Herbert
Tree. Both of these extremists have, at
their best, done work of which the stage
might well be proud, but of both, even at
their best, it could be said by the critical
that they left the problem of Shakespearean
mounting no nearer solution. Ophelia in
a farthingale is very possibly the truest to
Shakespeare, and for an audience of the
Elizabethan Stage Society this is no doubt
the way to dress her ; but for an average
audience this would simply deflect in the
direction of the mounting a certain amount
of attention that should have gone to the
play ; it will take them some time to get
acclimatized to her, and proportionately
less time will be left in which to consider
her as a human being. In other words,
you will have sacrificed an essential to a
non-essential. The same thing holds with
the setting of a play. 000
E. O/H.