ACTING. Greek drama is usually given first consideration in connection with the origin of dramatic art, but the basic rea sons for imitation, mimicry and what is now called "acting" are found in the study of the lower races of man. Make-believe, or the desire to imitate, is, perhaps, most common among children the world over, and it appears also among many animals.
Havemeyer points out (The Drama of Savage Peoples) that "there is a twofold purpose in this imitation characteristic of savage peoples. The first and simplest is that it gives a pleasurable sensation similar to the real experience. And, secondly, it enables man to convey his impressions to others—i.e., it is a form of language." From the last purpose grew the gesture, or any bodily gesticulation or facial expression that serves as an aid to, or a substitute for, the spoken language of the savage. It was a com mon means of communication.
The evolution of acting, from its simple be ginnings to modern times, is summed up by Brander Matthews (The Development of the Drama) "The dramaturgic faculty is evolved slowly with the growth of civilization; and play-making skill is one of the latest of human accomplishments. But the rudi mentary is everywhere visible, even among the most primitive peoples. As we consider the history of human progress, we per ceive that the drama is almost the very earliest of the arts, as early, perhaps, as the art of personal adornment ; and we discover also that it is the very latest to attain its complete expression. But in the noblest work of the Greek dramatists, and in the most powerful plays of the Elizabethans, the same principles are applied which we discover, doubtlessly, in the rudest theatrical attempts of the lowest savages. It is out of the crude efforts, such as still may be observed among the Eskimo and the tribes of the Ama zon, that the dramatic art was toilfully developed by our own predecessors as taste refined and civilization advanced. The tra ditions of these rude play-makers were passed down from genera tion to generation, and the art slowly discovered itself." Grecian Influences.—It was not until the gods of Egypt were accepted by the Greeks that there appears any ceremony which can be truly called dramatic. The Greek drama arose through the worship of the gods of vegetation, and later developed into the form of the plays of the great dramatists. It is diffi cult, however, to think of the drama of the Greeks without think ing of its close connection with the dance. The myth was the sub ject-matter; the dance was the expression of that subject-matter, be it the idea of spring, the awakening of new life, or the represen tation of various objects such as trees and events by means of gestures, postures and attitudes. In the early religious history of Greece all the people took a part in the dramatic dances around the altar, but later, a certain few of the most capable actors were selected from the chorus to play outstanding roles, or to play many, and sometimes all, of the parts in the play—inasmuch as the custom of wearing masks made this possible. The number of principal actors in a Greek play seldom exceeded three, and it was more common to have only one character appear at a time. Thus it was that acting became a profession, and, among the Greeks, a very noble one. The profession was confined entirely to men.
is interesting to note, in the above con nection, that in Japan men and women were forbidden on the same stage. Now and then women played parts, but never on the same stage with men, and, more often, men who had spent their lives from childhood in feminine costume and society in order to "obliterate every masculine proclivity" played the women parts. Here, too, the players never appear without masks. In the No plays or dances of Japan the action is very restrained, and though the movements do, to some extent, express the story, the per formers seldom alter their positions upon the stage. (See No DRAMA.) The Japanese actor must make his acting conducive to the imagination of the audience. Since there are no stage proper ties of any kind, no scenery, the images of the places in which the action lies must be created entirely upon the minds of the audi ence by the descriptive passages of the play, which are largely poetic.
In Italy the dramatic instinct has been very pronounced among its people as far back as records show. The dramatic literature of Italy has emerged from centuries of political and religious strife, but through all these troubled days the genius of the Italian people has led it to love the drama, and more—the art of acting. Before the writing of plays, and even after, as in the Commedia dell'arte, it has not been uncommon for a group of people to dramatize impromptu. Given a theme on which to bring out some feeling or desire, they express this spontaneously in the form of a play. The love of music, dance and spectacle did more, perhaps, to preserve this interest in the dramatic art through the political and religious struggles—the periods that provided no dramatic literature—than any other influence.
The art of acting was emphasized more by Shakespeare than by any other dramatist of his day. His plays show a remarkable interest in characterization, in which he brought forth every known type of humanity that would fit into the tragic or comic roles that he created. And Shakespeare's own convictions as to the importance of acting, shown in Hamlet's speech to his players, cannot be over-estimated, for here he in corporates the fundamentals of good acting, the important factors in the better use of the voice and body : "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue ; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hands, thus; but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robus tious, periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb-show and noise ; I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant ; it out Herods Herod; pray you, avoid it." "Be not too tame, neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor; suit the action to the word, the word to the action . . ." Views of Diderot.—It was not until about the 18th century that the different theories, or definite systems, of acting began to appear to any extent. Denis Diderot, the French encyclopaedist, grew weary of the classical French drama, with its conventional acting, and advanced as its opposite the theory of a drama of real life, which was, among other things, to be a truer reflection of the bourgeois of France. Diderot said (Paradoxe suer le comedien) that "The possibilities of a good actor lie in the complete absence of sensibility," and recommended to the actor that he should watch himself during the performance, that he should listen to his voice, and give only "recollections of his emotions." Theodore Komisarjevsky, formerly producer and art director of the Moscow State and Imperial theatre, wrote of this theory : "It is proved now that an actor cannot move the audience, or be in any way creative on the stage, if he watches himself acting. Instead of being concentrated on the images he has to create, on his inner self, he becomes concentrated on his outer self, be comes self-conscious and loses the power of imagination. The better way is to act only with the help of the imagination; to cre ate, and not to imitate or reproduce one's own life experiences. When the actor playing a part is living in a world of images cre ated by his own phantasy, he cannot and need not watch and con trol himself. The images created by the actor's phantasy, and obedient to his call, control, guide and direct his emotions and actions during the performance."
Grosse, The Beginnings of Art (1902) ; Loomis Havemeyer, The Drama of Savage Peoples (1916) M. C. Stopes, Plays of Old Japan (1913 and 1927). (F. L. D.)
