DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2099, 27 January 1870, Page 2

DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.

The recent collapse of the Ballarat theatre leads ttie Ar ms to review the state of the drama in the Colony of Victoria. Our contemporary’s remarks have such reference to this place that we repeat the article at length : ' The insolvent list has been increased during the last few days by the names of a a theatrical firm which has recently occupied the theatre at Ballarat. This is so far from being a novel event, that the fact of its being an ordinary occurrence is the reason of its present mention. It may be taken to be tb« rule rather than the exception for theatrical managers iu "V ictoria to terminate their usually brief enterprises by seeking the protection of the most indulgent of our legal institutions. The history of theatrical management in this city presents a curious record of disasters, for even where managers have not ended by becoming insolvent, they have not seldom closed the theatre only to avoid such a result. Successful management, therefore, may be regarded as a curiosity, and those who have come out of it avith a balance in their favor are looked upon as singular examples of good luck. Theatrical management has hence come to be looked upon as a a r ery uncertain means of investing capital, and, by a considerable section of the public, as something other than reputable ; and the old prejudice against the stage as an institution, on account of its loose morals, has been to all appearance confirmed. To account for this long chapter of dramatic commercial failures, all sorts of reasons hare been offered, most of them, however, quite remote from the true source of explanation. We are told by some otherwise estimable persons, that all theatrical people have confused notions of moral relations: that they live in a world of their own, and have consequently a code of ethics of their own, and according to this code of obligations they are to be estimated. The persons who thus judge them shrug their shoulders when theatrical irregularities are mentioned, and tell you it is just what you might expect. The insolvency of a manager is looked upon as a matter of course, and is not wrondered at. It is, we arc told, iu the nature of management not to succeed ; the people who engage in it have nothing to lose, so that when they become insolvent they are pccuniarly no worse than they were, and as to prestige, they are better off, because better known, and perhaps not, as the adage would show, any worse trusted. 'They therefore become managers again, are insolvent again, and so the process is repeated, some Australian managers having, like the traditional eels, grown quite used to these periodical strippings. Another reason assigned is, that the drama being in its decadence, theatrical ventures must of consequence bo failures, (’heap literature has, we are assured, made tho best authors of fiction available, and as everybody now-a-days has more or less taste for reading, the drama has given way to the novel. It is also said, and with a large measure of truth, that the intelligence of audiences has outrun that of actors, and that though a few advanced innovators have adopted a rational mode of reprn entiug character, tho bulk of actors are still so governed by traditional obligations that the intelligence of “the community revolts against being compelled to accept as interpreters of the drama persons obviously below themselves iu the ability to comprehend the drama’s meaning, A principal reason however for the failure ot the drama in a commercial souse is. there is no doubt, the limited attention paul to the comfort of the audience. Gaudinoss and glitter are the principal considerations in the minds of those who construct our theatres. The convenience and comfort of those who have to sit during four hours of very often indifferent acting is scarcely thought of. Thy seats are uncomfortable, and with difficulty approachable. The house is badlv ventilated and nearly always not clean. The result almost inevitably, is a great deal of fatigue and exhaustion. There are many persons who are always ill the day after a visit to the thea f re. especially in summer. Four hours’ sitting in a cramped position, and four h- urff breathing of bad air, cannot help but produce unpleasant consequences ; and as much greater attention is now paid to domestic comfort, there need be little wonder if persons even with a taste for theatrical amusements prefer to stay at home and enjoy their fireside comforts, rather than encounter cramps in the limbs and a hcadach'. An extraordinary attraction will tempt teen to run the risk of tlumc unpleasantnesses but ordinary performances have no such power, and wc have consequently thin houses and managerial lamentations. A number of what, for the lack of a better term, may bo described as “ fast ” people go to the theatre as a matter of course, less for the sake of the performance than that they there meet one another. 'lhcy avoid the fatigue by never staying very lo ig in their scats, and they endeavor to anticipate exhaustion by paying frequent visits to the bar, which appears to have become an inseparable portion of the Australian theatre. Tq those who consider drinking an;l the drama identified, this alternation of mental and physical delectation is probably agreeable enough « but it is not likely t.) prove acceptable to those who look upon the acted drama as something more than a mere appetiser for alcoholic fluids. The fact is that a large modification in the whole system of presenting stage plays is required, and not less imperative is a total alteration in tho arrangements for the comfort of the audience —that is, if the popularity and material prosperity of the theatre arc to bo established. All the reasons so frequently advanced iu favor of the drama being an institution capable of effecting great moral good are

still as true and ns unanswerable as over. The full social influence of the theatre has yet to ho worked out, but it never will be worked out until the theatre is.made attractive, not alone by reason of what is presented on the stage, but through the attention paid to the necessities of comfort and hygienic requirement in the theatre itself. Managerial selfishness may resent the giving of such counsel as points to the avoidance of crowding and semi-suffocation, and to the preservation of a reasonable degree of cleanliness ; bait -whoever shall make these part of his ordinary managerial administration will go a long way towards securing himself from the disaster of the Insolvent Court.