MR. HENRY IRVING ON AMUSEMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4773, 10 July 1876, Page 3

MR. HENRY IRVING ON AMUSEMENTS.

(From the Daily Telegraph, April 1.) The last of the series of conferences in connection with the Church of England Temperance Society took place yesterday, when Mr. Henry Irving read a paper entitled “ Amusements,” which evoked frequent applause. He said: In rising to speak of public amusements —an actor —amongst clergymen and laymen of strongly religious sympathies, I am sensible of the novelty, and even the delicacy, of my position. There have been times when my art was warmly recognised as a refining influence —or, at any rate, as an innocent and classic recreation —by members of the clerical profession. They attended the theatre, and they wrote plays. They had friends amongst our greatest actors, and they enjoyed hours of ease in private intercourse with them; but were these times of great activity in the Church of England ? I believe not. Is it not true that the clergy of the Church in the last century, or even at the beginning of this, if not satisfied with a perfunctory performance of their duties, were to a large extent devoid of that spiritual zeal which has since possessed all schools of the Church 2 —a zeal for the salvation of men in every sense of that significant and comprehensive word, of which I desire to speak (I should do violence to my feeling if I did not) with the utmost reverence. No one can be more conscious than a thoughtful member of my profession of the value of profound religious emotion, and I believe it is a thing almost unknown, except in cases where somewhatribald authors have misled us, for actors to speak otherwise than with respect of those extreme types of religion which are most hostile to our art. Still, we must not shut our eyes to the fact that the blessings of a more active and personal religion have been attended by a certain alienation of the ministry of the Church from general culture, and therefore from the sta"e. I do not wish to overstate the case, or pat it unfavorably. The truth seems this. Insisting more intently on conscious religiousness, the clergy look with less indulgence on secular distractions and dissipations. They found the theatre surrounded and infested with many abominations. Those things, it is often alleged, Mr. Macready tried in vain to repress. He certainly struggled hard to do so, but whether he failed or not, it is certain that they have been now absolutely swept away, _ and that the audience portion of any theatre is as completely free from immoral or even indecorous associations as Exeter Hall during the performance of the ” Messiah.” Eut this is not known even now to thousands of religious people. It is a curious circumstance, for instance—and I speak frankly in my endeavor to bring out the truth—that many good people who would think it dangerous to go to a theatre rush to see plays represented at the Crystal Palace, or attend with the greatest ease of mind a promenade concert, the audience at which really is thickly contaminated with the evil which has entirely disappeared from our theatres, that evil being rendered all the more harmful because the whole assembly is constantly perambulating the floor of the operahouse. If such mistakes are made even now, it is not wonderful that at least two or three generations of devoted clergymen have grown up amidst righteous prejudices against all theatrical amusements. I am glad to suppose, however, that these prejudices are wearing down. The era of Christian earnestness has not passed away. On the contrary, it is at its height in loving beneficence, and at the same time in uncompromising hostility to moral evil. Because it is so, and as a sign of its being bo, we are met hero to-day ; but it is also a sign of the times that you have invited an actor to read a paper before you. Already the stage is doing much. I know I may speak plainly to you, and I ask you to reflect how little the masses of our great towns are under the active influence of religion—to what a poor extent they are educated, how limited is their reading, and, comparatively, how much they frequent the galleries and pits of the minor theatres. At the first thought of this _it_ is your professional instinct—nay, a Christian impulse bids you —to shudder, but a little reflection, however, should produce a different feeling. Much in those theatres is vulgar, and there may oven bo things that are deleterious. Nor would I deny that even good teachings

come disfigured on the minor stage—aye, and on the major also—as they often do in pulpits and hooks. None the less, however, is it true that the main stream of dramatic sentiment in all veins is pure, kindly, righteous, and in a sense religious. ... What forms the basis of almost every standard play but some useful moral lesson forcibly impressed by the aid of fable? In this day, when literature is making such gigantic strides, when the cultivation of the higher arts has become a - necessity, the co-operation of- men of influence and refinement with those, who control and direct dramatic amusements would give the theatre the high position it'was meant to bold—that of the most powerful mundane influence for the exaltation of virtue and depression of vice. The stage must' not: b,e homiletic or didactic; It must exhibit in tits mirror the rough -with the, smooth, the dark with the light, the villahy and falseness into which' humanity may be betrayed, as well; as the truth and . ’goodness which are naturally beloved and desired.", If there be‘,any who are veiling from human sight all the developments of evil, they, indeed, must turn .from the theatre door, and must desire to see the footlights go out. , But they must also close Shakspere, avoid Fielding, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot—pronounce Kingsley, immoral, and, so far as I can understand, read only, indeed, but parts of their Bible. , It is not by hiding evil, but by showing it to us alongside'of good, that human character is trained and perfected. There is no step of man or woman, whether halting and feeble,.or firm and strong, that the divine government guarantees against stumbling-blocks and slips. But amidst all the moral dangers of life there are to be found in every refining influence known to mankind —-and on the stage as much as .in the noblest poetry and teaching—-bright lights for guidance, sweet words of encouragement, comprehended even by the most ignorant, glorying pictures ©f virtue and devotion which bring the world of high thoughts and bright lives into communion and fellowship with the sphere of simple and perhaps coarse day-to-day existence. Only too regretfully do I admit that there is much to be seen on the stage that may seem ludicrously at variance with the ideal I have tried to hold up before you. But it may comfort those of you who are interested in the poorest districts to be assured that the worst virus is there comparatively ' harmless. Whether the east and south of London is ever likely to enjoy the half-dirty inanities which have but lately softened the brains of playgoers at the Westend, no one can tell, but at present they require stronger and worthier fare. ... What we want is an entertainment which the middle classes and the lower classes can enjoy together; and, happily, the dramas most in credit amongst us precisely answer that description. They gratify every taste, and afford scope for every kind of managerial enterprise—spectacular or otherwise. I have thought it best, as well as I could, to dwell on the proved attractiveness and the demonstrable good influence of dramatic amusements, rather than on the evils <?f those vicious indulgences which it is the object of a religious temperance movement to overcome, because I know more of the former aspect of the subject than of the latter, and because I am anxious to offer as my cordial contribution to your good work a suggestion that the clergy, and all who co-operate with them, should use their influence for the purification rather than the suppression or tabooing of the stage. The worst performances presented in our theatres cannot be so evil as the spending of a corresponding period of time in a gin-palace or a pothouse. Drinking by the hour, as practised in the evenings by too many of our working men, is not, be it remembered, mere silent drinking; it_ is not mere physical indulgence or degradation. It takes place in good fellowship. It is accompanied by conversation and by merriment. Such conversation! Such merriment ! Where drink is, and the excitement that comes of it, with no restraining opinion or usage to curb the tongue, there the talk will be obscene, the whole atmosphere degrading Gentlemen, change your attitude towards the stage, and believe me the stage will cooperate with your work of faith and labor of love. It will help you in disarming and decimating the forces of moral evil, and in implanting and fostering the seeds and energies of moral good. I thank you for your patience,, and, in feeling the novelty and delicacy of my position, none the less have I appreciated the peculiarity and honesty of yours. At the conclusion of the paper, Mr. Irving was loudly cheered.