SPEAK UP!

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 140, 3 September 1927, Page 22

SPEAK UP!

Good Advice for Young Stage Folk ARNOLD BENNETT’S PREFACE “The demand for stars still exceeds the supply.” Arnold Bennett, in his preface to James Agate’s book, "The Contemporary Theatre of 1926” —a book, by the way, that all serious students of the stage must enjoy—makes some pertinent remarks on the alleged present decay of the theatre. The high price of theatres and salaries of a few stars has been advanced as one of them by many people. “Theatre rents are very heavy, but, since the demand for theatres still exceeds the supply, and since people in plenty are still willing to pay the heavy rents asked, it is evident that rents are not uneconomic. “There is an enormous amount of j bad acting rife on the West End stage. The number of players who j can sustain a leading part is pitiably •

small. Only those who have to cast plays fully realise the truth of these statements. No wonder the salaries of stars are big. They ought to be. ‘‘The number of players who car. act really well in minor parts is small. And I have been complaining in private and in public for a decade or more about the inaudibility of performers. Again and again I have said to players: ‘You can act until you are black in the face, but it will be no use unless you are heard.’ Again and again I have implored them not to drop their voices towards the end of a sentence. But they will do it. That perfect audibility can be achieved in any theatre is proved by the fact that in every performance one or two players are perfectly heard, for the reason that one or two have learnt their job. It may be said that, as a rule, good players are heard and bad players are not heard. It may also be said that, as a rule, the older players are better than the younger. “I remember once a young actor thus addressing me: ‘You tell me to speak up. But if I farce myself 1 lose my effects.’ I made no answer. I just walked away from this nincompoop. Players who are inaudible have never learnt how to produce their voices. Such actors and actresses simply’ do not know' their job.”

Paramount’s Auckland publicity manager, Mr. R. Kelly, informs the Movie Editor that James Cruze has not been assigned the task of directing ‘Abie’s Irish Rose.” As for “Beau Sabreur,” this feature will now be directed by John Waters, Evelyn Brent, Garry Gordon, Noah Beery, and Joan Standing will be in the cast. Presumably THE SUN’S American source of information was a little premature!