another.

Each actor should write down the movement as it is worked out and as it applies to himself, and he should have a pencil for that purpose. The movement may have to be changed as the rehearsals progress, but there should never be any need of question about what has been decided.

C. THE THIRD STEP: WORKING FOR DETAILS, OR

CHARACTERIZATION

Function of the Third Step

The third step is by far the most important, and it will usually take three times as long as all the other steps together. Its purpose is the perfection of details, or, to use a more technical term, the building up of "characterization." During this important phase the actors must study their manner of walking, of sitting down, of using their hands and faces, and of speaking each line. They must try to feel what the characters they are assuming would do in the situations in which they find themselves in the play, and they must by observation and study check up the details that they work out. Some of the most important details to be kept in mind are the following:

1. Memorization.-The memorization of the play should be perfected early in this phase. During the preliminary readings, and the rehearsals for blocking out the movement, actors usually read the lines from their books, becoming more and more familiar with them. Then it is wise, at a certain definite time, say after the fifth or sixth rehearsal, to announce that

thereafter no more books are to be used. If the actors are not line perfect, let them be prompted for their lines, no matter how much prompting is needed. If the play is not being memorized rapidly enough by the entire cast, prompter's rehearsals are often called. During these, the prompter teaches the actors their lines, and there is no attempt made to do anything else. There never need be a last minute scramble to learn the lines if the play is well directed. Some plays—those having many short rapidly-spoken lines, or those in which there is a confusing similarity of line and thought in different parts of the play-are difficult for a cast to memorize correctly. If actors meet and study their lines together, repeating them aloud and rapidly time after time in the proper order, with thought for nothing but the correctness of their readings, a group memory is established, which usually solves the problem. By some device or other, memorization must be assured early during this third step, for further perfection of detail depends on it. Books must be discarded.

2. Vocalization.-Correct vocalization is another detail that must be worked for at this point. Whatever sort of voice the character must assume, it should be a carrying voice that can be heard with ease throughout the theater. Actors of the "old school," such as Joseph Jefferson, had to a wonderful degree the ability to project a whisper to every corner of the house. Realism and naturalism, the latest varieties of acting, should not be carried to such a degree that the audience feel like intruders. Correct breathing, fully controlled, is most important for good vocalization, and directors who are

not capable of teaching correct breathing might profitably study some of the current manuals on speech. Firm breath control and correct enunciation are the secret. Enunciation should be sharp and clear cut. Vowels should be sustained, and final consonants must be pronounced, although exaggerated "elocutionary" speech should be avoided. A common fault of amateur actors, that is easily corrected at this point of rehearsal, is dropping the last few words of a sentence so that they are lost to the audience. Voices should not be dropped at the ends of sentences to such a degree that they become inaudible.

3. Reading of Lines.-A third important detail that should be perfected during this third step is the reading of the lines of the play. Actors must learn to give their lines meaning and expression. Each line should be said as if for the first and only time in order to give the audience what William Gillette calls "the illusion of the first time." 2 The play is likely to be successful to the degree that this illusion can be created.

Phrasing, or the opening out of the lines by the use of the pause, is an important element in correct reading. Macklin, a famous old Irish actor of Drury Lane Theater, most noted for being the originator of the modern method of playing Shylock, used to have what he called three pauses: a pause, a long pause, and a grand pause. One night, according to the story, the company had a new prompter, who constantly annoyed

2 William Gillette, The Illusion of the First Time in Acting (A publication of the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum, Columbia University, New York).

Macklin by interrupting him to give him the line. At length the audience was astounded to see the star rush to the wings, seize the poor prompter, drag him out on the stage, and cuff him. Then turning to the audience, Macklin said, "The fellow interrupted my grand pause." A burst of applause greeted the explanation, showing the concurrence of the audience in Macklin's estimate of the value of the grand pause. If the actor cannot estimate the right time for a pause, the director may have him count to himself up to a certain number, or may give him a silent line to say to himself.

This device of silent lines, called bridging, is also useful in aiding the lines to be said properly. A line or two may be invented to be said silently before or after the spoken words. Mitchell gives the following

illustration:

The line "Why, my lord!" is capable of being read a score of ways. It may be outraged astonishment, "Heavens, you're mad. Why, my lord! What do you mean?" It may be frightened surprise, "What has come over you? Why, my lord! You're ill." It may be incredulity, "I never heard of such a thing. Why, my lord!" or in an effort to soothe, "There's nothing to fear. Why, my lord!" ... or reproach, "Surely you were never guilty of that! Why, my lord! I'm ashamed of you." In each case the italicized words are spoken under the breath and establish an emotional context which gives perfect accuracy to the short, awkward line.3

Emphasis is another important detail that must be considered. Certain words are of great importance and must be given value by the way they are said, 3 Roy Mitchell, op. cit., p. 36.

while others may be slurred over. The thing to be avoided is the even, monotonous delivery that oldfashioned amateurs sometimes believed was demanded by acting.

4. Business.-During this third step will come the invention of business, which is behavior that is intended to interpret the character portrayed. Gestures, facial expressions, and all the other little details that give ease and lifelikeness to the characterization, should be worked out.

To state the whole matter briefly, during this third step the actors must learn their lines, they must say them so that they can be heard, and so that they carry the ideas of the author, and they must accompany the lines with interpretive business, or pantomime. other words, they must begin to act.

The Art of Acting

In

Just what acting is has long been in dispute. The situation is well stated in a delightful old book, The Autobiography of an Actress, by Anna Cora Mowatt, the authoress of "Fashion, or Life in New York," and other dramas of the middle nineteenth century.

There are two distinct schools of acting, and it is a disputed point which is the greater. The actor of one school totally loses his own individuality, and abandons himself to the absorbing emotions that belong to the character he interprets. His tears are real, his laughter real, as real to himself as to his audience. Frequently, they are more real to himself than to his listeners; for the capacity of feeling, and the faculty of expressing the sensation experienced, are widely different. The current