Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

79
perhaps the whole theory of comedy acting - felt the effect
of them", and drew analogies between the sentiment of the
Robert soni an comedies and their staging* The plays were part
of *a reaction into the commonplace of peace" following the
Crimean Wars
There was a general distaste for heroics, and
a sneaking kindness for the genteel f amongst all
classes of the community*
The plays were "instinct with Toryism 11 -
...not the angry Toryism of the present day, but
the comfortable Toryism of 1870. The gentlemen
are all honourable, handsome and refined. The
parvenues are invariably coarse, disgusting
creatures, as vulgar in mind as in manner and
appearance*
This was "easy, shallow, and open to objections" but it reflected
the theatre and its audiences
...a tiny theatre, where the stalls, boxes and
balcony were the paying portions of the audience,
where the pit and gallery were small, and somewhat
higher priced than at ordinary theatres.
But what fascinated the public most was the perfect
harmony of the whole entertainment. Never had been
such delicacy and dainty staging, such photographic
reproduction of familiar types.
(The Era. 24 January 1885)
Bancroft made much of the new-found respectability conferred
by his company upon the profession. Robertson "rendered a
public service by proving that the refined and educated classes
were as ready as ever to crowd the playhouses"* Thiu was a
direct result of the truthfulness of staging and acting, for
"in those now far-off days there had been little attempt to
follow Nature, either in the plays or in the manner of
producing "^
The tendency to familiarity and intimacy in acting and
staging was continued by Bancroft's associates, Mr and Mrs
Kendal, in their own management, and by Clayton and Cecil at
the Court Theatre* On the closing of the Court in 1887, The
Era praised the two managers for their cultivation of "the
true comedy tone",
the habitude of quiet, unemphasized drollery,
the unconsciousness of the artist who feels his
audience so closely 'in touch* with him that
he is not impelled to exaggerate in order to
secure attention*
(30 July 1887)