Our Stage and Its Critics | Page 4

like,
and be capable of guessing what a daring experimentalist like Mr
Gordon Craig is aiming at and what relation his scene-pictures bear to
the current cant of the art critic. It is deplorable when one finds serious
critics gushing about the beauty of costly stage effects belonging to the
standard of taste exhibited by wedding-cakes, Christmas crackers,
old-fashioned valentines and Royal Academicians. Dancing must mean
something more to him than a whirling and twirling of human
beings--he should at the least know the distinctive styles and figures of
different countries, and not confuse an entrechat with a pirouette,
should be aware of the meaning of the terms arabesque and rond de
jambe, and understand to some extent the conventional language and
history of grand ballet. No one will deny that his study of history must
be substantial and, to put the matter compendiously, he must have a
good general education, which, however, will not carry him very far,
since he must own a special knowledge of the history of drama and of
literature and modern literary movements.
Then comes the question of theories of criticism--can he do with less
than, say, an acquaintance with Aristotle, and Lessing's "Laocoon," or
even with so little? With Shakespeare and some of his commentators he
ought to be at home; the "Paradoxe sur le Comédien" he can hardly
escape, and the works of some of the modern English and latest French
critics may not be overlooked. Of course he must have read and
considered a large number of plays, and the theories on which they are
based. Politics he may almost neglect unless there be successors to

_John Bull's Other Island_, though he will have to keep abreast of the
facts and fancies of modern life, including, to some extent, political
matters. How he is to study the customs, usage and manners of polite
society among the upper ten thousand it is hard to say. Not a few of us
are weak on this point, and feel ill at ease when dealing with the
nuances of the customs of Mayfair. The study of books on Savoir Faire
and the Manners of Polite Society certainly will give very little
assistance.
Lastly, in this catalogue, which is far from exhaustive, he must study
the art of writing, so that he may at least be able to keep clear of the
vulgar faults. No one expects him to show any absolute merit in
style--space and circumstances of time and place are against him, and
to accomplish the negative is quite a positive triumph. Correct grammar,
avoidance of hackneyed _clichés_, clearness of phrase, reasonably
scholar-like use of words, abstinence from alliteration unless there be
due cause, and escape from uncouthness of expression and monotony
of sound are all he can hope to exhibit in the way of virtue. Of course a
little wit or humour does no harm, provided that no sacrifice of truth is
made for the sake of it. Of the moral qualities nothing need be said; he
will be exposed to a few great temptations and many little ones: to
some of the latter he is certain to yield.
If and when he has acquired all this knowledge, it will be his duty
almost to conceal it. It is to be employed as apparatus for the formation
of judgments rather than the embellishment of them, though, of course,
it may be used reticently by way of illustration, explanation and the like.
Yet it may be useful and not illegitimate for him sometimes to try to
convince the reader that his criticism is from the pen of one who knows
more about the subject than lies within the range of the Man in the
Street.
The critic is not superior to the amateur judge by reason of a greater
natural aptitude for judging, but because he has a larger stock of
knowledge on which to base his judgments, possesses a wider basis for
comparison--the foundation of all opinion--and has trained his natural
aptitudes; consequently, whilst his criticism necessarily, like that of the

Man in the Street, is relative, not absolute, is after all merely an ipse
dixit, it is the personal view of the better-trained person.
The pessimist may suggest that it is hardly worth while to endeavour to
become such an Admirable Crichton, that the labour will not be
sufficiently remunerated, that the existing British Drama does not
demand or deserve criticism by such cultured experts.
There are few of us fully qualified, according to the standard put
forward in these lines, and it may be added, without anything in the
nature of mock-modesty, that the author is well aware of the fact that
he cannot be reckoned among the few.
His Knowledge of Fashionable Society
A passage in _Lady Huntworth's Experiment_ did not earn the