The Black Cat | Page 4

let the part create him. The play will make the
actor, not the actor the play; to the great benefit of both play and actor.

But why be so serious over an art whose end is only to amuse? To
amuse? Yes; but we are not all equally amused by the same things.
There may be forms of humour which tickle some people more
exquisitely than even that magnificent making of tea in an old
gentleman's hat, which convulses the _Charley's Aunt_ audience. And
if amusement be the object of the drama, we must take the word in an
extended sense. I should myself roughly define a good play as one that,
when adequately performed, can hold the attention of an unprejudiced
audience from beginning to end, whether it amuses or merely interests
them. It does not follow that because it may shock, or even bore, some
worthy people it is a bad play. Even farcical comedy bores some people,
with whom I cannot sympathise.
And now, if I have been rather hard upon the "well-made play," it must
not be assumed that it is because I do not value construction. I do value
it. But it should be vital, not academic, organic, not mechanical. Still,
even mechanical construction is better than none at all. A play without
plot is invertebrate, without bones. It is at his peril that a dramatist
departs from accepted rules, even those respecting "strong" curtains
and "strong" exits, though in certain cases weak curtains and weak exits
may be more really dramatic. Then, valuable as dialogue is, it may be
redundant, and make a play "flabby." The actor's rule, that all talk that
does not carry on the action is bad, is worthy of all due respect. "You
literary fellows want to say everything twice over," was the shrewd
criticism of a stage-manager in a certain case. But an actor is often so
absorbed in his own part that he does not easily estimate the bearing of
any given speech, even his own, upon the whole play. "Cuts" at
rehearsal are not unfrequently found to be too hastily made. Then, what
is the action? Not merely the external incidents, but the shifting phases
of thought, emotion, character, in the _dramatis personæ_. It is these
that give the incidents their value, and so give dramatic interest to the
plot, or story. The dialogue and the incidents are but two phases of the
presentment of the story. The action may be rapid or slow, direct, or
with episodes. All depends upon the treatment; and the play that one
audience finds detestable may delight another.
If THE BLACK CAT ever again come to the ordeal of the footlights, I

can only hope that it may find an audience as sympathetic as that of the
Independent Theatre.
OPERA COMIQUE, STRAND, W.C.
THE INDEPENDENT THEATRE. FOUNDER AND SOLE
DIRECTOR, J.T. GREIN.
Third Season, Fifteenth Performance.
_FRIDAY, 8th December, 1893,_
_THE BLACK CAT,_
A PLAY IN THREE ACTS, BY
JOHN TODHUNTER.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
Arthur Denham Mr. BUCKLAW. Fitzgerald Mr. NEVILLE DOONE.
Cyril Vane Mr. ORLANDO BARNETT. Constance Denham Miss
HALL CAINE. Blanche Tremaine Miss MARY KEEGAN. Miss
Macfarlane Miss GLADYS HOMFREY. Undine Miss DORA
BARTON. Jane Miss FORRESTER.
The Play produced under the direction of Mr. H. DE LANGE.
The ACTION of the play takes place in Denham's Studio in London, at
the PRESENT DAY.

The Black Cat.

Act I.
_Scene: Denham's Studio. Large highlight window in sloping roof at

back. Under it, in back wall, door to landing. L of the door the corner is
curtained off for model's dressing-room. R of door a large Spanish
leather folding screen, which runs on castors, shuts off from the door
the other corner, in which is a "throne," pushed up against the wall.
Above the "throne" hangs a large square mirror in a carved black frame.
In front of the "throne" is a light couch of Greek form, without back._
_Fireplace, with chimney-breasts panelled in old oak, and high
overmantel, in which are shelves and cupboards, L._
_Against R wall an old oak cabinet, with carved cornice, and inlaid
panelled doors. Close beside it stands on a pedestal a bust of Demeter.
Near the cabinet, halfway up stage R C, an easel, on which is seen the
back of a large picture._
_Beyond the fireplace, and at right angles to it, a large sofa, or lounge,
with square ends and back, broad low seat, loose cushions, and valance.
In front of the fireplace an armchair, with a book face downward on
one arm._
_The walls of the studio are distempered in greenish-blue, the curtains
of the model's dressing-room are in rich yellow plush or brocade, the
couch and sofa covered in greenish-yellow stuffs._
_Various artistic properties, tapestries, embroideries, etc., hanging up,
or thrown