Before the preceding pages had been printed two events worth mentioning
here took place. One is the lamented death of Sir Henry Irving. The
other is the public discussion which took place under the auspices of
the London Shakespeare League, on the best method of presenting
Shakespeare's plays on the modern stage. On the latter subject perhaps I
may add a word. While in Japan the tendency is to introduce
women-players into the company of male players, and improvement of
scenery is much sought after on European lines, both of which are due to
the occidental influence, it is curious to notice that exactly reverse
movements, namely the dispensing with the female players and the
returning back to the primitive simplicity of stage properties, are
advocated in England by competent persons with regard to the
representation of Shakespeare. I extract below among others a passage of
the speech of Mr. Bernard Shaw on the occasion of the discussion
referred to above:--
When Mr. Gilbert said that he would like to see the women's parts
played by boys, he was not uttering a jest. In some of the
performances at Westminster School, he had seen boys in women's
parts much more effective than any professional actress. If women
players had been proposed to Shakespeare, he would not only have
been scandalised, but he would have pointed out that it was
impossible to get the force from women that was obtained from boy
actors.