_The actors and actresses of Italy in general, considered with regard to
their profession, their characters, and their manners; written from the
point of view of a philosophical observer._
Among all sorts and conditions of human beings who offer themselves to a
philosophical observer, none are so difficult to know in their real
nature as actors and actresses.
Educated in deception from the cradle, they learn the art of masking
falsehood with an air of candour so completely, that it requires great
gifts of penetration to arrive at their true heart and character.
Journeyings from place to place, affairs of business, accidents of all
sorts, experience of common life, examples furnished by their commerce
with the world, the constant exercise of wit and intellect in rivalry,
wake their brains up, and subtilise their comedians' nature.
In another chapter I intend to paint a special picture of Sacchi's
company, with whom I fraternised, and whom I helped for about a quarter
of a century. At present I shall confine my remarks to Italian players
in general, who are, I think, in no essential points of moral quality
different from those of other nations.
It may be laid down as an axiom, to be accepted with closed eyes, that
the chief idol of all actors is their venal interest. Expressions of
politeness, acknowledgments of obligation, terms of praise, humanity,
sympathy, courteous welcome, and so forth, have no value among actors,
except as parts of a fixed system of deception which they consider
necessary in the worship of this idol. If that idol of pecuniary
interest is attacked (with justice it may be and the best reasons), you
will not find in them a shadow of these fine sentiments. The merest
scent of coming profit makes them disregard and blindly sacrifice the
persons who have done them good; the reputation of the whole world is as
nothing to them then; they take no thought of the damage they may have
to suffer in the future, blinded by greediness, lulled into security for
the time being, and hoping to avoid impending disasters by address and
ingenuity. The present moment is all that actors think of.
Hot and choleric temperaments reveal their true selves more readily
among this class of people. The cool-headed are more difficult to
fathom. Their system of cozenage is not only applied to persons outside
the profession, from whom they expect material gains; it is always at
work to take in and delude the members of the guild. Of course they find
it less easy to checkmate the initiated in their own devices. But if
they have attained to the position of being necessary to their comrades
in the trade, there is no sort of impropriety, pretence, injustice,
swindling, tyranny, which they do not deem it lawful to employ.
These arts, which the progress of our century has extended to many kinds
of persons who are not of the profession, have a certain marked
character among the tribe of actors. Other people, when detected, show
some sense of shame and self-abasement. The unmasked comedian, after all
his turns and twists have been employed in vain, is so unprejudiced and
candid that he laughs good-humouredly in the face of his detective, and
seems to exclaim with indescribable effrontery: "You are a great fool
if you flatter yourself that you have made a notable discovery."
Such is my experience. But of course it is possible that among the
innumerable actors, male and female, whom I have known, conversed with,
and studied, some phoenix of the one or the other sex may have escaped
my observation.
In what concerns the practice of their art, all that these people know
is how to read and write; one better, and one worse. Indeed, I have been
acquainted with both actors and actresses who have not even had that
minimum of education, and yet they carried on their business without
flinching. They got their lines read out to them by some friend or some
associate, whenever a new part had to be impressed in outline on their
memory. Keeping their ears open to the prompter, they entered boldly on
the stage, and played a hero or a heroine without a touch of truth. The
presentation of such characters by actors of the sort I have described
abounds in blunders, stops and stays, and harkings back upon the leading
motive, which would put to shame the player in his common walk of life.
Barefaced boldness is the prime quality, the chief stock-in-trade, the
ground-element of education in these artists. Assiduous use of this one
talent makes not a few of them both passable and even able actors.
These are the reasons why a civil war is always raging in our companies
about the first parts in new pieces. The conflict does not start from an
honest desire to acquire or to manifest theatrical ability. The players
are actuated wholly by ambition, by the hope of attracting favourable
notice through the merit of their role, by the wish to keep themselves
continually before the public, performing ill or well as their blind
rashness prompts them.
Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, Italy would be able to make a
good show in comparison with other nations if our theatres were better
supported and remunerated. There are not wanting persons of fine
presence, of talent, sensibility, and animation. What we do want are the
refinements of education, solid protection, and emoluments sufficient to
encourage the actor in his profession.
I have observed that the best artists of both sexes are those who have
some higher culture; but I have also observed that the support of
themselves and their families, and the inevitable expenses of their
wardrobe, render their professional salaries inadequate. They make up
for these deficiencies by spunging upon credulous tradesmen and besotted
lovers; and thus they bring discredit on the whole profession.
I have always laughed at those who depreciate the influences of the
pulpit, and think they can instil sound morality into the people by the
means of scenic shows. When Rousseau maintained that the precept _Do
what I tell you, and not what I do_, is worthless without a good example
from the man who gives it forth, he uttered one of the truest things
that can be said. I leave people to meditate upon the inverted morality
which is being now diffused in our most recent dramas, the dramas of
so-called culture, from the lips of players in the place of preachers.