TABLEAUX VIVANTS
TRUE-TO-LIFE REPRESENTATIONS
TABLEAUX may be divided into two important classes--the portrayal of
abstract qualities, which usually includes motionless figures posed in
sustained attitudes, and historic and romantic groups, in which the
actor is allowed some occupation.
[Illustration: The Hero.]
[Illustration: The Martyr.]
The first class is most difficult of successful achievement. In it, the
whole gamut of emotions common to mankind may be symbolized, and in
these attitude and gesture are governed by the mind, which should be
revealed in every muscle, curve, and limb of the human frame.
[Illustration: The Ascetic.]
[Illustration: The Fanatic.]
Strength, courage, fidelity, chivalry, purity, and honesty should be
posed in such a manner that the simple grandeur and dignity of these
attributes cannot be mistaken. The hero, the martyr, the ascetic, the
fanatic have each a commonly recognized type and pose.
The shrinking form of the coward--he who fears all things greater than
himself--must bear the stamp of the puny soul unveiled. The eye of the
hypocrite, the cunning, the evil and degraded, is as different from the
gaze of the pure of heart as the muddy, stagnant pool is different from
the wide, blue expanse of salt sea--the air of a foul room from the
breath inhaled beneath the open sky.
And in the same way that grand music is expressive of all human
emotions, and as welcome to the ear as the song of birds, so form and
color, attitude and character, in living pictures are potent emblems of
the strength and weakness of complex humanity.
The figure that is to symbolize Hope must possess that wondrous
attribute in herself, otherwise no trickery of dress or limelight can
make her anything but a caricature of the spirit of optimism.
So that, in order to portray virtues and vices as they are, the stage
manager’s craft reaches beyond superficial knowledge. Psychology and
intuition are even more important to him than experience regarding
blending of colors, arrangement of lights and grouping of forms, for the
human mind is the keynote in which his music is revealed, the touchstone
of his secret, the mystic spirit dominating the symmetry of gesture.
In the choice of individuals, personal character is weighty--pink and
white flesh tints, however perfectly blended in a face, do not stand for
Patience, Charity, or Sympathy unless the heart behind is pulsed on the
pivot-springs of these virtues, for the experienced eye of the spectator
probes beyond paint and attitude, and knows perfectly well whether these
virtues are rightly embodied or merely distorted mimicry.
Therefore the stage manager of tableaux vivants, before all else, needs
penetration in recognizing and choosing exponents suitable to interpret
the abstract conditions he is anxious to depict, and it is only when his
choice is made that the training, grouping, and scenic effects need be
considered.
Tableaux vivants are in character not unlike a symphony. The theme in
both is important. In the latter, the interweaving of other parts
enhances the beauty of the dominating strain, as in the former, where
harmonizing colors and stage effects, important as they are, remain ever
subordinate to the principal conception aspired.
Of course, in the training of subjects, it is very necessary that one
attitude should be maintained by each figure and remain unbroken from
the lift to the fall of the curtain, and this without rigidity of body,
unless the characteristic is typified in rigid lines; but even more
important is the necessity that the mind should not waver nor the
features change to an expression not in harmony with the attribute
typified.
Hope does not frown or smile, and all nervous twitching is absent from
the tranquil face and figure of Serenity. Courage shows a lofty brow and
steady eye--the shoulders are squared resolutely, but not aggressively.
Mercy, Pity, Love, Gentleness, Sweetness, and Charity are most
perfectly imaged by women, who naturally possess these virtues; Dignity,
Determination, Steadfastness, and Chivalry by men. But the stage manager
need not limit himself by any conventions in this particular, for it
sometimes happens that a woman’s face and form breathe characteristics
usually found in certain types of manhood, while a man’s countenance may
be eloquent of the gentle virtues typical of womanhood.
The thoughts of each character must be concentrated on the part
undertaken, and the onlookers absolutely forgotten. As far as possible
the actors should forget that there is a certain amount of strain in the
immovable pose, otherwise limbs will twitch and the balance and pose be
in peril. With sufficient practice it will not be difficult to remain in
the attitude fixed upon for the few minutes after the curtain is lifted.
It is only at first that the limbs, either through inexperience or
nervousness, prove rebellious. The impersonators should not be afraid to
breathe regularly, for this prevents artificial rigidity.
Figures should not be crowded together. A small stage, such as would be
used in a drawing-room, requires a picture in proportion. The dresses
and lights should blend harmoniously with the background and frame.
STAGING
Fig. 1 depicts the lighting arrangement at back of frame. The
guard-wires, running from side to side, are to prevent the possibility
of dresses catching fire. The footlights usually consist of ordinary
night-lights with illumination glass covers. Behind these are tin shades
for reflectors. Electric light, if available, can be substituted for oil
lamps as shown. In the same sketch a curtain-raising apparatus also
appears. Two persons should be chosen for its manipulation, and be
always stationed in such a position that they can draw and divide the
curtain at the given signal.
Every separate production is timed by the stage manager or some other
reliable person, and the duration of each should be exact. Three, or at
the most four, minutes are ample time for the audience to take in the
details of the picture, and the instant the curtain is drawn another
group is arranged, the actors being perfectly familiar with the position
and pose they are to take, going to their places without confusion or
disorder.
In a succession of group-pictures different groups of actors are
necessary, for it is impossible for the same persons to change their
costumes in the minute or so that intervenes before the succeeding
spectacle.
Where the number of players amounts to fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five,
the number of tableaux arranged upon can be divided between them, and
the productions, consisting of from two to five figures, arranged in
such a way that during group A’s tableaux group B is ready in the wings
and takes the stage the instant group A disappears through a different
exit to the dressing-room. Next, group C takes group B’s place in the
wings, and so on with all the groups. In this way each has a few minutes
in which to change.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Lighting arrangement for back of frame.]
Confusion and fussing will be prevented by each group knowing exactly
their manner and mode of entrance. Some plan, which renders it
impossible for group A leaving the stage to collide with group B in the
wings, must be fixed upon. Because the tableaux take place in a strange
drawing-room, where there is not much accommodation possible behind the
platform, and few entrances and exits, is no adequate excuse for any
bungling or confusion.
However limited the space, the stage manager and his company should hit
upon some plan that makes for order and precision. To do this, the
performers should come early to rehearse entrances and exits, and then
memorize them, for any mistake behind the scene, even if of so slight a
character that it does not retard the productions, is apt to disturb the
nerves of the players, and rob them of their necessary calm.
There should be no laughing or talking, for sounds easily penetrate
through a drawing-room, and not only disturb the audience, but draw from
their task the attention of the group occupying the stage.
The stage manager, who feels unable to represent abstract qualities
perfectly, would do well to avoid them altogether.
It may happen that his actors include a few who are absolutely raw
material where tableaux are concerned, and upon such occasions he should
always have a few studies in his repertoire in which motionless poses
are not necessary.
PENELOPE AND ULYSSES
For example, a pretty novice, sitting at a spinning-wheel, weaving
imaginary threads from a spindle of flax, will do very well as Penelope,
spinning her endless garment during the absence of Ulysses. In a simple
white or colored gown, with her hair falling over her shoulders, and her
head bent slightly over the wheel, she makes a pleasing picture.
Cinderella, seated on the floor, gazing into the cinders, with her hands
clasped round her knees, is another quite easily adopted attitude.
Another pretty scene, acted over the spinning-wheel, is the Lady of
Shalott, weaving “a magic web with colors gay,” and peering from time to
time at the mirror above her, which reflects “the highway near, winding
down to Camelot.”
In this tableau the facial expression is wholly different from that
which dominates Penelope’s features. Penelope’s labor is inspired by
stratagem, to keep her unwelcome suitors at bay. Her soul is steeped in
a patience so melancholy that it verges on despair, whereas the Lady of
Shalott “weaves by night and day,” because she believes she is chained
to her task by an awful power. If she pauses a moment, a curse will fall
upon her. Her eyes, therefore, are wild with fear, her face contorted,
her fingers pluck the threads feverishly, and there is none of
Penelope’s listlessness in her wild agonized concentration.
History and fiction teem with incidents that can be easily translated
into groups, wherein an absolutely motionless attitude is not required.
The three witches in “Macbeth,” in their cone-shaped hats, tattered
rags, and disheveled hair, their wild, evil prophecy, seared in the deep
lines of their withered faces, haunched on the ground conspiring
together.
Guinevere, prone on the convent floor of “the holy house at Almesbury”;
King Arthur, fully armed, and stained with battle, bending over her in
agonized tenderness, pity, and shame; and many other examples, which
will easily be found by the stage manager, ambitious to exhibit pictures
more unique than those usually adopted.
STAGE “PROPS”
The materials used for characters need not be expensive or difficult to
procure. Cheap sateens, muslins, velveteens, gold paper pasted over
cardboard and large buttons, glass diamonds and emeralds, tinsel and
silver braid, bright-colored ribbons from the remnant basket, discarded
shoes and stockings, transformed by cheap dyes, vari-colored beads,
imitation ermines, tin swords and armor--all these are useful and
effective beneath the lime-light.
Backgrounds may be arranged by means of curtains draped over the walls
in colors that blend or contrast harmoniously as desired with the
tableau produced. Properties, such as old wine flagons, lamps, &c., may
be fashioned by means of cardboard, cut in the necessary shape, gummed
together, and covered with gold or silver paper.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Tiers for back-stage grouping.]
Fancy dress magazines and illustrated histories will reveal many secrets
to the stage manager. Better still, a visit to a museum, when he is in
doubt about the shape and period of some article he requires, and
observation of the properties utilized in historic or Shakespearean
plays will well repay time and trouble spent. Duplicates in lead, wood,
or tin of almost any old article can be fashioned well enough to answer
his purpose.
When a large group of figures is to be arranged, light wooden ladders,
placed in a semicircle, and covered with some appropriate color, make
easy and adaptable tiers, on each step of which a figure is posed, or an
arrangement of tiers for back-stage grouping can be made as shown in
Fig. 2.
The most expensive aids in the stage manager’s paraphernalia--and these,
alas, there is no overcoming--are the supply of the lime-light and the
loan of the wigs. But in this direction he should not be too ambitious,
contenting himself at the start with a moderate outfit in accordance
with his means and inexperience.