" And the actor can assert: "I was not
to blame. I did but speak the words that were set down for me. My fate
is hard--I have to bear the burden of another's sins." And in each
case these are reasonably valid pleas. In the hour of triumph,
however, it is certain that the author is apt to be forgotten, and
that the lion's share of success is popularly awarded to the players.
For the dramatist is a vague, impalpable, invisible personage; whereas
the actor is a vital presence upon the scene; he can be beheld, noted,
and listened to; it is difficult to disconnect him from the humours he
exhibits, from the pathos he displays, from the speeches he utters.
Much may be due to his own merit; but still his debt to the dramatist
is not to be wholly ignored. The author is applauded or hissed, as the
case may be, by proxy. But altogether it is perhaps not surprising
that the proxy should oftentimes forget his real position, and
arrogate wholly to himself the applause due to his principal.
High and low, from Garrick to the "super," it is probably the actor's
doom, for more or less reasons, at some time or another, to be hissed.
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