THE STAGE, 11

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 41, 13 July 1877, Page 2

THE STAGE, 1 1

There is unquestionably a good deal c which is perfectly true to bo urged against J the condition of the stage. Its produc- , tions (says the World) are to a large ex- t tent inartistic, frivolous, immoral, and it s is matter for regret that they should occupy so large a space in the thoughts , of so extensive a class as the modern ; patrons of the stage. The theatre is the ' nightly amusement of a growing number of young men and women, who gradually come to entertain the conviction that the thrusts and parries of antithetical wordplay, which amuses them, make up a high-class.intellectual entertainment, and that a modern burlesque satisfies the essential conditions, of true grace and humour. Some, of the reproaches to which the burlesque stage was exposed a fow years ago have already been outgrown. The ethics of theatrical life, and the moral charaoter of the rank and file of stage heroines, are deplorably low ; but the cases are less common and conspicuous than they were in which a histrionic reputation ,is only achieved when a feminine reputation is lost. The stars of extravaganza shine out from a social atmosphere which may not bear too minute an inspection ; but the only reason of their lustre is not what ought to be veiled in obscurity, and the opportunities oven of the burlesque boards are diminishing, as a field in which Phryne can win new triumphs, or. Lais gratify the whimsical aspiration of her humour. The real truth is that the morality of the stage is no better .nor worse than the morality of the society in the midst of which it exists. The doings of actresses are more criticised and canvassed than those of ladies who are less formally before the world ; and because the indiscretions of fashionable drawing«*rooms are more fortunately veiled than those of the green-rooms, which, according to Dean Close, are the haunts of unspeakable vice, they are not the less real. The great evil at the present day is that the influences of tbe theatre are not kept within their due limits, that the stage is not strictly localised. Tbe spirit of burlesque and comedy has asserted itself in general society ; and to be stage struck is merely to be the victim af a fashionable epidemic. When jWouien who have^dutiesitodis- i charge and a position to fill emulate.. tho, fame of fifth rate act^s^cs, by profession, a serious mischief is done, and f inconvenient' results are sure 'to follow. It is not so much to what is done on the stage proper itself that we should^look, if we wish to sco tbe evils of the stage illus*. trated, as to the insane enthusiasm with which amateurs, aping tho occupations and the manners of actors and actresses, promote the frivolities of a pastime to the business of a .life.