Dramatic Technique Part 56

_The Rabbi_

Now will I go and appear before G.o.d.... Now I will ask him.... (_He vanishes through the gate._)

_Many_

He will get no answer ... he will get no answer.

_One of the Dead_

(_With feeling._) They who are in life still stand at the same point.

Generation dies after generation and all remains as it has been. As it was aforetime, so it was in my time and so it is today.

_Many_

Money ... money ... money....

And yet it must lead to something. Surely there must be a goal.

Only G.o.d knows that....

And man must learn what it is.

That will be his greatest victory.

Man's greatest victory.

_Several_

Man's....

_Others_

The living one's.... And we?

(_A ghostly breathing of laughter and sighing_.)

_The First_

Man's greatest victory ...

_Curtain_[9]

Staging this, several facts will confront us. We certainly shall not let different actors of the group speak different lines on successive nights. That is, each supernumerary will be given one speech or more. If certain speeches seem to belong together, they will be given to one actor, and characterization will emerge as he speaks his lines.

Unquestionably, too, if speeches which seem in themselves uncharacterizing are given to marked physical types, such as stout, very thin, very tall, or very short people, persons of markedly quick or slow physical movement, some of the speeches may seem unfitting. Rarely, then, is there any value in the una.s.signed speech. It may pa.s.s in the reading, as has been admitted, but the public prefers the a.s.signed speech, and still more the speech so characterized that it must be a.s.signed. Compare this pa.s.sage from _Julius Caesar_ with its a.s.signments to the First, the Second, the Third, and the Fourth Plebeian with the pa.s.sage from Andreiev's play. Can there be any question that Shakespeare's a.s.signed speeches are somehow clearer, more dramatic?

SCENE III. _A Street_

_Enter Cinna the poet, and after him the Plebeians_

_Cinna._ I dreamt tonight that I did feast with Caesar, And things unluckily charge my fantasy.

I have no will to wander forth of doors.

Yet something leads me forth.

_1. Plebeian._ What is your name?

_2. Plebeian._ Whither are you going?

_3. Plebeian._ Where do you dwell?

_4. Plebeian._ Are you a married man or a bachelor?

_2. Plebeian._ Answer every man directly.

_1. Plebeian._ Ay, and briefly.

_4. Plebeian._ Ay, and wisely.

_3. Plebeian._ Ay, and truly, you were best.

_Cinna._ What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor.

_2. Plebeian._ That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry.

You'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly.

_Cinna._ Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral.

_1. Plebeian._ As a friend or an enemy?

_Cinna._ As a friend.

_2. Plebeian._ That matter is answered directly.

_4. Plebeian._ For your dwelling,--briefly.

_Cinna._ Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.

_3. Plebeian._ Your name, sir, truly.

_Cinna._ Truly, my name is Cinna.

_1. Plebeian._ Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.

_Cinna._ I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.

_4. Plebeian._ Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.

_Cinna._ I am not Cinna the conspirator.

_4. Plebeian._ It is no matter, his name's Cinna. Pluck but his name out of his heart and turn him going.

_3. Plebeian._ Tear him, tear him! Come, brands, ho! fire-brands! To Brutus', to Ca.s.sius'; burn all! Some to Decius' house, and some to Casca's; some to Lingarius'. Away, go! (_Exeunt._)[10]

It may almost be stated as a general principle that a.s.signing a speech is the first step in focusing the attention of an audience on that speech. The value of such focusing has been discussed earlier under "Characterization." In exceptional cases, as the citation from _The Treasure_ shows, there may be some justification for una.s.signed speeches, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, when any lines of the play seem not to need a.s.signing to any particular person, they lack the characterization which belongs to them.