THE GIGGLING PIT

Robert Benchley's biting article in the last edition of "Life" on the depravity of audiences is a sincere and true a thing as has been written by a dramatic critic for some time. In saying "that the drama of today is not so much an insult to American womanhood as American womanhood is an insult to the drama of today", he has fitly summed up the deplorable intelligence of American audiences today. Just as there are shows which aim to be suggestive, there are audiences which go to the theatre only for filth. Honest dramatic effort is twisted by these perverted minds into the foulest shapes. The play itself is just as sincere an attempt to depict life as it was before they saw it, and yet immediately it becomes the prey of censors and reformers, a danger to public morals.

In a lesser way real dramatic art is curtailed by the silly audience, which goes to laugh and giggle through a tragedy. When earnest efforts meet with gales of laughter, and actor's soul curls up inside him. He learns to speak his lines; not live them. Real beauty on the stage cannot exist without deep, silent appreciation in the audience, which reaches across the foot-lights to the players, helping them on. A rustling, noisy audience, whispering, coming in late, going out early, is a purely American creation and hardly one to boast of. In Europe the drama meets with greater refinement and intelligence. It is no wonder our best actors are imported.