Fortunately, there seems to be a
decline in the number of people who are acutely susceptible to the
theatre's glamour. I rather think the reason for this is that the
theatre has been over-exploited by the press. Quite old people will
describe to you their early playgoings with a sense of wonder, an
enthusiasm, which--leaving a wide margin for the charm that past
things must always have--will not be possible to us when we babble to
our grandchildren. Quite young people, people ranging between the ages
of four and five, who have seen but one or two pantomimes, still seem
to have the glamour of the theatre full on them. But adolescents, and
people in the prime of life, do merely, for the most part, grumble
about the quality of the plays. Yet the plays of our time are somewhat
better than the plays that were written for our elders. Certainly the
glamour of the theatre has waned. And so much the better for the
drama's future.
It is a matter of concern, that future, to me who have for so long a
time been a dramatic critic. A man soon comes to care, quite
unselfishly, about the welfare of the thiing in which he has
specialised. Of course, I care selfishly too. For, though it is just
as easy for a critic to write interestingly about bad things as about
good things, he would rather, for choice, be in contact with good
things.
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