The Amateur's Hand-Book and Guide to Home or Drawing Room Theatricals; How to Get Them Up and How to Act in Them - To Which Is Added How to Get Up Theatricals in a Country House, and a Supplement to August #271933

The art Of acting is the holding the mirror up to nature; to reflect character, to delineate by means of voice, manner, facial expression, and gesture certain creations drawn by the dramatist from his knowledge of human nature and clothed either in the garb of to-day, or in that of a past age. The highest aim of the actor is to identify him self with the character he is personating, to abstract himself from the real into the ideal. The more thoroughly he effects _this, the more complete is the illusion: and if it be perfectly carried out the audience will forget the actor in the impersonation. Of course it is not to be supposed that many can be found in any circle of private life who have sufficient genius to reach this point. Every person has however a certain amount of individuality, or strongly defined mark of character which causes him to differ from others, or in fact makes him what he is. And even in a number of apparently extremely common-place people a large amount of individuality will be discovered, which is capable of being applied to dramatic purposes.