2.  How Pantomime Helps to Condense Story and Illumine Character

Consider the inimitable gesture the Latins use when they wish to express their helplessness.  The shoulders shrug until the man seems folding into himself, his hands come together approaching his face and then he drops them despairingly to his side as if he would say:  “But what can I do?” A gesture such as this reveals in a flash the depths of a human soul.  Volumes could say no more.

This is what the actor may bring to your playlet, and what you, with the greatest caution, may sometimes—­though rarely—­indicate in your manuscript.

“Walk up stage,” said David Belasco to an actor who was proving “difficult,” “and when you turn your back, get some meaning into it.  Make your back express—­the whole play, if you can.”  Most certainly you would not write this in the directions for a playlet—­the producer would laugh at it and the actor would be indignant.  But you might with the greatest helpfulness direct that the character turn his back—­and this is the point of the problem—­if, by turning his back on some one, the character conveys, say, contempt for or fearlessness of an enemy’s bravado.  Every direction for acting in your playlet must be of such a kind that anyone can convey the meaning—­because the emphasis is inherent in the situation.  A stage direction ought not to depend for its value on the actor’s ability.  If this were not so, play writing would consist chiefly in engaging fine actors.

When an actor receives a part he studies it not only to learn the lines, but with the desire to familiarize himself with the character so thoroughly that he may not seem to be playing it.  He hopes to make the audience feel that the character is alive.  For this reason, it is not amiss to indicate characteristic actions once in a while.  A good example of this is found in “The Lollard,” where Angela says to Miss Carey:  “But—­excuse me—­how do you know so many different kinds of men if you’ve never been married?”

“Boarders,” says Miss Carey quickly.  “To make ends meet, I’ve always had to have a male boarder since I was left an orphan.”  “She rises—­turns her back to audience—­gives a touch to her pigtail, during laugh on this line.  This business always builds laugh,” say the directions.  It is such little touches that stamp a character as individual; and therefore they are just the little touches the playwright may add to his manuscript by way of suggestion to the actor.  They may be very helpful, indeed, but they should be made with great care and discretion.  For the actor, if he is a capable performer, is ready when rehearsal begins with many suggestions of a like nature.  He will often suggest something that will not only exhibit character clearly, but will also condense story by eliminating needless words and movement.