E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Lisa Reigel,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THE DRAMA
Addresses by
HENRY IRVING
| I II III IV | . . . . | The Stage as it is The Art of Acting Four Great Actors The Art of Acting |
CONTENTS
LECTURE
SESSIONAL OPENING
PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION
EDINBURGH
8 NOVEMBER 1881
THE STAGE AS IT IS.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
You will not be surprised that, on this interesting occasion, I haveselected as the subject of the few remarks I propose to offer you,"The Stage as it is." The stage—because to my profession I owe itthat I am here, and every dictate of taste and of fidelity impels meto honor it; the stage as it is—because it is very cheap and emptyhonor that is paid to the drama in the abstract, and withheld from thetheatre as a working institution in our midst. Fortunately there isless of this than there used to be. It arose partly from intellectualsuperciliousness, partly from timidity as to moral contamination. To[10]boast of being able to appreciate Shakespeare more in reading him thanin seeing him acted