Performance under Pressure

Abstract

of my contemporaries certain obstacles which acting must hurdle before it can reach the public. Like most people, I find a certain enjoyment in things with alarm, and first, I hope you will indulge me in such oversimplifications and exaggerations as are bound to accompany the viewing with alarm type of trend spotting. Second, it is important to remember that the subject I am dealing with is very poorly documented-that the skills, moods, emotions, and personality exploitations that go to make up a performance are so evanescent that any discussion of them is likely to share that quality. And thirdly, you may be more sympathetic toward my conclusions if I am explicit about the point of view from which they arise. You are probably familiar with Mr. Harley Granville-Barker's preface to Hamlet, the first few pages of which express this point of view expertly. Mr. Granville-Barker considers that the dramatist's master secret is to learn