He looked back upon the reading, afterwards, as the
best hour in the business, because it was then that the piece had
most struck him as represented. What came later was the doing of
others; but this, with its imperfections and failures, was all his
own. The drama lived, at any rate, for that hour, with an intensity
that it was promptly to lose in the poverty and patchiness of
rehearsal; he could see its life reflected, in a way that was sweet
to him, in the stillness of the little semi-circle of attentive and
inscrutable, of water-proofed and muddy-booted, actors. Miss Violet
Grey was the auditor he had most to say to, and he tried on the spot,
across the shabby stage, to let her have the soul of her part. Her
attitude was graceful, but though she appeared to listen with all her
faculties her face remained perfectly blank; a fact, however, not
discouraging to Wayworth, who liked her better for not being
premature. Her companions gave discernible signs of recognising the
passages of comedy; yet Wayworth forgave her even then for being
inexpressive.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49