Focus: A Film Review (1950-1951)

2S0 prophecy as (her identity but half revealed by the subtle quality of Miss Allgood’s art) she proclaims that “many who are red-cheeked shall be pale-cheeked for her sake”. Listen to it now as it passes to a chant that has a strange, unearthly luminous quality about it. The old woman, an old woman no longer, moves across the threshold, but the spell of the voice holds us still : “They shall be remembered for ever.” How many torches of nationality have been kindled and rekindled at this flaming talent that leaped from beneath the dark hood of her Kathleen Mi Houlihan ? Such is the power of the stage in the possession of a great artist. The Personality of the Actor It has been said with truth that acting at its finest is a confusing hypnosis ; that the flames and fire of a Duse, the haunt and magic of a Bernhardt, are such in their effect that they disarm even the most discerning critic and defy analysis. Indeed, this argument has been used in an attempt to deny to acting the status of an art. It would be so easy to say : “Acting is not an art. Sara Allgood is a great artist who happened to be an actress.” Miss Allgood herself would, I know, be the very first to affirm that acting is an art in evert meaning of the term. There is a quality whereby the images of things absent are so represented to the mind that we seem to see them with our eyes and have them present before us. This quality. — the quality of imagination. — may be so thoroughly developed by the actor that he will have complete power over his emotions. The thorough development of the imagination (which is the whole secret of the art of acting) will eventually lead to the point at which, the imaginative chord being struck, the whole physical nature of the actor will respond. This gift of imaginative sympathy Miss Allgood possesses in a very high degree. The result is confusedly apprehended by an audience as “charm”, “magnetism” or by that never-failing word, “personality”. “A Few Moments Pause” That Miss Allgood’s art as an actress does not lie in her voice alone, or in her ability to use that voice, is amply illustrated in what must be counted as a supremely great moment in one of her greatest roles — Juno, in O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock , a portrayal in which she has never been surpassed. In Act III, after a scene of guffawing humour between Joxer and Captain Boyle, with the audience ready to titter upon the slightest provocation, Juno answers to the author’s simple directions : “Mrs. Boyle enters : it is apparent from the serious look on her face that something has happened. She takes off her hat and coat without a word and puts them by. She then sits down near the fire, and there is a few moments pause.” That is all. Sara Allgood’s entrance will not easily be forgotten by those who saw it. It is no exaggeration to say that her appearance literally compelled the audience to quiet, and held it for long after in a frozen silence. She never failed in this, no matter how boisterous the audience had been. Not a word was spoken by her. She did not even sigh. Her movements were few ; she made no gesture. On the contrary, she seemed to have shrunken from the effects of her inward consciousness. Juno simply comes home again, but, in that coming, the art of Sara Allgood makes tragically memorable the words in which the author has portrayed the scene : “She then sits down . . . and there is a few moments pause.” One feels instinctively in the presence of great tragedy. Economy of Style Perhaps the most notable quality in her acting is the quality which is to be found in the work of all great artists — economy in the use of the instruments of her art. One single gesture taken, one look, one tone, where the less talented will take six or seven and use them to less effect. Her emotion, even that surging emotion which she expresses in Riders to the Sea, is curbed with a magnificent restraint. I turn to my diary for the following account of my experience as a young actor playing a “walk-on” part in Synge’s one-act tragedy. It is as near as description can go to the effect of being on the stage with Sara Allgood. “Chapeaux bas ! Enter Miss Sara