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Book Examines Early Suspicions of Actors, Theater |
| By
Vicki L. Kroll |
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May 8, 2002 |
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| Dr. Matthew H. Wikander |
This above all, to thine own self be true
And it follows, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
This advice from Polonius in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” was likely aimed at more than his son, Laertes. Many scholars believe the bard was addressing the anti-theatrical critics of his day. Never one to pass up irony, the playwright used a politician to deliver the words.
“The idea that acting is hypocrisy was a constant in moral pamphleteering in the 17th and 18th centuries in England and France,” said Dr. Matthew H. Wikander, professor of English. “The malicious charge that an actor must necessarily be a hypocrite, false at the level of the profound heart, finds expression in innumerable tracts railing against the theater.”
Wikander examines anti-theatrical tracts and plays of the period in his new book, Fangs of Malice — Hypocrisy, Sincerity and Acting, which was released last week by the University of Iowa Press.
The title comes from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” When a disguised Viola is asked if she’s a comedian, she replies, “No, my profound heart, and yet, by the fangs of malice I swear I am not that I play.”
“The phrase sank its teeth into me,” Wikander said. “Viola is determined not to be mistaken for a professional actor or comedian, but the malice she invokes — gossip, scandal, slander — is in some special ways a constant companion to members of that profession.”
He explores three main types of slanders. “I structured the book in acts and scenes partly because I have a theatrical imagination and partly because a lot of anti-theatrical criticism was constructed that way — I thought I would turn it around and reproach the reproach.”
Following a prologue, the first act is titled “They Dress Up.” “This deals with hypocrisy of costumes and redefining yourself through costumes,” Wikander said. “The scenes look at cross-dressing, putting on the cloth or dressing like a priest, and foppish slavery to fashion.
“The second act is about tricking people without wearing a costume by looking as though you’re sincere. I call that chapter ‘They Lie,’” he said. Wikander uses Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau’s theory that all social life is deceit. He examines18th-century plays where characters are tricked into revealing their true selves — like Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s “School for Scandal” and 19th-century plays in which characters are self-deceivers, like Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler.” And he analyzes politicians through Shakespeare’s Prince Hal in “Henry IV.”
“The anti-theatrical prejudice offers a unique perspective on the high value that modern western culture places on sincerity — being true to one’s self,” Wikander said. “Rousseau and others argue that actors, experts at seeming other than they are, pose a threat to society.”
“They Drink” is the final act. “It’s about the universal attribution of anti-social behaviors to actors. Drinking stands in for a lot of other vices — personal dissolution, wasting your time, using medications, gambling and promiscuity,” Wikander said.
As an actor married to a playwright, Wikander offers a perceptive view in the 238-page book. He and his wife, Christine Child, UT theatre instructor, are among the founding members of the North Coast Theatre, which performs regularly at the Toledo Museum of Art.
“I think one thing you learn as an actor is that these prejudices die very hard,” he said. “There’s still a lot of distrust and suspicion of persons who work in theater; it’s not as obvious now as it was with the anti-theatrical pamphlets, but you do notice it.”
Fangs of Malice is Wikander’s third book. He also wrote The Play of Truth and State: Historical Drama From Shakespeare to Brecht (1986) and Princes to Act: Royal Audiences and Royal Performance, 1578-1792 (1993).
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