ed to them most recently. If they think back
toward the beginning of the act, they must first think through the
concluding dialogue. This lends to curtain-falls a special importance of
which our modern dramatists never fail to take advantage.

It is interesting to remember that this simple form of emphasis by position
was impossible in the Elizabethan theatre and was quite unknown to
Shakespeare. His plays were produced on a platform without a curtain; his
actors had to make an exit at the end of every scene; and usually his plays
were acted from beginning to end without any intermission. It was therefore
impossible for him to bring his acts to an emphatic close by a clever
curtain-fall. We have gained this advantage only in recent times because of
the improved physical conditions of our theatre.

A few years ago it was customary for dramatists to end every act with a
bang that would reverberate in the ears of the audience throughout the
_entr'-acte_. Recently our playwrights have shown a tendency toward more
quiet curtain-falls. The exquisite close of the first act of _The Admirable
Crichton_ was merely dreamfully suggestive of the past and future of the
action; and the second act ended pictorially, without a word. But whether
a curtain-fall gains its effect actively or passively, it should, if
possible, sum up the entire dramatic accomplishment of the act that it
concludes and foreshadow the subsequent progress of the play.

Likewise, the first moments in an act are of necessity emphatic because
they are the first. After an intermission, the audience is prepared to
watch with renewed eagerness the resumption of the action. The close of the
third act of _Beau Brummel_ makes the audience long expectantly for the
opening of the fourth; and whatever the dramatist may do after the raising
of the curtain will be emphasised because he does it first. An exception
must be made of the opening act of a play. A dramatist seldom sets forth
anything of vital importance during the first ten minutes of his piece,
because the action is likely to be interrupted by late-comers in the
audience and other distractions incident to the early hour. But after an
intermission, he is surer of attention, and may thrust important matter
into the openings of his acts.

The last position, however, is more potent than the first. It is because of
their finality that exit speeches are emphatic. It has become customary in
the theatre to applaud a prom