d actor."

It was not often that he wrote on the theory of his work. There is an
essay by him, published in 1904, and called "The Play and the Public."
It is often quoted. But a good thing bears constant repetition, and
the following sounds Fitch's conviction on a fundamental belief:

I feel myself very strongly the particular value--a value
which, rightly or wrongly, I can't help feeling
inestimable--in a modern play of reflecting absolutely and
truthfully the life and environment about us; every class,
every kind, every emotion, every motive, every occupation,
every business, every idleness! Never was life so varied, so
complex; what a choice, then! Take what strikes you most, in
the hope it will interest others. Take what suits you most to
do--what perhaps you can do best--and then do it better. Be
truthful, and then nothing can be too big, nothing should be
too small, so long as it is here, and _there_! Apart from the
question of literature, apart from the question of art,
reflect the real thing with true observation and with sincere
feeling for what it is and what it represents, and that is
art and literature in a modern play. If you inculcate an idea
in your play, so much the better for your play and for
you--and for your audience. In fact, there is small hope for
your play _as_ a play if you haven't some small idea in it
somewhere and somehow, even if it is hidden--it is sometimes
better for you if it is hidden, but it must of course be
integral. Some ideas are mechanical. Then they are no good.
These are the ideas for which the author does all the work,
instead of letting the ideas do the work for him. One should
write what one sees, but observe under the surface. It is a
mistake to look at the reflection of the sky in the water of
theatrical convention. Instead, look up and into the sky of
real life itself.

All sound advice, and a compressed manual of dramatic technique for
the beginner! But Fitch had the darting eye of a migratory interest.
He often didn't "follow through," as they say in golf. With the
result that he is often scored for insufficient motivation. But my
knowledge of him makes me realize he felt and saw deeper than his
epigrammatic style indicated. His technique was therefore often
threadbare in spots,--not of that even mesh which makes of Pinero such
an exceptional designer. I would