it was reported that at the sumptuous performance of henry viii at his majesty’s theatre, the urns and goblets of the banquet were specially wrought in real and solid silver and in the style of the sixteenth century. this bombastic literalism is at least very much the fashion in our modern theatricals. mr. vincent crummles considered it a splendid piece of thoroughness on the part of an actor that he should black himself all over to perform othello. but mr. crummles’s ideal falls far short of the theoretic thoroughness of the late sir herbert tree; who would consider blacking oneself all over as comparatively a mere sham, compromise, and veneer. sir herbert tree would, i suppose, send for a real negro to act othello; and perhaps for a real jew to act shylock—though that, in the present condition of the english stage, might possibly be easier. the strict principle of the silver goblets might be a little more arduous and unpleasant if applied, let us say, to the arabian nights, if the manager of his majesty’s theatre presented aladdin, and had to produce not one real negro but a hundred real negroes, carrying a hundred baskets of gigantic and genuine jewels. in the presence of this proposal even sir herbert might fall back on a simpler philosophy of the drama. for the principle in itself admits of no limit. if once it be allowed that what looks like silver behind the footlights is better also for really being silver, there seems no reason why the wildest developments should not ensue. the priests in henry viii might be specially ordained in the green-room before they come on. nay, if it comes to that, the head of buckingham might really be cut off; as in the glad old days lamented by swinburne, before the coming of an emasculate mysticism removed real death from the arena. we might re-establish the goriness as well as the gorgeousness of the amphitheatre. if real wine-cups, why not real wine? if real wine, why not real blood?

nor is this an illegitimate or irrelevant deduction. this and a hundred other fantasies might follow if once we admit the first principle that we need to realize on the stage not merely the beauty of silver, but the value of silver. shakespeare’s famous phrase that art should hold the mirror up to nature is always taken as wholly realistic; but it is really idealistic and symbolic—at least, compared with the realism of his majesty’s. art is a mirror not because it is the same as the object, but because it is different. a mirror selects as much as art selects; it gives the light of flames, but not their heat; the colour of flowers, but not their fragrance; the faces of women, but not their voices; the proportions of stockbrokers, but not their solidity. a mirror is a vision of things, not a working model of them. and the silver seen in a mirror is not for sale.

but the results of the thing in practice are worse than its wildest results in theory. this arabian extravagance in the furniture and decoration of a play has one very practical disadvantage—that it narrows the number of experiments, confines them to a small and wealthy class, and makes those which are made exceptional, erratic, and unrepresentative of any general dramatic activity. one or two insanely expensive works prove nothing about the general state of art in a country. to take the parallel of a performance somewhat less dignified, perhaps, than sir herbert tree’s, there has lately been in america an exhibition not unanalogous to a conflict in the arena, and one for which a real negro actually was procured by the management. the negro happened to beat the white man, and both before and after this event people went about wildly talking of “the white man’s champion” and “the representative of the black race.” all black men were supposed to have triumphed over all white men in a sort of mysterious armageddon because one specialist met another specialist and tapped his claret or punched him in the bread-basket.

now the fact is, of course, that these two prize-fighters were so specially picked and trained—the business of producing such men is so elaborate, artificial, and expensive—that the result proves nothing whatever about the general condition of white men or black. if you go in for heroes or monsters it is obvious that they may be born anywhere. if you took the two tallest men on earth, one might be born in corea and the other in camberwell, but this would not make camberwell a land of giants inheriting the blood of anak. if you took the two thinnest men in the world, one might be a parisian and the other a red indian. and if you take the two most scientifically developed pugilists, it is not surprising that one of them should happen to be white and the other black. experiments of so special and profuse a kind have the character of monstrosities, like black tulips or blue roses. it is absurd to make them representative of races and causes that they do not represent. you might as well say that the bearded lady at a fair represents the masculine advance of modern woman; or that all europe was shaking under the banded armies of asia, because of the co-operation of the siamese twins.

so the plutocratic tendency of such performances as henry viii is to prevent rather than to embody any movement of historical or theatrical imagination. if the standard of expenditure is set so high by custom, the number of competitors must necessarily be small, and will probably be of a restricted and unsatisfactory type. instead of english history and english literature being as cheap as silver paper, they will be as dear as silver plate. the national culture, instead of being spread out everywhere like gold leaf, will be hardened into a few costly lumps of gold—and kept in very few pockets. the modern world is full of things that are theoretically open and popular, but practically private and even corrupt. in theory any tinker can be chosen to speak for his fellow-citizens among the english commons. in practice he may have to spend a thousand pounds on getting elected—a sum which many tinkers do not happen to have to spare. in theory it ought to be possible for any moderately successful actor with a sincere and interesting conception of wolsey to put that conception on the stage. in practice it looks as if he would have to ask himself, not whether he was as clever as wolsey, but whether he was as rich. he has to reflect, not whether he can enter into wolsey’s soul, but whether he can pay wolsey’s servants, purchase wolsey’s plate, and own wolsey’s palaces.

now people with wolsey’s money and people with wolsey’s mind are both rare; and even with him the mind came before the money. the chance of their being combined a second time is manifestly small and decreasing. the result will obviously be that thousands and millions may be spent on a theatrical misfit, and inappropriate and unconvincing impersonation; and all the time there may be a man outside who could have put on a red dressing-gown and made us feel in the presence of the most terrible of the tudor statesmen. the modern method is to sell shakespeare for thirty pieces of silver.