ABSTRACT
The painters or the poets sit at home or studios they are not dependent on anyone and they can work whenever they choose. An actor who, when he enters the theatre, does not feel a slight tremor passes through him at the thought that here, nearby, is the stage, will never be a true actor. And an opera singer is, in addition, dependent on the conductor once the widow of Richard Wagner took me backstage. In the space of one minute the ship had to be removed and in its place were put the women with their spinning wheels-and all without a single sound. One cannot play Beethoven off key, or on an instrument which is out of tune. Oscar Wilde is quoted as having once said: An actor is a showman or a creator, a priest or a fool. Every actor should feel that it is on the stage that art is created; otherwise he is no actor.
