ABSTRACT
Nowadays the public is extremely sensitive. It is much more worthwhile not to have the public make a noise and shout, but to have them undergo a more lasting influence, to have impressions sink deep into their hearts, take root and remain forever a part of their being. It is infinitely worthwhile when theatrical impressions become living impressions, when the actors in the plays become close, beloved friends. All the great actors of the past, partly consciously and partly unconsciously, sought to arrive at this relationship. The less an actor plays for the public the more mysterious and indefinable will be his bond with it, the more intimate and profound. For Anton Chekhov characters use certain words, but these do not reveal their life and emotions. A director who is putting on a play can be compared to a chemist. He finds the real essence of the one and of the other and puts them into some kind of retort.
