The Salvini company embraces, besides
the two brothers Tommaso and Alessandro, several Piamontis, two or
three Piccininis and two Colonellos. I once knew in Italy a manager
named Spada who directed a little troupe of buffo actors consisting
of his grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, three or four
uncles and aunts, two brothers, and one or two sisters, in addition to
himself, his wife and children. Such facts are in part accounted for
by the social status--or rather want of status--of the profession.
Down to within a very recent period ecclesiastical censures weighed
heavily upon all actors, and Christian burial was denied them unless
during their final illness they had formally declared their intention
to abandon the stage in case of recovery. So severe a condemnation on
the part of the clergy naturally produced a strong prejudice against
those who connected themselves in any way with the stage; and it is
only recently that in Italy, a land where social changes are slow, the
doors of her somewhat formal society have been opened to admit even
persons so distinguished in every sense of the word as are Ristori,
Piamonti, Salvini and Rossi. The social unfriendliness of the
audiences--who can applaud so enthusiastically that a stranger
witnessing for the first time their noisy demonstrations would easily
believe every man and woman in the theatre ready to die for the sake
of the admired artist--is doubtless the cause of the patriarchal
system observable in the formation of Italian dramatic companies.
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