6. A reconstructed and enlightened censorship would be armed with
summary and effective powers which would stop the evasions by
which heretical and immoral plays are now performed in spite of
the Lord Chamberlain; and such powers would constitute a tyranny
which would ruin the theatre spiritually by driving all
independent thinkers from the drama into the uncensored
forms of art.
7. The work of critically examining all stage plays in their
written form, and of witnessing their performance in order to see
that the sense is not altered by the stage business, would, even
if it were divided among so many officials as to be physically
possible, be mentally impossible to persons of taste and
enlightenment.
8. Regulation of theatres is an entirely different matter from
censorship, inasmuch as a theatre, being not only a stage, but a
place licensed for the sale of spirits, and a public resort
capable of being put to disorderly use, and needing special
provision for the safety of audiences in cases of fire, etc.,
cannot be abandoned wholly to private control, and may therefore
reasonably be made subject to an annual licence like those now
required before allowing premises to be used publicly for music
and dancing.
9. In order to prevent the powers of the licensing authority
being abused so as to constitute a virtual censorship, any Act
transferring the theatres to the control of a licensing authority
should be made also a charter of the rights of dramatic authors
and managers by the following provisions:
A.
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