Page:Men of Letters, Scott, 1916.djvu/195

169 THE REAL STANLEY HOUGHTON 169 wanted, provided all the proper thrills. He was a realist only in the sense that he thoroughly realized the situation. That was why his suburban drawing-room expanded suddenly into the staggering proportions of a full- sized civic theatre, clamorous with applause. Miss Horniman had established her Repertory Theatre in Manchester ; there was an excited demand for a local playwright; Houghton was hurried forward. Inde- pendent Means was seized and staged. Anybody who knows Lancashire will guess what would happen next; those who do not could learn from Hindle Wakes. There was a moment of deep thought, of silent rumination — and then Houghton leant forward swiftly, touched this and that with quickening hands, and instantly, as by a trick of magic, his auditorium swelled again — and there he was a famous dramatist, taking his first triumphant call before the curtain of a crashing West-End house. Ill This part of the process is probably the most inter- esting of all ; it is worth explaining how the tremendous trick was done. What London expresses an admira- tion for to-day, Lancashire will provide to-morrow. The first of Houghton's plays to be performed in Manchester — the plays which form the first section of those reprinted in his Works — were really only private theatricals done in public. Realizing that perfectly, he resolved to make good. Who were our least suburban playwrights? Criticism (most uncom- promising in Manchester just then) solemnly certified the incalculable and unquestionable superiority of St. John Hankin, Barker, Wilde, and Bernard Shaw. Houghton bought their books and studied them stead- fastly, with splendid, solemn thoroughness of provin-