What, then, is to be done? If it be granted, first, that the thoughts of
a certain character should be known to the audience, and, secondly, that
soliloquy, or the habit of thinking aloud, is in opposition to modern
stage technique, how shall a soliloquy be avoided without damage to the
play?

Well, there are more ways than one; and now we come to what is meant by
stagecraft. Stagecraft is the art of getting over these and other
difficulties, and (if possible) getting over them in a showy manner, so
that people will say, "How remarkable his stagecraft is for so young a
writer," when otherwise they mightn't have noticed it at all. Thus, in
this play we have been talking about, an easy way of avoiding Hamlet's
soliloquy would be for Ophelia to speak first.

_Oph._ What are you thinking about, my lord?

_Ham._ I am wondering whether to be or not to be, whether 'tis nobler in
the mind to suffer--

And so on, till you get to the end, when Ophelia might say, "Ah, yes," or
something non-committal of that sort. This would be an easy way of doing
it, but it would not be the best way, for the reason that it is too easy
to call attention to itself. What you want is to make it clear that you
are conveying Hamlet's thoughts to the audience in rather a clever
manner.

That this can now be done we have to thank the well-known inventor of the
telephone. (I forget his name.) The telephone has revolutionized the
stage; with its aid you can convey anything you like across the
footlights. In the old badly-made play it was frequently necessary for