Practical English Composition Part 16

Write a notice of one of the plays now on the local stage.

II. Explanation

To keep its readers informed of the character of the plays being presented at local theaters is one of the functions of the newspaper. If the play is a cla.s.sic, only the quality of the acting need be discussed.

If it is new, the notice should also include a description of the play and of its merit. Fortunately, this can always be determined by one simple test--a test suggested by no less a critic than William Shakespeare: Does it hold the mirror up to nature? Does it give, in other words, an accurate picture of life? The stage, it may be added, always has been and is now infested by many so-called plays which are not plays at all, but mere conglomerations of more or less (usually less) moral and amusing jokes and antics. The events which some of them depict could occur neither on the earth, in the sky above the earth, nor in the waters underneath the earth. From others it would be impossible to cut out any character or scene without improving the whole. They fill the theater with people and the manager's pocket-book with money, but they are not plays.

III. Models

I

_The Melting Pot_ comes to New York with a Chicago indors.e.m.e.nt and the authority lent by the name of Mr. Israel Zangwill, as author. Mr. Zangwill's theme is that the United States is a crucible in which all the races and nationalities of the world are to be fused into one glorious people.

As a play _The Melting Pot_ has the intellectual tone to be expected from Mr. Zangwill. It also has really poetic touches.

In humor it is less successful. In dramatic construction it is faulty, as are so many of the contemporary plays which try to teach or preach something.

The play brings back to New York after a long absence that excellent actor, Mr. Walker Whiteside.--METCALFE in _Life_ (abbreviated).[7]

[7] Reprinted by permission of _Life_.

II

Of _David Copperfield_, d.i.c.kens's favorite among his own works, there have been dramatizations almost innumerable. The latest, called the _Highway of Life_, by Louis N. Parker, author of _Pomander Walk_ and _Disraeli_, has been done with extreme reverence for the text and with an elaborate scenic invest.i.ture that would have made glad the heart of the novelist, enamored as he was of the theater.

It was to have been the autumn offering at His Majesty's in London, with Sir Herbert Tree doubling as _Micawber_ and _Dan'l Peggotty_. The war caused a change of plans, so the first performance on any stage took place at Wallack's in New York.

Lennox Pawle, Mr. Parker's son-in-law, realized a long-cherished ambition to step forth as _Micawber_. Fresh from his multimillionaire of _The Money Makers_, came Emmet Corrigan for _Dan'l Peggotty_. _Betsey Trotwood_ fell to Eva Vincent. The Lieblers were especially happy in their selection of a _Mrs.

Micawber_ in the person of Maggie Holloway Fisher. She spent days digging out and fashioning the costume she wears, and no one ever murdered a song more successfully than she at David's dinner-party. An astonishingly faithful imitation of her languishing airs is given by Philip Tonge, when, as _Traddles_, he reads _Micawber's_ letter. J. V. Bryant, the _Copperfield_, and Vernon Steele, the _Steerforth_, are both English. O. P.

Heggie deserves more than a pa.s.sing word of commendation for the things he refrains from doing as _Uriah Heep_. He is not forever going through that waterless washing of the hands.

There are ten different sets of scenery in _The Highway of Life_, all charming or effective as the case may be. For the background of Mr. Wickfield's garden at Canterbury we have a glimpse of the famous cathedral, and from _Betsey Trotwood's_ domain we get a view of the chalk cliffs and downs at Dover. A happy conceit throws shadow pictures of the princ.i.p.al characters upon a sheet as they cross the stage just before the first curtain rises.--MATTHEW WHITE, JR., in _Munsey's_ (abbreviated).[8]

[8] Reprinted by permission of _Munsey's_.

IV. Notes and Queries

1. What is the subject of each paragraph in Model I?

2. Explain the function of each sentence in Model I.

3. Discuss the meaning and etymology of the following terms: Chicago indors.e.m.e.nt; theme; crucible; fuse; contemporary.

4. Who is Israel Zangwill?

5. Tell the story of David Copperfield.

6. Why does Matthew White not tell it?

7. Discuss the uses of the apostrophe.

8. Discuss the meaning and etymology of: dramatization; extreme; elaborate; invest.i.ture; novelist; enamored; theater; doubling; ambition; sets.

9. What is the subject of each paragraph in Model II?

10. Find at least two metaphors in the models.

V. Gathering Material

Material for this exercise may be secured in three places:

1. At the theater.

2. At a school play.

3. By reading, in case there is no chance to see a play, one of the following:

Fitch, W. C. _Barbara Frietchie_, or _Nathan Hale_.

Gilbert, W. S. _The Mikado_, or _Pinafore_.

Goldsmith, O. _She Stoops to Conquer._ Maeterlinck, Maurice. _The Bluebird._ Phillips, Stephen. _Ulysses._ Shakespeare, W. Any play.

Shaw, G. B. _Caesar and Cleopatra._ Sheridan, R. B. _The Rivals_, or _The School for Scandal_.

Tarkington, Booth. _The Man from Home._

VI. Organization

From the following list of paragraph topics, select those which are best worth discussing in connection with the play which you desire to review.

Select those about which you can get the fullest information.

1. The Four W's.

2. The Story.

3. The Theme.

4. Poetry.

5. Humor.

6. Construction.

7. Philosophy.

8. The Actors.

9. The Scenery.

10. Character Portrayal.

If the play is noteworthy for its poetry, its wit, or its philosophy, these should be ill.u.s.trated by one or two quotations. If the chief interest is in the story, tell the story. If its strength is derived from the skill of the actors, from the setting, or from character portrayal, devote your attention to a clear exposition of these phases of the play. Do not permit your notice to be shorter than I nor longer than II.

VII. Suggested Time Schedule

_Monday_--Discussion of Mistakes in former Themes.