The Peace Egg and Other tales Part 11

Yours, &c.,

BURNT CORK.

HINTS FOR PRIVATE THEATRICALS.--II.

MY DEAR ROUGE POT,--I promised to say a few words about _rough and ready properties_.

The most indispensable of all is _the curtain_, which can be made (at small expense) to roll up and come down in orthodox fashion. Even better are two curtains, with the rings and strings so arranged that the curtains can be pulled apart or together by some one in the wings.

Any upholsterer will do this. A double drawing-room with folding doors is of course "made for theatricals." The difficulty of having only one exit from the stage--the door of the room--may be met by having a screen on the other side. But then _the actors who go out behind the screen, must be those who will not have to come in again till the curtain has been drawn_.

If, however, the room, or part of a room, devoted to the stage is large enough for an amateur proscenium, with "wings" at the sides, and s.p.a.ce behind the "scenes" to conceal the actors, and enable them to go round, of course there can be as many exits as are needed.

A proscenium is quite a possibility. _The framework in which the curtain falls need not be an expensive or complicated concern._ Two wooden uprights, firmly fastened to the floor by bolt and socket, each upright being four or five feet from the wall on either side; a cross-bar resting on the top, but the whole width of the room, to which (if it draws up) the curtain is to be nailed; a curtain, with a wooden pole in the hem at the bottom to steady it (like a window-blind); long, narrow, fixed curtains to fall from the cross-bar at each end where it projects beyond the uprights, so as to fill the s.p.a.ce between each upright and the wall of the room, and hide the wings; some bright wall-paper border to fasten on to the uprights and cross-bar, as decoration;--these are not expensive matters, and the little carpentry needed could be done in a very short time by a village carpenter.

And here, my dear Rouge Pot, I feel inclined to say a word to "Parents and Guardians." _I wish that a small annual outlay on little pleasures were oftener reckoned among legitimate expenses in middle-cla.s.s British families._ But little pleasures and alms are apt to be left till they are asked for, and then grudged. Though, if the annual expenses under these two heads were summed up at the end of the year, we should perhaps be more inclined to blush than to bewail our extravagances. As to little pleasures, I am not speaking of toys and books and presents, of which children have commonly six times as many now-a-days as they can learn to love; nor do I mean such pleasures as the month at the seaside, which I should be sorry to describe as a light matter for papa's purse. But I mean little pleasures of the children's own devising, for which some trifling help from the elders will make all the difference between failure and success. In short, my dear Rouge Pot, at the present moment I mean the children's theatricals; and papa himself will confess that, whereas two or three pounds, "up or down," in the seaside move, would hardly be considered, and fifteen shillings "more or less" in the price of a new dining-room fender would upset n.o.body's nerves in the household--if "the children"

asked for a day's work of the village carpenter, and seven and sixpence worth of wood, to carry out a project of their own, it would be considered a great waste of money. However, it is only fair to add that the young people themselves will do wisely to establish a "theatrical fund" box, which will not open, and to put in a fixed percentage of everybody's pocket-money to acc.u.mulate for some genuine properties when the theatrical season begins.

The question of _scenery_ of course must depend on the resources of the company. But _acting may be very successful without any at all_.

It must never be forgotten that _those who look and listen can also imagine_, and unless tolerably good scenes can be had, it is almost better to content oneself with what served in the days of Shakespeare--a written placard of what the scene is supposed to be.

_Shakespeare scenery_, as we may call it, will amuse people of itself, and a good piece and good actors will not suffer from its use. Thus, if _The Barmecide_ is being played, Alnaschan and Ina will be "discovered" standing in an empty room, at the back of which a placard will bear this inscription in large letters--A STREET IN BAGDAD.

It is possible, however, that your company may include some water-colour artist, who will try his or her hand at scene-painting in the barn. Well: he will want canvas or unbleached calico, which must be covered completely with a "first wash" of whitening and size, mixed to a freely working consistency, and laid on with a white-wash brush.

When dry, he must outline his scene on this in charcoal. The painting is then to be done in distemper--all the effects are put in by the first wash; lights and shadows in their full tone, &c. He will use powder paints, mix them with size (which must be kept warm on a fire), and add white for body-colour when he wants to lay one colour over another. I will add four hints. _For a small stage avoid scenes with extreme perspective. Keep the general colouring rather sober, so as to harmonize with the actors' dresses. Only broad effects will show. Keep stepping back to judge your work from a distance._ In a wood, for instance, the distance may be largely blue and grey, and the foreground trees a good deal in warm browns and dull olive. _Paint by candle-light when convenient._

_All the lights in your theatre must be protected by gla.s.ses. The footlights should have reflectors behind them_, or a board about eighteen inches high with block-tin nailed on it. Failing this, a plain polished fender, in which candles or lamps can be placed, will serve. _There must also be sidelights_, or the footlights will cast shadows. _Long strips of coloured gla.s.s, in frames, can lie flat in front of the stage when not in use, and be raised up when wanted, between the footlights and the stage--blue for moonlight, yellow for sunshine, rose-colour for sunset scenes and fairy effects._ A shade may be quickly thrown up between the footlights and the stage, _on the same principle, if darkness is required. For thunder, shake a thin sheet of iron behind the scenes. Powdered resin or lycopodium thrown on to the flame of a candle from a quill_ is said to be effective as _lightning_. But any tricks with naked lights, in the confusion of private theatricals, are objectionable, and should never be used except by some grown-up person not among the actors. _For rain, shake parched peas in a box with irregular part.i.tions. For a full moon, cut a round hole in your scene, cover it with some translucent material, and hold a lamp behind it_; the blue-gla.s.s shade must be up before the footlights. A similar hole, or, if low on the horizon, a half-moon-shaped one, with a crimson transparency, will do for a setting sun--then the rose-coloured gla.s.s will be required before the footlights.

I have no further s.p.a.ce just now, my dear Rouge Pot; but you may expect another letter from me on Scenery Screens, Properties and Costumes.

Yours, &c.,

BURNT CORK.

HINTS FOR PRIVATE THEATRICALS.--III.

MY DEAR ROUGE POT,--I promised to say something about _scenery screens_.

If the house happens to boast a modern pseudo-j.a.panese screen of a large size (say six feet high), it will make a very pretty background for a drawing-room scene, and admit of entrances as I suggested. But _screens with light grounds are also very valuable as reflectors_, carrying the light into the back of the stage. There is generally a want of light on the amateur stage, and all means to remedy this defect and brighten up matters are worth considering.

_Folding screens_ may be covered on both sides _with strips of lining wall-paper of delicate tints, pinned on with drawing-pins_. The paper can be left plain, or it may serve as the background on which to affix "Shakespeare Scenery." Or again, your amateur painter will find an easier and more effective reward for such labour as he will not grudge to bestow in the holidays, if, instead of attempting the ambitious task of scene-painting on canvas, he adorns these scenery screens with j.a.panese designs in water-colours. Bold and not too crowded combinations of b.u.t.terflies and flamingoes, tortoises, dragons, water-reeds, flowers and ferns. He need not hesitate to employ Bessemer's gold and silver paints, with discretion, and the two sides of the screen can be done in different ways. The j.a.panesque side would make a good drawing-room background, and some other scene (such as a wood) might be indicated on the other with a nearer approach to real scene-painting. _These screens light up beautifully, and are well adapted for drawing-room theatricals._

In the common event of your requiring a bit of a cottage with a practicable door to be visible, it will be seen that two folds of a screen, painted with bricks and windows, may be made to do duty in no ill fashion as the two sides of a house, and with a movable porch (a valuable stage property) the entrance can be contrived just out of sight. _The stage will be brightened up by laying down a "crumb cloth," or covering it with holland._ A drawing-room scene is made very pretty _by hanging up pairs of the summer white muslin curtains, looped with gay ribbons, as if there were windows in the sides of the stage_.

If a fireplace is wanted and will do at the side, a mantelpiece is easily represented, and a banner screen will help to conceal the absence of a grate. A showy specimen of that dreadful thing, a paper grate-ornament, flowing well down into the fender, may sometimes hide deficiencies. The appearance of _hot coals in a practicable grate_ is given by _irregularly-shaped pieces of red gla.s.s, through which light is thrown from a candle behind_.

A very important part of your preparations will be _the dresses_.

Now of dresses it may be said--as we have said of scenery--that if the actors are clever, very slight (if suggestive) accessories in the way of costume will suffice. At the same time, whilst the scenery can never be good enough in amateur theatricals to cover deficiencies in the performance, good costumes may be a most material help to the success of a piece. Very little wit is demanded from the young gentleman who plays the part of a monkey, if his felt coat is well made, and his monkey-mask comical, and if he has acquired some dexterity in the management of his tail.

I think, my dear Rouge Pot, that you were taken to see that splendid exhibition of stage properties, _Babil and Bijou_? Do you remember the delightful effect of the tribe of oysters? The little boys who played the oysters had nothing to do but to hop and run, and keep their sh.e.l.ls nicely in front of them, and yet how we laughed at them! Now, in a large family, such parts as these afford an opportunity for allowing "the little ones" to "act," and so to become accustomed to the stage, before they can be trusted to learn written parts. Nor are _comical costumes_ beyond the powers of home manufacturers.

You know those men--sandwich-men as they are often called!--who go about the London streets with one board in front and one behind. These boards are of simple shape and only reach from the shoulder, to a little below the knee; they are only wanted to paste advertis.e.m.e.nts on. But if you think about it, you will see that to have the boards high enough to hide the head, and low enough to hide the legs, rounded at the top like a scallop sh.e.l.l, with the ribs of the sh.e.l.l nicely painted, eyeholes to peep through, and the hinge of the sh.e.l.l arranged to conceal the feet, would be no very great effort of skill. _Sandwich costumes for the little ones_ might be of many effective shapes. Thick paste-board would probably be strong enough for very little people, and in many cases a covered framework would be better still, and if you have a kite-maker in your troupe, you had better commit these costumes to his skill and ingenuity. A very simple device would be that of flower-pots painted red. They need come no higher than the chin, if a good thick bush is firmly held by the little hands behind, so as to conceal the face. But no doubt, my dear Rouge Pot, you will say, "if we have no plays with such characters in, we cannot have them, however desirable it may be to bring in the little ones." But I think you will find some of the elders ingenious enough to "tack them on" to your pieces if required, especially to those founded on fairy tales.

_Glazed calico_ is the amateur costume-maker's best friend. It is cheap, it is shiny, and it can be had in all the most effective colours. I have never seen a very good green; but the turquoise blue, the pink, and the yellow, are of those pretty Dresden china shades which Mr. Marcus Ward and other Christmas-card makers use to such good purpose against gold backgrounds. Many of these Christmas cards, by the bye, with children dressed in ancient costumes painted by good artists, will give you and your sisters help in a tasteful combination of colours; and besides the gold and silver powder paints, which answer admirably, gold and silver paper can be had to cut stars and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of various sorts from, to st.i.tch or gum on to fairies'

dresses, &c.

Tarlatan can now be had in hues that almost rival the colours of flowers, but I fear that only the white can be had "fire-proof."

Gauze wings, flowing hair, and tarlatan skirts, combined with the "flurry" of the performances, the confined s.p.a.ce behind the scenes, and lights everywhere, form a dangerous combination which it makes one shudder to think of. The truth is, my dear Rouge Pot, it cannot be too often or too emphatically repeated that _naked lights on the stage or behind the scenes in amateur theatricals are as wrong as in a coal-mine_. Gla.s.s shades for the bedroom candles--with which boy-brothers, seeing imperfectly through masks, will rush past little sisters whose newly-crimped hair and tarlatan skirts are sticking out, they can't feel how far behind them--cost a few shillings, _and the mental effort of resolving to have and use them_. Depend upon it, Rouge Pot, the latter is the greater difficulty! And yet our petty economies in matters which affect our health, our daily comfort, or our lives, are wonderful, when the dangers or discomforts we have to avert may, _by chance_, be averted by good luck at no cost at all. So perhaps the few shillings have something to do with it. I hope they will always be expended on safety gla.s.ses for all lights in use on or about your stage.

Well, glazed calico and tarlatan are very effective, and so is cotton velvet or velveteen; but in every family there will probably be found a few articles of finery originally made of expensive materials, but which are now yielded to the juvenile property-box, and from experience I can a.s.sure you that these are valuable treasures. I have a tender remembrance of a few which were our _pieces de resistance_ when we "dressed up" either for charades or one of Miss Corner's plays--"in my young days." A black satin dress--ancient, but of such l.u.s.tre and softness as satins are not made now; a real camel's-hair burnous, dyed crimson; a green satin driving cloak, lined with fur--these things did not crush and tumble during their long periods of repose in the property-box, as tarlatan skirts and calico doublets were apt to do. Most valuable of all, a grey wig, worn right side foremost by our elderly gentlemen, and wrong side foremost (so as to bring the pig-tail curls over the forehead) by our elderly ladies. Fur gloves, which, with a black rabbit-skin mask over her rosy cheeks, gave ferocity in the part of "the Beast" to our jolliest little actress. A pair of claret-coloured stockings, silk throughout, and a pair of yellow leather slippers, embroidered with gold, doubtless bought long years back in some Eastern bazaar, &c., &c. There came a date in our theatrical history when only one pair of feet could get right into these much-desired shoes, heels and all; and as the individual who owned them was also supposed to display the claret-coloured stockings to the best advantage, both these important properties, with the part of Prince to which our custom a.s.signed them, fell to an actor who could lay no other claim to pre-eminence.

Surely your home will provide one or two of these "stand-bys" of the green-room, and you will not fail to value them, I a.s.sure you. I hope you will not fight for them!

_Wigs are very important. Unbleached calico is a very fair imitation of the skin of one's head._ A skull-cap made of it will do for a bald pate, or, with a black pig-tail and judicious face-painting, will turn any smooth-faced actor into a very pa.s.sable Chinaman. Flowing locks of tow, st.i.tched on round the lower part, will convert it into a patriarchal wig. _n.i.g.g.e.r wigs are made of curly black horsehair fastened on to a black skull-cap._ Moustaches and whiskers can be bought at small expense, but if well painted the effect is nearly as good.

As to _face-painting_. Rouge is indispensable, but care must be taken not to overdo it. The eyebrows must be darkened with sepia or Indian ink, and a camel's-hair brush--especially for fair people. With the same materials you must deepen all the lines of the face, if you want to make a young person look like an old one. The cheek lines on each side of the nose, furrows across the forehead, and crow's-foot marks by the eyes, are required for an old face; but if the audience are to be very close to the stage, you must be careful not to overdo your painting. Violet powder is the simplest and least irritating white for the skin. Rouge should be laid on with a hare's foot. If your "old man" is wearing a bald wig, be careful to colour his forehead to match as well as possible with his bald pate. All these applications are more or less irritating to one's skin. It is said to be a mistake to _wash_ them off. Cold cream should be rubbed over the face, and then wiped off with a soft towel.

As a parting hint, my dear Rouge Pot, when you have pa.s.sed the stage of child-plays in rhyme--but do not be in a _hurry_ to discard such universal favourites as _d.i.c.k Whittington_, _Beauty and the Beast_, and _Cinderella_--don't be too ambitious in your selection from "grown-up" plays. As a matter of experience, when _we_ got beyond Miss Corner we took to farces, and found them very successful. There are many which play well in young hands, and only require the omission of a few coa.r.s.e expressions, which, being intended to raise a laugh among "roughs" in the gallery of a public theatre, need hardly be hurled at the ears of one's private friends.

I am bound to say that competent critics have told me that farces were about the most difficult things we could have attempted. I can only say that we found them answer. Partly, perhaps, because it requires a less high skill to raise a laugh than to move by pa.s.sion or pathos.

Partly, too, because farces are short, and amateurs can make no greater mistake than to weary their audience.

If you prefer "dress pieces" and dramas to farces or burlesque, let some competent person curtail the one you choose to a suitable length.

The manager of juvenile theatricals should never forget the wisdom embodied in Sam Weller's definition of the art of letter-writing, that the writer should stop short at such a point as that the reader should "wish there wos more of it."

Yours, &c.,

BURNT CORK.

SNAP-DRAGONS.

SNAP-DRAGONS.

A TALE OF CHRISTMAS EVE.

MR. AND MRS. SKRATDJ.

Once upon a time there lived a certain family of the name of Skratdj.

(It has a Russian or Polish look, and yet they most certainly lived in England.) They were remarkable for the following peculiarity. They seldom seriously quarrelled, but they never agreed about anything. It is hard to say whether it were more painful for their friends to hear them constantly contradicting each other, or gratifying to discover that it "meant nothing," and was "only their way."