Academy of the Visitation - Crescent Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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THE ELIZABETHAN THEATRE The theatre of the tlme of ueen Elizabeth was a large roundlng or hexagonal buxldrng wlthout wlndows walled up for about fifty feet and wxth perhaps a smgle entrance ln front It was not entxrely walled over for the mrddle part over the pxt was left open to the sky We know that ln the earller Ehzabethan tnmes the courts of xnns were used by many rmportant compames of players especrally Lord Lelcesters Lord Warwlck s and the Earl of Sussex s men The ordmary mn was burlt around a square or quadrangular court wlth rts wrndows and doors opemng 1nto th1s yard where the soclal lxfe of the 1nn took place The ground floor was used for offrces storehouses krtchen and stable but the second and thrrd floors were used for guests On both floors a balcony extended out from the guestrooms and ran the full c1rcu1t of the court When a play was to be gxven the stage was set up at one end of the yard fthe stable endj and the ground surroundmg rt on three srdes took the place of the p1t of our modern theatre The players dressed m the barn and used rts doors as means of entrance and ex1t The balcony over and behmd the stage was used by the players for all sorts of convemences as a cnty wall a lover s balcony a dlstant crty or any other foreign spot that the play requrred The balconres on the other sldes were used by the mn guests and other spec tators who brought out thelr chalrs and stools and sat there overlookmg the stage The court xtself was occupxed by those less fortunate persons who could not afford seats rn the balcomes When m 1574 London restrlcted theatrxcal performances actors were forced to arrange for the1r plays outslde the cxty walls New theatres were burlt much on the same order as the 1nn theatres to whrch the players had become accustomed Among the best known of these new buxldmgs were The Globe The Swan and later The Blackfrlars The bulldrng rtself was a s1mple structure usually left open to the sky ln the mxddle The 1nter1or arrangement dtffered llttle from the old mnyard plan save that the new bulldmg was rounded or hexagonal mstead of square an arrangement whrch made lt easrer to see the stage as well as to hear the players A flagpole was attached to the top of the bulldmg above the stage and from this a flag was flown on the day when a play was to be presented A bugle was blown to announce the txme of the performance In our modern theatres we see the stage as a plcture 1n a frame but the stage of Shakespeare s day projected out 1nto the p1t so that the actors were rn the mrdst of the people Around the walls of the bulldmg the roofed gal lerles separated 1nto boxes and compartments resembled very closely the boxes and galler1es of the present day The stage consxsted of a large platform sometxmes though not always surrounded by a ralllng There seems to be some questlon as to whether the stage at first was roofed but rn the later tlmes we know rt was At the back of the stage was bullt a room wlth doors to the left and rlght and above It was a balcony The lower room was the green room or tlrmg room used by the actors as a dressmg room rest room and property room ln some theatres the trrmg room had a thlrd door rn the center draped wlth curtams whlch could be drawn back when necessary to reveal an xnner room The balcony above lxke the old 1nn balcony served any purpose needed m the play xt was the upper room the wmdow battlements or Mount Olympus Changes ln scene were eas1ly accompllshed for they were suggested merely by a piece of sxgml-icant furmture as a bed for a bedroom a garden seat for the garden or else a slgn was hung up at one corner of the stage bearmg m large letters the name of the place as A street m Rome S 24 Q , 1 1 1 - 1 . . . . , 1 1 . , , . . . 1 , . 1 1 1 1 . as 1 11 ' , 1 1 , . . . . 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 . . . . cc 11 as 11 u ' 11 1 1 ' 1 1 . 1 1 . . . ' 1 . . 1 , . . . 1 1 . 1 1 1 . . . . , . 1 as 11 u ' ' 11 ' 1 1 . . 1 1 - 1 1 1 . 1 1 1 2 1 1 , ' ' u ' 11 - , , , . ll

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ANY OLD LOCKER Ah me' how I m tr1ed' an abused locker-saad To a nelghbormg mlrror th1s story he slghed Wxth goodles and books-wlth everythmg welghted Reflected nn you I see how I m fated' There s always a sweater a novel a vexl Some Busy Bee boxes and cake pretty stale A racket for tenms sometxmes a ball A letter from Dems OJ I can t tell you all' One mldmght I held a frantic old dance Four footed guests came to mbble and prance Rolllckxng frohckmg shakmg their whlskers Tumblmg and munchrng the gay young frlskersl Ah me' the great dread of next week s clearmg Even old Hercules would End hrmself fearmg' But the very next day begms the old strlfe And over agam the self same l1fe Margaret Fairchild 21 D El A LITERARY RECITAL I had come to the Graduates Browmng Recntal wnth a vague feelmg that lt would be rather tlresome than otherwise and that I should be bored rather than entertamed But this feelmg was short l1ved for no sooner had the flrst g1rl begun ROBERT BROWNING AN APPRECIATION than I became Very much mterested Thls attltude of mlnd 1n whrch every one present found herself was due to two reasons F1rst of all the Graduates were exceptxonally fine readers they enunclated so clearly that lt was not necessary to straln one s ears to llsten Secondly the papers were very clev erly wrxtten Each theme was introduced m a way that compelled attentxon The d1v1s1ons of the subjects were clearly made and easxly followed our m creasmg 1nterest respondmg to thexr grow1ng rmportance I was dellghted that I could see ln the Graduates d1ct1on the qualmes that we Thxrd Academncs have been studymg umty coherence and empha s1s and I thoroughly enjoyed the beautrful examples of good Englnsh whrch the Graduates put before us m the1r Browmng essays Not only was the form of th1s Llterary attractrve but the matter was most enterta1n1ng as well The program showed an mtellrgent artlstxc selectxon from a vast and varled Held Mrs Brown1ng m her relatxons to her poet hero the romance of thelr love-one of the most beautxful m all llter ature thelr letters too sacred to be publlshed and yet so umquely obscure that they mlght be publlshed a hundred times and stlll remaln prlvate rnterpretatlons of the poems Plppa Passes wlth lts beautlful theme he power of unconsclous mlluence Andrea del Sarto wxth rts hxstory of two human souls as well as that of an art perxod Saul that poem of love human and d1v1ne The Rmg and the Book that wonder of vlewpomts Rabbi Ben Ezra and 1ts phllosophy of lxfe these are some of the subjects to whlch our Graduates treated us We are truly proud of them These two quotatlons from Browmng are well worth rememberlng O the lzttle more and how much It IS O the llttle less and what worlds away' but a man s reach should exceed hrs grasp what s a Heaven for' Gene Maloney 22 23 1 A ' ' 45 1 - 11 ' , . . . U . . . . - 1 - 1 11 u 1 ' 1 1 1 S K 1 1 -. Y ' Y H . . . ' 1 1 1 1 as 9 ' 1 ' 1 1 - ' 11 1 1 ' , ' ' ' , . , . . . . l n - , sc 11 , 1 . , ' 1 ' 1 1 . , . u 1 ' , - . . , . . . . 1 1 ' 1 1 ' 1 ' as ' 11 - 1 ' 1 ' I - , , - ss ' 11 - u 1 1 1 U . . . . . . .,, 1 1 . . i . . . . U - 1 , t - - in . . . 1 1 ' , ss 1 1 1 1 ' - ,11 - sc - - '11 1 1 1 ' ' u - - .11 - 1 1 sc ' - - , 1 , . ca 1 - Ah, , 1 so , Or, . - , ,

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Phlllp Sydney gxves an lnterestmg example of the dlfflcultles of the Ehza bethan play goer You shall have Asla of the one slde and Afrlca of the other and so many other kmgdoms that the player when he comes m must ever begln wlth tellmg you where he IS or else the play w1ll not be concexved Now you shall have three ladles walk together to plck flowers and then we must belxeve the stage to be a garden By and by we hear news of a shlp wreck m the same place then we are to blame 1f we accept It not for a rock In the open unroofed space about the stage stood the groundlmgs elbow 1ng each other and cr1t1c1s1ng the actors on the stage Sometnmes playgoers who could afford It and wlshed mlght have a small stool and s1t upon the stage ltself Then as now the people crowded to WIUICSS a new play The actors of the Ehzabethan tlmes were by no means amateurs The audlence was keen and cr1t1cal and admxred the drama xt demanded true art from 1tS favorxtes The bareness of the stage and the lack of scenery was not entxrely a detrlment to the play for lt forced the actors to use thexr greatest sk1l1 to make for what was lacking and thls very s1mpl1c1ty may have helped to make only the more lmpressxve the actmg of a Burbage a Kemp or a Shakespeare Helen Fltzsxmmons 23 lj lj ONE OF MARY S LITTLE ONES In the cxty of Naples there l1ved a ret1red merchant wxth h1s only chlld Irene a beautnful glrl of e1ghteen Ever smce the death of h1s w1fe ten years prevlous to the tlme of thls mcxdent the bereaved husband had turned from h1s God ln the bltterness of hls grlef and had led hlS ch11d 1nto paths of unbelxef The father and daughter had grown more athelstlc wlth each passlng year The daughter mdeed stxll cherxshed some famt spark of hope for her father restramed and smothered these deslres and influenced her to profess an mdrfference towards rehgxon that she d1d not honestly feel One day wh1le dmvmg outsxde the c1ty the horses suddenly sh1ed and Jumped to one slde of the road Lookmg from the carrlage Irene gave a cry and sprmgmg out bent over a little form clothed m scarlet that lay by the slde of the road It was a t1ny gxrl whose flushed face and labored breathmg showed her to be 111 w1th fever Her eyes were closed and Irene strove ln vam to rouse her Fmally she lxfted the chlld mto the carnage and desplte the protests of her father who feared contagxon she mslsted that the chnld should be taken to thelr home There were no houses rn the v1c1n1ty of the place where they had found the l1ttle one and Irene urged the mhumamty of leavmg her there Neither was she wxllmg to take the chnld to a publlc hosprtal On reachmg home they summoned a doctor who declared that the fever was the result of seml starvatlon and exposure and that her cond1t1on was too ser1ous to admit of movmg the patlent so Irene assumed the responsr b1l1ty of car1ng for her lxttle protege One evenmg upon enter1ng the slck room Irene stood quxte stxll 1n the doorway The settmg sun shone upon the lnttle upturned face on the snowy plllow The chllds hands were Jomed m prayer and she lay there lxke an adormg angel Irene could not but marvel at the p1ety and devotlon of the chxld Her own eyes filled wlth tears and the dear old Faxth of her own babyhood qulckened her heart wlth the glow of 1ts lxvmg Flame That evemng she sa1d to her father m a faltermg volce I thmk this ns so sad The doctor says that the poor l1ttle thnng cannot l1ve She IS such a sweet fra1l creature and so patxent and grateful' She tells me that 25 . U . . . - - , , Q I 9 7 - , . 7 . ' . . ,f , . , - . . , . . . , , . , : . . Y I Q l ' 1 , I ' 9 . . . . . . , 7 ' 1 ! 9 . i , . , . . . wlthm her heart, and often felt an rmpulse to prayer and devotlong but respect 9 ' i Y . . . . . u . . h . , , . ! 9 3 . 1 Y ' 9 3 - y - y . . . . ' . , . . . . ' 1 ' s . - u a q .66 o a n f a , u n l . 1 ' ' I