Potsdam State Teachers College - Pioneer Yearbook (Potsdam, NY)

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hpixk. . Qgl. Copyright . 1929 BY RUTH E. ARTHUR Editor-in-Chief EARL CHISAMORE Buriners Manager R- DOUULAJS The Cycle Wagons ENGLISH Drama began in the church, with the services called Mysteries, dealing wholly with Bible stories and the life of Christ, but as they became more popular with the masses, a broader field of subjects was sought, and lives of saints were used for dramatic material in the Miracle Plays of a century later, with the priests and choir boys the authors and actors. These plays were Hrst given on Holy Days and Saints' Days at the church altar, or in the enclosure just outside its walls. The Miracle Plays, more comic and more elaborate,were separated from the church, taken up by the trade guilds, and presented in the 15th century in huge two-story covered wagons, called cycle wagons. Every company had its pageant,- a scaEold of two rooms, upon four wheels. In the lower room they apparelled themselves, and in the higher room they played, it being open at the top that all beholders might see and hear them. The performance began at the abbey gate, and when the first pageant was over, the wagon was wheeled to the high cross before the mayor, and so to every street, until all the pageants appointed for the day were played. Four of the great cycles are preserved for us, the York cycle of 48 scenes, Chester cycle of 15 scenes, Wakefield cycle of 32. scenes, and Coventry cycle of 42. scenes. fag i .N M, of ,xt-J-fs if - 1 fs f--1-feerrvf t ef, ' l..x.x,s...aa.4-v? --1- T' - N 'rN '5 : 'f 'f, N-T '-- 'J-9 4.z:., I g 2.

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fs so tag- W s e X f l ,, Y x Q - , N ,N ' . - gn ' ,I 5.g,q:,,!g.gf-ng-,!..,s.- p.f'- I-vv V Fox-lu.-anim,-1-4'-av. a THE PIONEER 1929 The Globe Theater MIRACLE Plays and Mysteries were followed by the Moralities in which abstract qualities such as Pleasure, Slander, Rage, Perseverance, and the Seven Deadly Sins took the place of characters from the Bible. This was the beginning of opportunity for creation of character, the use of every-day life on the stage,-and the profession of acting. For many years these companies of professional actors had no regular buildings in which to give their performances, but presented them before their noble patrons in the great halls of their castles an occasionally at court for the amusement of the king or queen, but in London they had to obtain a license from the Lord Mayor and surrender half their receipts to the city treasury. As a result, the first theater was built in 1576, and more developed rapidly. The Globe Theater Southwark, erected in 1599, is the place where Shakespeare's company acted, and where many of his pla s were first seen on the stage. It was hexagonal in shape, with walls seeming to slant inward: few windows, and two low, shabby entrances, portraying a dingy and unattractive structure. The building had no roof except a covering at the rear, over the back part of the stage, from which a flag was flown announcing to the city across the river when there was to be a play. The front of the stage and the center of the theater were open to the air. The center, or the pit, containing no seats, was the place for the common crowd, the more enterprising ones sat on boxes and stools which they brought, and others in the three tiers of narrow balconies on, rough benches or chairs. 'NL f 9'3if+3L5lT lflfifldlfsfs if 3