Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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MONG those who visited the school this year was Miss Drew, of Cambridge, England. She gave us a most interesting address on Shakespeare — his theatre and his audience, a subject upon which she speaks with enthusiasm and perfect understanding. Miss Drew pointed out that the spirit of an age is inevitably reflected by its literature. Obviously, therefore, we expect the reign of Queen Elizabeth to be an epoch of dramatists. To- day, the novel among the majority of people, has taken the place of drama. The reason for this fact is that now the general level of education is higher, and that, as there is not the need of being so mentally alert to understand, it is easier for us to appreciate a novel than a drama. Moreover, a novelist demands less co-operation from his readers than a playwright does from his audience. To understand Shakespeare ' s plays we need only the faculty of sympathetic appreciation. The Shakesperian theatre, in shape, was round. The nobility and the wealthy people sat in the boxes and galleries ; the poorer people looked up at the stage from the pit ; and the royaltj ' - and courtiers displayed their splendour from seats on the stage itself. Shakespeare was a popular dramatist, therefore his audiences were very representative of the time. Even the actors employed by him were drawn from every walk of life. The stage was a long platform extending halfway down the theatre. At the back was the small tiring-house, or dressing-room. It has a flat roof, called the upper stage, which was extremely useful, forming Juliet ' s balcony in Romeo and Juliet for instance. A sect-

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Once again Juno is here, and another Sixth will soon be leavinjj;. Some of the girls have been in the school for many years, and one and all are going with the realization of what Traf- algar has meant to them during the past. In a few years we will be scattered, but wherever we may be, we will never forget the wonilerful days that we have spent at school, the many friendships we have maile, and the high iileals which we have tried to uphold. To the girls of the future we can wish nothing better, than that tlu v may have as many and as happy years as we ourselves have had at tlie best school of all , Trafalgar. We wish the happiest of holidays to everyone, and all success to those who, in future years will edit our Trafalgar Echoes . LAURA ROBERTSON CONSTANCE MURRAY EVERALD FARRAR MARGUERITE DORKEN MARGARET ARCHIBALD ELEANOR BISHOP MARGARET BRUCE ROWENA COTTON lARY BEARD Jform ©fftrers : Presidents Form Upper VI. — L. ROBERTSON Lower VI. — M. MARPOLE Upper V. — K. ANDERSON Lower V. — R. WALKER IV.a. — E. ELLIS IV. b. — E. ROBINSON III. a. — H. AHERN III. b. — F. PASHLEY Upper II. — H. STOCKING II. — D. AHERN Upper 1. — R. SEELY L — J. ARCHIBALD Vice-Presidents M. ARCHIBALD E. MILNE P. JAMIESON K. TAYLOR M. DOBLE E. ZINSSTAG J. SMART G. NIEGHORN M. COPELAND J. WALKER A. DOBLE B. STEWART — 3 —

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ion at the back cut off by a curtain, was also used for scenery. In the flooring of the stage was a trap-door through which appeared many necessary ghosts or other apparitions. The stage was roofed over, but the theatre itself was open. To us the stage would have seemed bare, for there was very little scenery, only small articles such as plants being supplied. Otherwise the scenery was suggested by painted cloths. Placards infornietl the aiulience of the scene of the play. If more than one country or city were needed, different positions on the stage were labelleil with their respective names. Owing to this fact double plots were easily worked out. The actors were dressed in the Elizebethan style only, but amongst the properties was always found an invisible robe which, when worn, signified to the audience that the wearer was in ■isible. Women ' s parts were always taken by men. In those days plays were acted straight through, not being divided into acts and scenes. The audience nevertheless, was always very attentive. The ijoople loved the long, poetic speeches, the fooling of the jesters, the fighting, and the wealth of honours and explosions. It is a great tribute to their imaginative faculty and dramatic sense that they enjoyed plays produced under such difficulties. All the e facts ilhHtrate the miin differences between Shala -sperean drama and that of the present (.1 ly. Now the scenerj is elaborate and beautiful ; l)ut in its very beauty, it detracts some thought from the poetry. Unfeeling people in the audience laugh and talk, displaying absolutely no imagination or sympathy. Miss Drew ' s lecture, interesting especially to lovers of literature and of history, clear, ly pointed out what effect the progress of civilization has had upon drama. In many respects- doubtless, it has been improved : but surely now we might wish for the whole-hearted enjoy- ment of the audiences, the simplicity of the acting, and the earnestness of the actors, which existed in the days of Queen Elizabeth. R. M.— VI. a. gchops of €oue . M Every day in Every waj ' The Guy St. car goes slower and slower Every day in Every way We wear our girdles lower and lower Every day in Every way The Simpson Hill grows longer and longer Every day in Every way My love for Traf grows stronger and stronger C. v.— V. b. — 5 —