THE DRAMA IN OLDEN TIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7222, 10 January 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE DRAMA IN OLDEN TIME.

In 1563 there was a plague in London, of which 22,530 persons died. Archbishop Grindal advised Sir William Cecil, the secretary (afterwards Lord BurHgh), to forbid all plays for one year ; and if it were for ever, he said, that would not be amiss. They were acted on scaffolds in public places, like the interludes; and like them, with no more stage appointment than the dreeing of the actors. Now that the public thronged to be thus entertained, the place of acting commonly chosen was one of the large inn-yards, which have not yet everywhere disappeared. The yard was a great square rudely paved, entered by an archway, and surrounded by the buildings of the inn, which had an outside gallery on the level of the first door,(and a second-gallery sometimes surrounding the yard on the floor above. Chaucer's " Tabard" in South—its namo afterwards perverted to the " Talbot"—which stood uutil 1574 as it had been rebuilt in Elizabeth's reign, may serve as an example. The inn-yard having been hired for a performance, saving, of course, the rights of customers whose horses wore stabled round about, a stage was built at one end under tho surrounding gallery. It was enclosed by curtains tent-fashion, which hung from above and included a bit of the inn-gallery for uses of tho drama. The platform was strewn with rushes. • Musicians were placed iu the gallery outside the curtain. One sound of the trumpet called the public in, and they stood ou the rough stones in the yard—the original "pit"—unless they engaged rooms that openod upon the surrounding gallery, in which they might enjoy themselves, and from which they could look oi\t on the actors. Those rooms were the first private boxes, and when buildings were erected for the acting of plays, their private boxes were at first- called "rooms." The inn-gallery has boon developed into tho "dress circle" of modern times. The second flourish of trumpets invited all spectators to settle themselves iu their places. After the third sound of the trumpet, tho curtain was drawn, and the actors began to represent in action tho story made for them into a play. There was no scenery. The bit of inn-gallery included between the curtains might be a balcony for a Juliet, a town-wall or a tower to be defended, a palace-roof, or any raised place that was required by the action. The writer and the actors of the play were the whole play. They alone must present everything by their power to the imaginations of those upon whom they exorcised their art. At court, for the Queen's pleasure, there was still only the scaffold on which to present the story, and beyond the dressing of the actors, only tho most indispensable bits of stage appointment, as a seat, if the story required that one should sit, or a table if necessary, But if the poet wanted scene piinting, he must paint his own scene in his verse.