TEACHERS’ SUMMER SCHOOL.

Western Star, 5 February 1924, Page 4

TEACHERS’ SUMMER SCHOOL.

PROFESSOR SHELLEY OK THE DRAMA. At the Teachers’ Summer School at Riverton, Professor Shelley continued his course -on Dramatic Method in School, by dealing historically with stage production. The Greek Theatre of Aeschylas in Athens, he said, was probably at first nothing more than a dancing circle. Later it was shifted the Acrophis with seats for twenty or thirty thousand people. Many would be about 100 yards away from the centre, so players had to work for broad effects and had to use a nvegaphone in the shape of comic or tragic mask, and also had to wear high shoes and piled-up hair. Clear speaking and more or less statuesque poses dominated the acting. Dancing as worship round the altar of Dionysius was a fundamental factor. The drama had a religious basis., just ,as it had in England in the twelfth century, with, representations of the life of' Christ. Thtere was a balcony at the 1 top of the building from which the God came down (dues ex machine) by a crane, and various conventions were , used -wliich the audience would accept. .Medieval drama developed after it j became inconvenient, and undesirable , to have the plays in churches. So ] they passed first to* the churchyard ] and then to the streets, and from j the clergy to the lower clerical'orders, and finally to the gilds. Plays were' ( acted in a dray, and many lasted , three solid days, fifty plays being ( acted going through the Old Testa- , ment to the New, from the Creation to the last judgment, including many j apochryphal writers. ' We still have , four cycles of these complete in dog- j geral verse, which were used t-o in- { struct the people in Bible History. J The characters wore typical, e.g.: Herod ranting on the Devil, attended by various vices who clambered on his back and belaboured him. Some plays were extremely amusing, g.g.:

in the shipwrights building of the Ark with Noah and his wife arguing. This sort -of thing expanded into modern English comedy. Tragedy arose out of the morality plays, giving a warring of vices and virtues,, as in “Every Man.” Even as late as Shakespeare there was personification of these, such as jealousy in the shape of Othello. Modern pageants';—fairs for example—are a relic of these and still retain a religious significance. —Development of Modern Stage.— Shakespearean drama worked mainly with a circular theatre, the middle open to the sky, a pit also 1 being used for bepr-baiting. Plays were held at 3 p.m., and people usually stood, paying Id extra for a seat-. Very Utile in the way of scenery was used, and no curtain. Time, weather, .etc., were often explained in the words of the actors themselves, as in the first scene in Hamlet. Shakespeare used ajl the material of his trade and was •a good, straight business man. were no actresses in those days and so woman characters were comparatively few in his plays—men taking the parts. Later all the .theatres were shut up by Puritanical influence, not a difficult matter, as. even in 160 C Londoners were not very keen. After the restoration most plays were produced inside, a rectangular house, such as the Middle Temple, which considerably changed the point of view from that of the “statue” to the picture stage-, with boxes at the side. Light svas now needed, so candles were placed along the front of the stage. These were the first footlights.^ In the theatre of to-day there its a tendency to have no separation, between the stage and the audience, though this is not general yet. • The nineteenth century saw a. great elaboration of costuming and scenery. Amateur history was the amusement of the time and so the costuming was historical instead of the typical costumes of Shakespeare's day. The latter, declared the Professor, were the best ’for children acting, for with the clothes on they felt the 'characters. Shakespeare had many scenes

-7 in Macbeth), as he had no scenery to change. To-day the sceneTy had to be re-arranged to eke out the realism demanded by the njbdern audience.

“ EDUCATION' FOR CITIZENSHIP.” LECTURE BY PROFESSOR CONDLIFFE, On Thursday morning Mr J. Johnson, M.A., took the first period, dealing with the Nature of-Society. Professor Condliffe. followed, speaking' on “Education for Citizenship.” There were,, he said, two tasks confronting the teacher to-day : firstly, the transmission of »• complicated social heritage; an inherited bundle of ideas' and social expedients, -and 'secondly, the evocation of a-'social attitude making people fit to live in a cammunity. I he technique of government was too narrow to: provide a true basis for the teaching of citizenship.. The most important parts-of social life lav outside the sphere of politico, using that word in the narrow sense. Tho 'decay of citizenship was clearly set forth in the statement refuted to have been made by a leading statesman that he could run the whole country if he laid half a dozen private secretaries. Such a position mis »■ travosty of democracy. There was danger of a new form of dictatorship under cover of parliamentary forms. On the other hand-the sfinmlptipn tho emotion of patriotism ’ without opportunity for expression of that emotion iu service tc the community was cl earjU* unwholesome, * The lecjitrpr went on. to urge the. necessity of a double form of decentralisation governmental functions by "iving increased power to local governing bodies, and by the creation, of functional associations. Power in a democracy was never 'safe from abuse, unless it was widely diffused. _4Rjgp.blein.s of Citizenship.— . The best method- of developing a of r re&p&HEibijSty. in civic affairs

was by • the aotual practice of selfgovernment, to the difficulties and dangers of which the growing citizens; should be introduced at schools. The only time solution of problems .. of government, whether in industry or in politics, lay in tnis direction. The problem’ of developing loyalty and appreciation of the' value of die social heritage was really the difficulty of reconciling the loyalties owned'by each individual to the varied

associations of common life. TJhe lecturer indicated and described the complexity of uocial life. It was no solution of the problem to teach that the political state had an over-riding claim in every conflict of loyalties. There was constant danger that the multiplicity of associations would overwhel’fn individual lire and the moans be mistaken for the end. There wn« more danger cf revolution and violence from a timid refusal to adopt institutions and associations to the conditions of a new age than from any ether cause. of this danger were quoted from the institution of ’ property and from the parliamentary forms of government. These, it was pointed out, were, intheir origin, .aristocratic, institutions adopted to democratic needs at a (simple stage of the evolution of democracy. It was shown how, under the ilressure of rapid change in theeceonomic organisation of society, the Parliamentary forms of government were functioning in a very imperfect fashion.. Jhe people who in an unreasoning timid conservation defended the defect, as well as the virtues of such institutions were really wellmeaning anarchists who were endangering the very institutions, they proposed to defend. On the other hand great social reforms had always been opposed bythose who based their opposition on legal right. The scribes and Pharisees had the law on their side. - Institutions, if they were to live, must develop and adopt themselves to the necessities of the age. When development stopped the institution ceased to function. —Constitutional Questions.— The Professor then took the constitutional/ problems confronting the British Empire at the present time as an illustration of the. principle rt development. The British Empire with ‘its complicated relationships between developed and undeveloped peoples was a valuable social experiment on a tremendous scale. The successful solution of these problems would provide a ' model upon which international co-operation might be built in the futuie. There was the double problem of developing means of co-operation between countries at 1 the same stage of civilisation aud the more difficult task of devising means whereby the undeveloped peoples might be. assisted to take their place in the family of nations.

In nil these problems of citizenship, from the smallest to the greatest, the only hope of the future ■ lay in the evolution of a spirit of co-operation. Loyalty could not be inculcated but it developed naturally and healthily from the study of the past history' and present organisation of one’s country. The British. Empire offered a. bridge actoss which the- natural local patriotism developed in this way could lead to an understanding of the international problems so urgent at the present- time. At the conclusion of the lecture, Mr A. L. Wvlie, Senior Inspector, conveyed the good vi'dies and congratulations of the inspectorate and the Southland Education Board on thfr success of the .school. He also took the opportunity of congratulating Mr D. M. Rao upon bis well-deserved promotion to the post where there would be" fuller iseopo for his Andrgy and enthusiasm in the cause (f education. *