A H A N D BOO K TO THE STRATFO RD - U PON - AVON FESTIVAL A Handb o o k to the St rat fo rd- u p o n- A V O H Fe st iv al WITH ART I C LE S BY N R . B N O F . E S ARTHUR HUTCHINSO N N R EG I A L D R . B UC K L EY CECI L SH RP J. A A ND [ LL USTRA TI ONS P UBLI SHED UNDER TH E A USPICES A ND WITH THE SPECIAL SANCTION OF TH E SHAKESPEARE M EMORIAL COUNCI L LONDON NY L GEO RGE ALLEN COM PA , T D. 44 45 RATH B ONE P LA CE I 9 1 3 [All rig hts reserved] P rinted b y A L L A NT Y NE A NSON ér' B , H Co . A t the Ballant ne P ress y , Edinb urg h P R E F A IC E “ T H E Shakespeare Revival , published two years ago , has familiarised many with the ideas inseparable from any national dramatic Festival . But in that book one necessarily Opened up vistas of future development beyond the requirements of those who desire a Hand a book rather than Herald of the Future . For them an abridgment and revision are effected here . Also there are considerable additions , and Mr . Cecil J . Sharp contributes a chapter explaining the Vacation School of Folk Song o f and Dance , which he became Director since the previous volume was issued . The present volume is intended at once to supplement and no t condense , to supersede , the library edition . B R . R . 4 3 4 4 6 8 C O N T E N T S TH E FESTIVAL I DEA B F R B E S y . N ON . THE SHAKESPEARE M EM ORIAL THEATRE AT STRAT FORD - UPON-AVON I A . R ECORD OF I TS WORK T H E I I . FURTHER DEVEL OPM ENTS OF TH E SHAKESPEARE AN M EM ORIA L A SSOCIA TION B A H H y RT UR UTCH I NSON . NATUR E OF DRAM A T H E ENGL S D M E F E S E I . I H RA A B OR HAK SPEARE F E E I I . T HE SPIRIT O SHAKESP AR B EG I LD R B K LEY y R NA . UC . T H E STRAT FORD-UPON-A VON VACATION SCHOOL OF FOL K SONG AND DANCE B SH P . y C ECIL J. AR E FES L S F - N THE SHAKESPEAR TIVA , TRAT ORD UPO AVON I L L U S T R A T I O N S ’ ES E E S T M ENE THE S A ND T L E To SHAK P AR O B, B ATH BU T AB T H I S EM I N TH E C OF TH E H L T N M ORY, HURCH O Y RI ITY, A s GARLANDED WITH F L OWERS ON A PRI L 2 3 o D M cNeil] Stra ord-u on-A von P lzot by . , fi p T H E SHAKESPEARE M EM ORIA L T H EATRE AT STRATFORD - UPON-A VON P izota b A T ler Strat ord—u on-A von y . y , f p T HE P E LL E EM L T E E ICTUR GA RY, M ORIA H ATR P ho to b A T r y . yle M . F R . R H N EN N A E . B SO S RY V P /zoto b C/zancellor Dublin y , TH E C OF T HE H L T N F M HURCH O Y RI ITY, RO TH E R IVER A VON - - P /zoto b W. A Smit/z Stra ord u on A w n y . , gf p D N ES E A C OUTSIDE TH M EM ORIAL T H EATR E . P ho b to y A . Tyler TH E FESTI VAL I DEA . NS BY F R . B E ON T H E F E S T I VAL I D E A I A M very proud to be asked to contri bute to a work published by a firm so long associated with the name of J ohn Ruskin ; proud that o ur work at Stratford should be regarded , by the writers of it , as part of that campaign against the unloveliness of modern life in which Ruskin was the pro ni tag o st. The outlines of the dream that Mr . Charles Flower and the founders of the - - Stratford upon Avon Shakespeare Memorial , their friends and successors , have been dream ing and developing for more than thirty years may be summed up in the following general terms . Even if the exact shape of the towers be lost in the clouds , the rainbow and the sunshine , seemingly variable because ever growing ; if for a moment one is bewildered by the vast ness of its possibilities for the future , one is recalled to action in the present by the practical example o f the founder and by the joyous stir and bustle attending the Festival . One o f the 1 3 THE FE ( ST I VAL I D EA dream 15 that its foundation is on solid earth , formulated in bricks and mortar linked to Warwickshire soil by creeping plants and twining flowers . For the man and his co o workers , who will always have the chief h nour of designing the fabric , like the rest of our race, could do as well as dream . The picture has n many settings . H ere is o e o f them . I t is the first of May . The dreamer is lying on a smooth lawn by the river- side ; part of the garden attached to the theatre buildings . To the right , through a frame of rush and willow , yew and cedar and elm , the spire of the church lo oks down on the mill where Celt , Roman , Saxon and Dane, Nor man and E nglishman for Centuries have ground their harvest . In front, beyond the - field river , stretches the playing of the town ; secured to the towns - folk fo r ever by wise -fiel s burgesses . The playing d are deserted - to day , save for a few youths enjoying the last o f kick the season at a football , or their first renewal of the controversy between cricket bat com and ball . The leisure energy of the munity is occupied elsewhere . The clock in the old church tower strikes twelve , and the jackdaws and the starlings notify to the rooks that another sun has I 4 T H E FE S T I VAL I D EA Queen of the May , a fair little maiden seated on a throne of flowers in the midst of her court . The rough spear, entwined with ivy pointing upwards , connects the eternal homage paid by age to youth with the primitive worship from our ancestors to the earth and the sun . Then the Folk- songs o f our forefathers ring out blithely on the spring air, and the twinkling feet o f the little dancers on the grass catch ’ something of the rhythm o f Shakespeare s verse and the music of the spheres . Among the crowd are many people from over - seas ; blood brothers of the race , fellow subjects from distant parts of our Empire , friends from foreign countries all the world over— Scandi navia , the N etherlands , France , Germany , Russia , Austria , Italy, Switzerland , and the Balkans . The Spaniard, the Bohemian , the African , the Asiatic recognise in many of the dances some primitive ceremony still in vogue among their own folk to this day . I n the B room dance of an elderly but active villager the American from H onolulu notes as an old friend the spear dance of the Pacific I slanders . The I ndian Prince , guest of honour on this occasion , expresses his pleasure at being “ o f present with words full meaning . I will take back to my country the story o f yo ur 1 6 T H E F E ST I VA L I D E A song and your dance and your Shakespeare Festival , that my people may have more joy in their lives , and that your folk and my folk ’ u may better nderstand each other s religion . “ As said an Eastern in a bygone age , Your people shall be my people , and your gods my ” - o f gods . And then the May day part the Festival ends and the crowd disperse to their various tasks , and the Queen of the May steals forth in the afternoon to lay her crown and the ’ bouquet , given by the Mayor , on her father s recently made grave . For her , as for the others , sorrow sojourneth but for a season in the promise of the May . ’ ’ Th e n e o e her o e arth,that s atur s m th r, is t mb ; h r n e h e r . What is buryi g grav , that is e wo mb A nd fro m her wo mb children o f divers kind We sucking o n her natural b o so m find n e e c n Many for ma y virtu s x elle t , fo r o e and et ffe en . None but s m , y all di r t O c e the o e ce e , mi kl is p w rful gra that li s n o ne and e e e .