A REPORT ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE PLAY
uA PHOENIX TOO FREQUENT 11
Wayne Shrope A.B., Sacramento State College, 1952
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements tor the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS AT THE SAC.RAMENTO STATE COLLEGE
Charles V. Hume, Chair SA CRAMENT O Baxter M. Geeting STATE COLLEGE George W. Creel ARCHIVES
Date @.~ ~C; tf£"#, TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM • • • • ...... • • 1 II. REVIEW OF RESEARCH, CASTING, DIRECTING, AND REHEARSAL SCHEDULE • • • • • • • • • 3
Review of research • • • • • • • • • • • • 3
The author • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3
The play • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • s
Casting; . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 10
Direction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 11 Rehearsal schedule • • • • • • • • • • • 16 - III. PROMPT BGOK • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 18
IV. THE SETTING • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 82
v. THE COSTUMES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 86
VI. PUBLICITY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 93
VII. EVALUATIONS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 96 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 98
APPENDIX •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 99 CHAPTER I THE PROBLE:M
The problem was to prepare a prompt book for the play A Phoenix 12.2 Frequent by Christopher Fry and to pre sent this play for a public performance in the drama work- shop at Sacramento State College. A Phoenix too Frequent wae chosen because it is an excellent comedy, perhaps Fry's funniest, and because the interpretation of the beautiful poetry and subtle wit provided an interesting challenge for ' the director and for the actors. The scenes are well con- etructed and carefully planned for comic effect; the char acters are clearly drawn and differentiated. In the pre sentation of this play the writer acted as producer, director, designer, and technician. In the capacity of director he read and carefully analyzed the play in order to plan the general style ot the production. Subsequently he cast the play, prepared a prompt book, and directed the action and interpretation. The director then became the designer, for the setting and costumes had to be planned to fit into the style chosen for the production. It was necessary to do research on Greek life and costumes before making the set-drawing and the costume plates. 2 The sets were then constructed; the designer super vised this work. Other technical duties included; super vi eing the lighting of the set, obtaining properties, and stage-managing the performances. As producer for the play it was up to the writer to co-ordinate all of the activities already mentioned, and to arrange for the performance dates, costumes, rehearsal times, stage facilities, programs, and publicity. All of these activities were essential to the effect ive staging of this difficult play. A more detailed dis cussion of each will be given in later sections of the paper. CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RESEARCH, CASTING, DIRECTING, AND REHEARSAL SCHEDULE
I. REVIEW OF RESEARCH
The author. Christopher Fry was born on December 18, 1907, the son of an architect with deeply religious feelings. At the age of six he first showed his interest in drama by participating in a civic pageant. His father died while Christopher was very young, and his mother took in board.ere in order to send him to the Bedford Modern School. Fry began' writing at a very early age, turning out a farce at the age of eleven, a poem at twelve, and a verse drama at fourteen. At the age of eighteen he left school and became a teacher. After a brief period of teaching, Fry joined the Bath Repertory Company. After this he taught again for three years, pa.rt of the time at a preparatory school in Surrey. He then returned to drama for eight years, acting the usual rounds of Shakespeare, Shaw, Wilde, Barrie, and Coward in repertory companies, and then went to London. There he edited a magazine, tried his hand at cartooning, worked as secretary to a novelist and wrote children's 4 plays for radio.l He also tried song writing (none of his songs became popular, however) and many other things. After this time his life becomes too complicated for tabulation.2 A busy and prosperous playwright, his favorite relaxation is planning holidays which he does not take.3 Fry says he was unable to write a line from the time he was eighteen until he was twenty eight, but always be lieved that one day he would write good verse plays.4 ; Finally, inspired .by a Shakespearean production he had seen, he wrote! Phoenix !Q.2. Frequent. This play, first performed at London's Private Arts Club in 1946, brought him to the attention of critics and theatregoers.
Other plays by Christopher Fry are; Thor ,!!!h ,Ange~~, The Firstborn, !h.! Lady's .!i2! !2,;: Burqi.}Jg_, Venus Observed,
Boy With~~. and! !J.eep 2.!, Prisoners. With these Fry has become a major figure in modern theatre.
All of Fry 1 s plays are in verse. 1 Poetry 1 he says, I Irina Rothe, editor, Current Biograph!. (New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1951), p. 1022. 2 Who's Who for 1952. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952T,"""'P:' 1022:--- 3 Who 1 s !h2, !.2!, 1952, op. cit., p. 1022. 4 Christopher Fry, 'The Artist Views the Critic', Th! Atlantic, 191: 52-55, March 1953. s •has been a natural function of man for as long as we 1ve known him. It 1 s a sign of his vitality. Fear of it, or lack of it, is the dead hand of his material needs. I would rather have talked of the theatre with out referring to it, taking it for granted that in ex ploring and recreating life in terms of the stage we should use language as fully charged and as. ,~l-iant as we can make it. It is not a special eclectic theatre we're considering, but a theatre at full pressure, tor the full pressure of lite is the rough-and-tumble of the spirit and the flesh together, the two levels on which all our actions simultaneously perform, and all our actions, in this sense, are the action of poetry. Comedy can perform on these two levels as naturally as tragedy. Where tragedy is the demonstration of the human dil~mma, comedy is the comment on the human dilemma. 11 .5 Ot the art of writing a verse play, Fry has this to say, "The dramat.t,et must view the world of his play, and the people of that world with great precision; the whole structure depends upon it, what scene follows another, what character goes and what c.haracter enters, where description of landscape becomes part of the action and where it needs a bare exchange. The poetry and the con- struction are inspearate. Who understands the poetry understands the construction, who understands the con struction understands the poetry, for the poetry is the action, and the aetion--even apart trom the words--is the figure of poetry.M 6
The .E.!.!L• The tollowing section consists of the reactions of critics to the play--or more particularly to the version' or it which ran five days on Broadway. Reactions
5 Christopher Fry, 'Poetry In The Theatre", ~ Satur day Review £!. Literature, 36: 18019, 33-34, March 21, 1953. 6 Christopher Fry, 'The Artist Views !a! Critic•, The. Atlantic, 191: 52-55, March"""'I953. 6 were from luke warm to very cold. Adverse criticisms seem ed aimed mainly at the production rather than at the play itself.
Theatre ~. July 1950, says
11 ••• The value of the play lies in its language which is delightful, tender, ·sensuous as poetry shouid be, and witty. 11 The production failed to take advantage of the language. It was directed--and cast--with an emphasis on physical good looks and the ha-ha possibilities ot the situation. Richard Derr, who was allowed a good deal of unnecessary cape-swinging and sword clasping, seemed totally incapable of getting through his poetic speeches, romatically or any other way. The love story as a result, became quite unbelievable. Nina Foch tas Dynamene) delivered her poetry in a desperate sing-song. As a faithful maid ••• Vicki Cummings, who pleased the audience most--possibly because she spoke slowly -.nough to be heard--burlesqued ir. Fry 1 s lines as it she or the director had given up all hope of making them understood in any other way. When this sort or comment is intended by the dramatist it can be legitimate and effective comedy. But it was most unfair to the delicate and far from obscure witticisms of an urbane poet-playwright who was lamely introduced to American audiences in this ill advised and devised production.N
Euphemia Van Rensselaer Wyatt in Catholic· World (June 1950) called the play a Mhighly polished cynical bit o:r poetic toolery 11 • But the director John 0 1 Shaughnessy, she said, Mshowed poor judgement in the casting of 1 Phoenix111 •
In Newsweek (May 8, 1950) T. H. Wenning wrote of Fry,
11 He has wit and , poetry, and a. showman's trick of cutting ab- 7 ruptly from the poetic to the staccato vernacular•. He did, however, find some criticisms of the play, and telt that "the performances accented the plays deficiencies." The two lovers, he felt, 1 seemed to be taking their emotions somewhat more to heart thah Fry intended.u
Joseph Wood Krutch in the .TE.e Nation (May 13, 1950) also was not impressed with the production. He called the play 11 a brief skit•, but found it 11 both highly diverting, and in its odd mannered way, a little bit more than that".
The review in Commonweal (May 19, 1950) read "· •• regarding the 1 Phoenix1 piece I must admit to a good deal of _i interest and some delight. The author is unquestionably a theatre poet, he writes in lines which needn't be mouthed, he has a nic.e wit. Most important, he can charaoterize--his three persons in this early work are distinct and alive ••• what is tedious about the business will be that Mr. Fry 1 e poetical gifts, intriguing as they are, are more cumulative than choice. More than half the play is comprised of verbal digressions: grand slabs of nouns and modifiers, a kind of conscious rodomontade motivating nothing. • • • It
Wolcott Gibbs in hie review in The N.!!, Yorke~ (May 6, 1950) found little of value in the play. "· •• Mr. Fry's 8 piece, apparently an error of his early career~ had its bright moments, but altogether it was pretty much of a nui sance. The formula was fatally easy--the pseudo-poetic line breaking down into absurdity. The plot was little more than a anecdote--a theoretically sorrowing widow employs her hus- band's corpse to save her new lover's career ••• u Of the acting he merely said that the Mperformances were not of the sort generally seen on Broadway".
Harold ClU:rman, drama editor for the !!! Republi,.9, (May 15, 1950), wrote MThe play suffers in its own right because the content does not support the verbosity, because the tongue in c~ek extravagance bursts ot over inflation.•
Monroe K. Spears, who did not review the. ,production, wrote in an article on Christopher Fry,7 Mit (,A Phoenix !2,g, Frequent) is Mr. Fry's neatest, best constructed, and most closely unified play, and perhaps hi.s funniest. • • There are no pseudo-profundities; the theme is embodied not only in the persuasions to joy .and against death or both characters. (at different times), but in the basic irony or the situation as Mr. Fry presents it: what is seen from the outside merely
7 Monroe K. Spears, "Christopher Fry and the Redemption of Joy, 11 Poetr~, 78: 28-~3, April 1951. 9 a bawdy and cynical demonstration or women's fickleness, is, seen from the inside, an affirmation of joy and life.
It • • • The play is limited in scope; its structure is simple, artificial, symetrical ••• perhaps the secret of its success lies in the acceptance of these limitations in stead of striving after profundities."
The story of the play, according to the title page of the soript8 "was got from Jeremy Taylor who had it from
Petronius. 11 It is' the story of a Ephesian widow who goes to the tomb of her deceased husband to fast and die, taking with her a faithful maid. Her plans are changed by the in tervention of a h~ndsome soldier who stumbles on the tomb quite by accident. It is ironical that the soldier falls in love with her because of her dedication to her husband and then immediately sets about the business of changing her. Fry has followed the original story closely, changing only the moral tone. The original story was a comment on the fickleness of women, while Fry's adaptation has a less cynical basis. '!he moral of his play, he stated in an in terview with the press, is that 11 life must always take
S-bfiristopher Fry, ~Phoenix I.2.2. Frequent. (London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1950.) 10 precedence over death.M9 The title of the play according to the dust jaaket, was taken from Robert Burton's quotation ot lines by Martial:
"To whom conterr1 d a peacock's undecent, A squirrel's harsh, a phoenix too Frequent."
Ot the theme of the play, Beverly Baxter ot ~ ~ ing Star,10 had this to say, "Anatole France would have been delighted to have thought of such a theme and could not have written it more brilliantly ••• Here is wit, poetry, sentiment, and misanthropy, which excite both the mind and the senses."
II. CASTING
Because the play demands such a small cast and be- cause of the director's knowledge of the actors and actresses on campus, the usual open try-outs were not held. The two women were choeen on the basis of past per formance. Each, the director felt, was remarkably well suited in ability and appearance for Aer respective part. An inexperienced actor was chosen for the male lead,
9 Joseph Wood Krutch, "Dramau. !!:.! Nation, 170: 457, May 13, 1950. 10 Quoted on jacket of play script, -2£• cit. 11 partially because there were no other male actors available, but mainly because his physical appearance was so like the director's mental picture of the hero in the play. Before casting the male part, the director consulted the faculty advisor for the play. Both felt that the actor in question, although he had been in only one play previously, showed a talent and aptitude for the theatre that was worth develop ing. It was also felt that directing and working with an inexperienced actor would be of value to the director whose interest is in edhcational theatre on the secondary school level. The final_.cast was: Doto • • • • • • ...... Beverly Funston
Dynamene • • • • • • • • • .Sondra Chapman
Tegeus-Chromis • • • • • • .John George
III. DIRECTION
.Because the play is given a Greek setting and the costumes were in the Greek tradition the director felt that the action of the play should follow the Greek style. The movements must be smooth and flowing. Gestures should be broad and stylized. The poetry was to be read for its musical quality, its rhythm, and beauty of sound. The 12 notable exception to this rule was the character ot Doto who was to read her lines with less attention to poetic beauty and more attention to comic effect, remembering al ways that Fry's comedy was to be subtle. The director also felt that it was important to remember that the play is a comedy which should be played with a Ntongue in the cheekM a tt.i tude, never taking the characters too seriously. At the first rehearsal of the play the director dis- cussed his conception of each character with the person who was to play the character. The director first explained his idea or the character, then the player showed where he agreed or disagr~ed with the director's conceptions. The . -0~ two then decided how the character would be played. The director also briefly explained his ideas concerning the general style of the production. Since no movement is given in the original script ot the play, the director planned the action for the perform ance and presented it to the cast at the first blocking rehearsal. These principles were kept in mind in blocking the action: {a) creating good stage pictures, {b) keeping a "talky" play from becoming too static, (c) building in teresting characters, and {d) using the whole stage. The blocking presented at the first blocking rehearsal, with 13 only a tew minor changes, was seen in the performances ot the play.
The characters. This section is devoted to the director's conception of each of' the characters.
~: Born a slave, she has been raised with her mistress Dynamene. Since they are about the same age and have grown up together, a very warm friendshipacists between them. Doto has dever known any lite other than that of' ·a servant, and so she is very quick to respond to her mistress's wishes or even t.o anticipate them. She is so good a servant, -:.! in tact, that she cannot imagine ·her mistress going to Hades unattended. Her only interest in lite other than serving Dynamene is men. In her opening speech she says, "· •••• all that I ask Is don't keep turning men over in my mind, Venerable Aphrodite." But she has not been too successful with men; "One always gave a wink before he deserted me, The other slapped me as it were behind, Madam; Then they would be away for some months."
Dynamene: A young lady with high ideals about love, she has come to fast and die in the tomb of her husband. 14 Virilius could not have been a very exciting husband for the romantic girl: "He made the world succumb to his daily revolution of habit"; • ••• made balance sheets sound like
Homer and Homer sould like balance sheets. 11 Her marriage was probably arranged by her parents, for Virilius was "certain to become the most well organized provost the town has known. 11
But now he is 11 a coming man already gone" and she has come to his tomb to die--not so much for love of Virilius as for her ideals about love. The handsome young soldier provides her both a new object for her ~omantic interests and a reason for living. At first she is reticent about giving up her martyrdom; she is, she says, "susceptible to two conflicting norths.• But after some persuasion from Tegeus she makes up her mind in his favor. Once she has given her love to Tegeus it is an easy thing for her to offer her husband's body to save him.
Tegeus: This character, when first we meet him, is a disappointed optimist. He was 1 born in the hills a quarter of an hour before milking t1me 11 and grew up loving nature, music, and beauty. Since entering the service he has come in contact with the coarser side of life and in his disaP pointment pictures the world as 11 mildew, verdigris, rust, 15 woodrot, or as though the sky had uttered an oval twirling blasphemy with occasional vistas in country districts.11 But his faith is renewed when he sees the sacrifice that Dynamene is prepared to make for love. Had he met her under different circumstances perhaps she would not have been so attractive to him, but here in the tomb she represents all the things he has vainly sought.
11 I can only call it a vieiont. a hope, a promise A-by that I mean loyalty, enauring passion, Unrecking bravery, and beauty all in one." Attracted to her as he is, in the tomb of her dead husband he is hesitant about asserting himself. Even when she moves to him .sighing, 11 0 Chromis ••• 11 , his nerve fails him and he quickly changes the subject with, 11 Tell me, what is your opinion of progress • • • II But finally he gives over and confesses his love for her . When she is still unsure about what is right, he de livers this speech:
u • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • I, If I had been your husband, would never dream Of expecting you. I should remember your body Descending in Hades. I should say, 1 ! have left My -wealth warm or earth, and, hell, earth needs it. 1 'Was all I taught her of love,' I should sayt. 1 so poor That she will leave her flesh and become shaaow? 1 'Wasn't our love for each other• (I should continue) 'Infused with life, and life infused with our love? Very well; repeat me in love, repeat me in life, And let me sing in your blood for ever.• 16 The primary purpose or this speech, of course, is to convince her that what they desire ie the right thing to do. A secondary purpose would be to convince himself. When he finds that one of the bodies he has been charged with is missing, his new found world crumbles. Be ing a loyal soldier he can see no way out. 1 It's all de termined in section six, paragraph three of the regulations." Dynamene is the one who finds a solution to the missing body problem, and after a little persuasion he accepts her offer.
V. REHEARSAL
Because ot the difficulty of learning and interpret- ing the lines and the impor tance of doing both well, more rehearsals were given to readings of the play than is customary. Conflicts with classes and other activities made it impossible to have evening rehearsals, and so all rehearsals except the dress rehearsal were scheduled for afternoons or mornings. .\
17 March 30 • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. Reading Rehearsal April 7 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. Reading Rehearsal 9 • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. Reading Rehearsal 14 • • • • • • . • • ••••••• Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. Eeading Rehearsal 16 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. First blocking rehearsal
20 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Afternoon, 4-6 P.M. General Rehearsal 21 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. General Rehearsal
22 • • • . .... ~ . • • • • • • • • • • • Afternoon, 4-6 P.M. General Rehearsal
23 ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Afternoon, 1-3 P.M. General Rehearsal 24 •••••••••••••••• Afternoon, 4-6 P.M. General Rehearsal 25 •••••••••••••••• Morning, 9-12 A.M. General Rehearsal 26 •••••••••••••••• Morning, 9-12 A.M. General Rehearsal
27 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~ Afternoon, 4-6 P.M. General Rehearsal 27 •••••••••••••••• Night, 8-12 P.M. Dress rehearsal and technical rehearsal
28 • • ...... • . . • • Night 7-11 P.M. PERFORMANCE
29 • • . . . • ...... • • Night 7-11 P.M. PERFORMANCE CHAPTER III
THE PROMPT BOOK
This play was presented along with another and so, in order to conform to an over-all length !Dr the evening, it was necessary to cut the script considerably. It was also felt that the play was l .onger than necessary to convey its meaning. The script, as cut and ueed in the production, and the director's notes are here presented. - ,
19 (1) Seated stage left. (2) Frightened. (3) Change oil to candle. (4) Jump up - get candle from up center.
(5) Move to lit candle, stage ri~ht, and light other candle (stage lights come UF)• (6) Omit this business. (7) Cross left; (bring up lights in this area). (8) Sit. (9) Seated on floor, stage right. (10) Move to her. A PHOENIX TOO FREQUENT
An underground tomb, in darkness except for the very low light of an oil-lamp. Above ground the starlight shows a line of trees on which hang the bodies of several men. It also penetrates a gate and falls on to the first of the steps which descend into the darkness of the tomb. DOTO talks to herself in the dark. (1) DOTO. Nothing but the harmless day gone into black (2) Is all the dark is. And so what's my trouble? Demons is so much wind. Are so much wind. I 1 ve plenty to til.l my thoughts. All that I ask Is don't keep turning men over in my mind, Venerable Aphrodite. I've had my last one And thank you. I thank thee. He smelt of sour grass And was likeable. He collected ebony quoits. (An owl hoots near at hand.) 0 Zeus! 0 some god or other, where is the oil? (3,4) Fire's from Prometheus. (5) I thank theP.. If I Mean to die I'd better see what I'm doing. (She fllls the lamp with oil. The flame burns up · bright"'ly and shows DYNAMENE, beautiful and young, leaning asleep beside a bier.) (6) Honestly, I would rather have to sleep With a bald bee-keeper who was wearing his boots Than spend more days fasting and thirsting and crying In a tomb. (7) I shouldn't have said that. Pretend I didn't h.ear myself. (8) But life and death Is cat and dog in this double-b.ed of a world. My master, my poor master, was a man 'Whose nose was as straight as a little buttress, And now he has taken it into Elysium Where it won't be noticed among all the other straightness. (The owl cries again and wakens DYNAMENE.) (9) Oh, them owls. Those owls. It's woken her. (10) DYNAMENE. Ah 1 I'm breathless. I caught up with the ship but it spread its wings, creaking a cry of ~' ~ ! and flew figurehead foremost into the sun. DOTO. How crazy, madam. DYNAMENE. Doto, draw back the curta.i11s. I'll take my barley-water.
2 r CRAY:EJ'fl'O S':;' i~J.1 E COLI.EGE ARCHIVE3 21 (11) Sit. (12) Head on bench. (13) Up, move to door of tomb, stage right. (14) Move left. (15) 81 t, left. 22 DOTO. We're not at home Now, madam. It's the master's tomb. DYNAMENE. Of' course ! Oh, I'm wretched. Already I have disfigured My vigil. My cynical eyelids have soon dropped me .In a dream. DOTO. But then it's possible, madam, you might Find yourself' in bed with him again In a dream, madam. Was he on the ship? (11)
DYNAMENE. He was the ship~ DOTO. Oh. That makes it different. DYNAMENE. He was the ship. He had such a deck, Doto, Such a white, s~rubbed deck. Such a stern prow, Such a proud stern, so slim from port to starboard. If' ever you meet a man with such fine masts Give your lite to himl Doto. • • • I must cry again. (12J
DO~O. What, when you mean to join him? Don't you believe he will be glad to see you, madam? Thankful to see you I should imagine, among Them shapes and shades; all shapes of shapes and all Shades of shades, from what I've heard. • •• · (DYNAMENE weeps.) It would only be!.!!!!, madam. He couldn't go far With a shade. DYNAMENE. He was one of' the coming men. (13) He was certain to have become the most well-organized provost The town has known, once they had made him provost. He was so punctual, you could regulate The sun by him. He made the world succumb To his daily revolution of habit. But who, In the world he has gone to, will appreciate that? O poor Virilium ! 'l'o be a coming man Already gone--it must be distraction. Why did you leave me walking about our ambitions Like a cat in the ruins of a house? (14) Promising husband, Why did you insult me by dying? (15) DOTO. 0 poor madam ! 0 poor master J I presume so f'ar as to cry somewhat for myself 23 (16) Move to her; kneel beside her.
(17) Doto up. (18) Move up right to stairs. (19) Sit on stairs; weep. 24 As well. I know you won't mind, madam. It's two Daye not eating makes me think of my uncle's Shop in the country, where he has a hardware business, Basins, pots, ewers, and alabaster birds. He makes you die of laughing. O madam, Isn't it sad? (16) {They both weep.)
DYNAMENE. How could I have allowed ~ou To come and -die of my grief? Doto, it puts A terrible responsibility on me. Have you No grief of your own you could die of? DOTO. Not really, madam. DYNAMENE. Nothing? DOTO. • Not really. They was all one to me. Well, all but two was all one to me. And they, Strange enough1 was two who kept recurring. I could never oe sure if they had gone for good Or not; and so that kept things cheerful~ madam. One always gavs a wink before he deserten me, The other slapped me as it were behind, madam; Then they would be away for some months. DYNAMENE. Oh Doto, What an unhappy life you were having to lead. DOTO. • •• Death's a new interest in life, If it doesn't disturb you, madam, to have me crying. It's because of us not having breakfast again. And the master, of course. And the beautiful world. And you crying too, madam. Oh--Oh 1 DYNAMENE. I can't forbid your crying; but you must cry On the other side of the tomb. (17) I 1m becoming confused. This is my personal grief and my sacrifice Of self, solus. Right over there, darling girl. (18) ' DOTO. What here? DYNAMENE. Now, if you wish you may cry, Doto. (19) But our tears are very different. For me The world is all with Charon, all, all, Even the metal and plume of the rose garden, 25 {20) Up; move right toward door ot tomb. {21) Same position as at opening. (22) Up; move down left. 26 And the forest where the sea fumes overhead In vegetable tides, and particularly The entrance to the warm baths in Arcite Street Where we first met;--all !--the sun itself Trails an evening hand in the sultry river Far away down by Acheron. I am lonely, Virilius. (20) Where is the punctual eye And where is the cautious voice which made Balance-sheets sound like Homer and Homer sound Like balance-sheets? The precision of limbs, the amiable Laugh, the exact festivity? Gone from the world. You were the peroration of nature, Virilius. You explained everything to me, even the extremely Complicated gods. You wrote them down In seventy columns. Dear curling calligraphy 1 Gone from the world, once and for all. And I taught you In perceptive moments to appreciate me. You said I was :harmonious, Virilius, Moulded and harmonious, little matronal Ox-eye, your package. And then I would walk Up and down largely, as it were making my own Sunlight •••••••••• --and all is gone In one Virilil.lS, wearing his office tunic, Checking the pence column as he went. Where's animation now? What is there that stays To dance? The .eye of the one-eyed world is out. (She weeps.) (21) DOTO. I shall try to grieve a little, too. It would take lessons, I imagine, to do it out loud For long. If I could only remember Any one of those fellows without wanting to laugh. (22) Hopeless., I am. Now those good pair of shoes I gave away without thinking, that's a different- Well, I've cried enough about them I suppose. Poor madam, poor master. {TEGEUS comes through the gate to the top or the steps.) TEGEUS. What's your trouble? DOTO. Oh! Ohl Oh, a man. I thought for a moment it was something With harm in it. Trust a man to be where it's dark. What is it? Can't you sleep? 27 (23) Move up center, to him. (24) Move down left. (25) Come down from tra1rs. {26) Move to Dynamene. 28 TEGEUS. Now, listen-- DOTO. Hush! (23) Remember you're in the grave. You must go away. Madam is occupied. TEGEUS. What, here? DOTO. Becoming Dead. We both are. TEGEUS. What's going on here? DOTO. Grier. Are you satisfied now? TEGEUS. Less and less. Do you know What the time ~s? DOTO. I'm not interested. We've done with all that. Go away. Be a gentleman. If we can't be free of men in a grave Death's a dead ~ loss. (24)
TEGEUS. It's ~wo in the morning. All I ask is what are women doing down here At two in the morning? (25) DOTO. Can't you see she's crying? (26) Or is she sleeping again? Either way She's making arrangements to join her husband. TEGEUS. Where? DOTO. Good god, in the Underworld, dear man. Haven't you Learnt About life and death? TEGEUS. In a manner, yes; in a manner; The rudiments. So the lady means to die? DOTO. For love; beautiful, curious madam. TEGEUS. Not curious; I've had thoughts like it. Death is a kind of love. Not anything I can explain. 29 (27) Cross left; sit; make it clear she wants to sit beside him. (28) Follow her; sit beside her. (29) Take out lunch; begin eating. 30 DOTO. You'd better come in And sit down. (27) TEGEUS. I'd be grateful. (28) DOTO. Do. It will be my last Chance to have company, in the flesh. TEGEUS. Do you mean You're going too? DOTO. Oh, certainly I am. Not anything I can explain. It all started with madam saying a man Was two men really, and I'd only noticed one, One each, I mean. It seems he has a soul As well as his other troubles. And I like to know What I'm getting with a man. I'm inquisitive, I suppose you'd call me. TEGEUS. It takes some courage. DOTO. Well, yes And no. I'm - ~nd of change. TEGEUS. Would you object To have me eating my supper here? DOTO. Be careful Of the crumbs. We don't want a lot of squeaking mice Just when we're dying. TEGEUS. How long has this been going on? (29) DOTO. Two days. It should have been three by now, but at first Madam had difficulty with the Town Council. They said They couldn't have a tomb used as a private residence. But madam told them she wouldn't be eating here, Only suffering, and they thought that would be all right. TEGEUS. Two of you. Marvellous. Who would have said I should ever have stumbled on anything like this? Do you have to cry? Yes, I suppose so. It's all Quite reasonable. 31 (30) Offer her some. (31) Up quickly; turn back on him.
(32) Flustered; speak quickly. (33) Up; offer bowl to her. (34) Turn slowly to him; take bowl. (35) Sit. (36) Sit; pour another bowl of wine. 32 DOTO. Your supper and your knees. That's what's making me cry. I can't bear sympathy And they're sympathetic. TEGEUS. Please eat a bit of something. I've no appetite left. (30) DOTO. And see her go -1iead of me? (31) Wrap it up; .put it away. You sex or wicked beards! It 1 s no wonder you have to shave off your black souls Every day as they push through your chins. I'll turn my back on you. It means utter Contempt. Eat? Utter contempt. Oh, little new rolls! TEGEUS. Forget it, forget it; please forget it. (32) Remember I've had no experience of this kind of thing before. Indeed I'm as sorry as I know how to be ••• • • • • • • • ~ • • • • • • • • . • • I understand how you must feel. Would it be--have you any objection To my having a drink? I have a little wine here. And, you probably see how it is: grief's in order, And death's in1order, and women--! can usually Manage that to-e; but not all three together At this hour of the morning. So you 1 11 excuse me. How about you? (33) It would make me more comfortable If you'd take a smell of it. DOTO. One for the road? (34) TEGEUS. One for the road. DOTO. It's the dust in my throat. The tomb Is so dusty. Thanks, I will. There's no point in dying Of everything simultaneous. (35) TEGEUS. It's luck I brought two bowls. (36) I was expecting to keep A drain for my relief when he comes in the morning. DOTO. Are you on duty? TEGEUS. Yes. DOTO. It looks like it. 33 (37) They touch their bowls together. TEGEUS. Well, Here's you good health. DOTO. What good is that going to do me? Here's to an easy crossing and not too much waiting About on the bank. (37) Do you have to tremble like that? TEGEUS. The idea--! can't get used to it. DOTO. For a member Of the forces, you're peculiarly queasy. I wish Those owls were in Hades--oh no; let them stay where they a.re. Have you never had nothing to do with corpses before?
~EGEUS. I've got six ot them outside. DOTO. Morpheus, that's plenty. What are they doing there? TEGEUS. Hanging. DOTO. Hanging? -.! TEGEUS. On trees. Five plane trees and a holly. The holly-berries Are just reddening. Another drink? DOTO. Why not? --How did they get in that predicament? TEGEUS. The sandy-haired fellow said we should collaborate With everybody; the little man ea.id he wouldn't Collaborate with anybody; the old one Said that the Pleiades weren't sisters but cousins And anyway were manufactured in La.ceda.emon. The fourth said that we hanged men for nothing The other two ea.id nothing.
DOTO. • • • The wine has gone down to my knees. TEGEUS. And up to your cheeks. You're looking Fresher.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 35 (38) Scoot closer to him. {39) Not noticing her; look at Dynamene. (40) Do this speech almost to self. 36 DOTO. I need to dance But I haven't the ~se of' my legs. TEGEUS. No, no, don't dance, Or, at least only inwards; don't dance; cry Again. We 1 1i put a moat of' tears Round her bastion of love, and save The world. It's something, it 1 s more than something, It's regeneration, to see how a human cheek Can become as pale as a pool. DOTO. Do you love me, handsome? (38) TEGEUS. To have found life, after all, unambiguous! (39) DOTO. Did you say Yes? TEGEUS. Certainly; just now I love all men. DOTO. So do I. TEGEUS. And the world is a good creature again. (40) I 1 d begun to s~e it as mildew, verdigris, Rust, woodrot,~ or as though the sky had uttered An oval twirling blasphemy with occasional vistas In country districts. I was within an ace Of volunteering for overseas service. DesJ:air Abroad can always nurse pleasant thoughts of home. Integrity, by god l DOTO. I love all the world And the movement of the apple in your throat. So shall you kiss me? It would be better, I should think, To go moistly to Hades. TEGEUS. Her's is the way, Luminous with sorrow.
DOTO. Then ! 1 11 take Another litt le swiggy. I love all men, Everybody, ei•en you, and I 111 pick you Some outrageous honeysuckle for your helmet, If only it lived here. Pardon. DYNAMENE. Doto. Who is it? '.' ·~ ,, J
37 (41) Up, as if' to leave. (42) Croes right, to her. (43) Up; move to him. (44) Cross right. 38 DOTO. Honeysuckle, madam. Because of the bees. Go back to sleep, madam. DYNAMENE. What person is it? DOTO. I see what you mean, madam. It's a kind ot Corporal talking to his sould, on a five-hour shift, Madam, with six bodies. He's been having his supper. TEGEUS. I'm going. (41) It's terrible that we should have disturbed her. DOTO. He was delighted to see you so sad, madam. It has stopped him going abroad. (42) DYNAMENE. One with six bodies? A messenger, a guide to where we go. It is possible .he has come to show us the way Out of these sq\ialid suburbs of life, a shade, A gorgon, who has come swimming up, against The falls of my tears (for which in truth he would need Many limbs) to guide me to Virilius. I shall go quLe_tly. (4 3) ...... _ , TEGEUS. I do assure you-- Such clumsiness, such a vile and unforgivable Intrusion. I shall obliterate myself Immediately. DOTO. Oblit--oh, what a pity To oblit. Pardon. Don't let him, the nice fellow. (44) DYNAMENE. Sir: your other five bodies: Where are they? TEGEUS. Madam-- Outside; I have them outside. On trees. DYNAMENE. Quack l TEGEµS. What do I reply? DYNAMENE. Quack, charlatan 1 You've never known the gods. You came to mock me. Doto, this never was a gorgon, never. Nor a gentleman either. He's completely spurious. Admit it, you creature. Have you even a feather Of the supernatural in your system? Have you? 39 (45) Directly to him; he sits, withering under her words. (46) Sit right. (47) Cross right to her. (48) Turning on him. (49) Start out. (50) Stop him. (51) Move down right; offer bowl to her •
...... r 40 TEGEtTS. Some of my relations-- DYNAMENE. Well? TEGEUS. Are dead, I think; That is to say I have connexions-- DYNAMENE. Connexions With pickpockets. It's a shameless imposition. • • • • • • • • • • • Oafish, non-commissioned Young man ! The boots of your conscience will pinch for ever If life's dignity ha.a any self-protection. Oh, I have to sit down. (46) The tomb's going round. DOTO. Oh, madam, don't give over. (47) I can't remember 'When things were so lively. He looks marvellously Marvellously ~comfortable. Go on, madam. Can't you madam? Oh, madam, don't you feel up to it? There, do you see her, (48) you acorn-chewing infantryman? You've made her cry, you square-bashing barbarian. TEGEUS. 0 hist-o_ry, my private history, why Was I led her'e? What stigmatism has got Into my stars? • • • Outside Tegeus. (49) DOTO. Hey, I don't think so, I shouldn't say so. (50) Come Down againi uniform. Do you think you're going To half ki 1 an unprotected lady and then Back out upwards? Do you think you can leave her like this? TEGEUS. Yes, Yes, I'll leave her. 0 directorate of gods, How can I? Beauty's bit is between my teeth. DOTO. Madam. Madam, the corporal Has some wine here. (51) It will revive you, madam. And then you can go at him again, madam. • • • • • • • • • • •• Not even a little wine, madam? DYNAMENE. Here, Doto? DOTO. Well, on the steps perhaps, Except it's so draughty. DYNAMENE. Doto! Here? 41 (52) He gets bottle. (53) Pour wine. (54) Up; cross lett. (5.5) Sit. (56) Look toward door of tomb. DOTO. No, madam; I quite see. DYNAMENE. I might be wise to strengthen myself In order to tast again; it would make me abler For griet. I will breathe a little or it, Doto.
DOTO. Thank god. Where's the bottle? (52) DYNAMENE. 'What an exquisite bowl.
...... • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DOTO. Hold the bowl steady, madam. (53) Pardbn. DYNAMENE. Doto, have you been drinking? DOTO. Here madam? I coaxed some a little way towards my mouth, madam, But I searcely swallowed except because I had to. The hiccup Is from no b~'t_akfast, madam, and not meant to be runny. -·..... DYNAMENE. You may drink this too. Oh, how the invererate body, Even when cut from the hear, insists on leat, Puts out, with a separate meaningless willt Fronds to intercept the thankless sun. (54J How it does, oh, how it does. And how it confuses '!'he nature of the mind. TEGEUS. Yes, yes, the confusion; That's something I understand better than anything. DYNAMENE. When the thoughts would die, the instincts will set sail' For life, And when the thoughts are alert for life The instincts will rage to be destroyed on the rocks. (55) To Virilius it was not so; his brain was an ironing-board For all crumpled indecision: (56) and I follow him, The hawser of my world. You don 1 t belong here, You see; you don't belong here at all. TEGEUS. If only I did. If only you knew the effort it costs me 44
(57) Start out. (58) Move up stage; stop him. (59) Move down center. (60) Get bottle; follow pouring wine. 45 To mount those steps again into an. untrustworthy, Unpredictable, unenlightened night, And turn my back on--on a state of affairs, I can only call it a vision, a hope, a promise, A--By that I mean loyalty, enduring passion, Unrecking bravery and beauty all in one. DOTO. He means you, or you and me; or me, madam. TEGEUS. It only remains for me to thank you, and to say That whatever awaits me and for however long I may be played by this poor musician, existence, Your person and sacrifice will leave their trace As clear upon me as the shape of the hills Around my birthplace. Now I must leave you to your husband. (57) DOTO. Oh! You, :madam. DYNAMENE. I'll tell you what I will do. (58) I will drink with you to the memory ot my husband, Because I have been curt, because you are kind, And because I -'-m extremely thirsty. And then we will say Good-bye and"J)irt to go to our opposite corruptions, The world and the grave. (59) TEGEUS. The climax to the vision. (60) DYNAMENE (drinking). My husband, and all he stood tor. TEGEUS. Stands for. DYNAMENE. Stands for. TEGEUS. Your husband. DOTO. The master. DYNAMENE. How good it is, How it sings to the throat, purling with summer. TEGEUS. It has a twin nature, winter and warmth in one, Moon and meadow. Do you agree? DYNAMENE. Perfectly; A cold bell sounding in a golden month. 46 (61) Cross 1 e:f't. (62) Turn toward him. (63) Sit. (64) Move toward her. (65) Sit...... A mystery's in the world (61) Where a little liquid, with flavour, quality, and fume Can be as no other, can hint and flute our senses As though a music played in harvest hollows And a movement was in the swathes of our memory.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Do I know your name? (62) TEGEUS. Tegeus.
DYNAMENE. That's v~ry thin for you, It hardly covers your bones. Something quite different, Altogether other. I shall think of it presently. (63) TEGEUS. Darker vowels, perhaps. (64) DYNAMENE. Yes, certainly darker vowels. And your consonants should have a slight angle, And a certain· temperature. Do you know what I mean? It will come t~ me. TEGEUS. Now your name-- (65) DYNAMENE. It is nothing To any purpose. I'll be to you the She In the tomb ••••••••••••••••••• Names make us broody; we sit and sit To hatch them into reputation and dignity. And then they set upon us and become despair, Guilt and remorse. We go where they lead. We dance Attendance on something wished upon us by the wife Of our mother's physician. But insects meet and part And put the woods about them, fill the dusk And freckle the light and go and come without A name among them, without the wish of a name And very pleasant too. Did I interrupt you? TEGEUS. I forget. We'll have no names then. DYNAMENE. I should like You to have a name, I don't know why; a small one To fill out the conversation. 48 {66) Offering wine. {67) Pour wine for her. (68) Up; move to Doto. (69) Move up center; sit on steps; sleep.
---·- 49 TEGEUS. I should like You to have a name too, if only tor something To remember. Have you still some wine in your bowl? (66) DYNAMENE. Not altogether. TEGEUS. We haven't come to the end By several inches. (67) Did I splash you? DYNAMENE. It doesn't matter. Well, here's to my husband's name. TEGEUS. Your husband's name. DOTO. The master. DYNAMENE. It was kind of you to come. TEGEUS. It was more than coming. I followed my future here.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DYNAMENE. Your t}.e wrong. There isn't a future here, Not here, not for you. TEGEUS. Your name's Dynamene. DYNAMENE. Who--Have I been utterly irreverent? (68) Are you-- Who made you say that? Forgive me the question, But are you dark or light? I mean which shade Ot the supernatural? Or if neither, what prompted you? TEGEUS. Dynamene--
DYNAMENE. No 1 .but I 1m sure you're the friend ot natUB, It must be so, I ~hink I see little Phoebuses· Rising and setting in your eyes. DOTO. They're not little Phoebuses, They're hoodwinks, madam. Your name is on your brooch. No little Phoebuses tonight. (69) DYNAMENE. That's twice You've played me a trick. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • so (70) Sit beside him; he closes eyes. (71) Demonstrate; eyes still closed. (72) Move up to steps. (73) Move back to him; go left to sit. Sl TEGEUS. It was you, each time, Who said I was supernatural. When did I say so? You're making me into whatever you imagine And then you blame me because I can't live up to it. DYNAMENE. I shall call you Chromis. It has a breadlike sound. I think of you as a crisp loaf. TEGEUS. And now You'll insult me because I'm not sliceable. DYNAMENE • . I think drinking is harmful to our tempers. TEGEUS. If I seem to be frowning, that is only because I'm looking directly into your light: I must look Angrily·' or . sh~t my eyes. DYNAMENE. Shut them. (70) --Oh, . You have eyelashes l A new perspective of you. Is that how you look when you sleep?
' TEGEUS. ' · ~1 My jaw drops down. DYNAMENE. Show me how. TEGEUS. Like this. (71) DYNAMENE. It makes an irresistible Moron ot you. Will you waken now? It's morning; I see a thin dust of daylight Blowing on to the steps. (72)
TEGEUS. Already? Dynamene, You're tricked again. This time by the moon. DYNAMENE. Oh well, Moon's daylight, then. Doto is asleep. TEGEUS. Doto Is asleep. • •
DYNAMENE. Chromis, what made you w~lk about In the night? (73) What, I wonder, made you not stay Sleeping wherever you slept? Was it the friction .52 {74) Start out. (75) Up. {76) Stop. (77) Coming back quickly; move down right.
l' 53 Of the world on your mind? Those two are difficult To make agree. Chromis--now try to learn To answer your name. I won't say Tegeue. TEGEUS. And I Won't say Dynamene. DYNAMENE. Not? TEGEUS. It makes you real. Forgive me, a terrible thing has happened. Shall I Say it and perhaps destroy myself for you? Forgive me first, or, more than that, forgive Nature who w~nds her furtive stream all through Our reason. Do you forgive me?
DYNAMENE. , I 111 forgive Anything, if it 1 s the only way I can know What you have to tell me...... TEGEUS. This h&"i! been a place of blessing to me. It will always Play in me, a fountain of cont~d,nce When the world is arid. But I know it is true I have to leave it, and though it withers my soul I must let you make your journey. (74) DYNAMENE. No. (75) TEGEUS. Not true? (76) DYNAMENE. We can talk of something quite different. TEGEUS. Yes, we can l Oh yes, we will. (77) Is it your opinion That no one believes who hasn't learned to doubt? Or, another thing, if we persuade ourselves To one particular Persuasion, become Sophist, Stoic, Platonist, anything whatever, Would you say that there must be areas of soul Lying unproductive therefore, or dishonoured Or blind? DYNAMENE. No, I don't know. 54 (78) Cross to her. (79) Cross right. (80) Follow her. (81) Move to him. (82) Move away from her; talk quickly. Wander around stage. not looking at her. (83) Move to her. (84) Turn away from him. (85) Move left to where f'ood is •
.. 55 TEGEUS. No. It's impossible To tell, Dynamene, if only I had Two cakes of pearl-barley and hydromel I could see you to Hadesi leave you with your husband And come back to the wor d. (78) DYNAMENE. Ambition, I suppose, Is an appeti te·0 particular to man. What is your definition? (79) TEGEUS. The desire to find A reason for living. (80) DYNAMENE: But then, suppose it leads, As often, one way or another, it does, to death. TEGEUS. Then that may be life's reason. Oh, but how Could I bear to -return, Dynamene? The earth's Daylight would be my grave if I had left you In that unearthly night. DYNAMENE. . 0 Chromie----- (81) TEGEUS. -~ . Tell me, (82) What is your opinion of Progress? Does it, for example Exist? Is there ever progression without retrogression? Therefore is it not true that mankind Can more justly be said increasingly to Gress? As the material improves, the craftsmanship deteriorates And honour and virtue remain the same. I love you, Dynamene. (83)
DYNAMENE. Would you consider we go roun~ and round? (84) TEGEUS. We eoneertina, I think; taking each time A larger breath, so that the farther we go out The farther we have to go in. DYNAMENE. There'll come a time When it will be unbearable to continue. TEGEUS. Unbearable. DYNAMENE. Perhaps we had better have something To eat. (85) The wine has made your eyes so quick I am breathless beside them. • • • • • • • • • • • • 56 (86) Get lunch. (87) Take roll; sit. (88) Sit. 57 TEGEUS. Here's a new roll with honey. (86) In the gods 1 names Let's sober ourselves. DYNAMENE. As soon as possible. TEGEUS. Have you Any notion of algebra? DYNAMENE. We'll discuss you, Chromis. (87) We will discuss you, till you're nothing but words. TEGEUS. I? There is nothing, of course, I would rather discuss, Except--1f it would be no intrusion--you, Dynamene. (88) DYNAMENE. No, you couldn't want to. But your birthplace, Chromis, With the hills that placed themselves in you for ever As you say, where was it? TEGEUS. My father's farm at Pyxa.
' DYNAMENE. Ther~l Could it be there? TEGEUS. I was born in the hills Between showers, a quarter of an hour before milking time. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DYNAMENE. You used to climb about Among the windfallen tower ot ·Phrasidemua Looking for bees• nests. TEGEUS. What? When have I Said so? DYNAMENE. Why, all the children did.
TEGEUS. Yes: but, in the name of light, how do you ~ that? DYNAMENE • I played there once, on holiday. • • • • • • • . • • • • • • . . . • • It's the strangest chance: I may have seen, for a moment, your boyhood. 58 (89) Up; move stage right. (90) Turn away from her. (91) Sit right of him; use sweet tones. 59 TEGEUS. • •. • • If' I only could remember how I must Have seen you. Were you after the short white violets? Maybe I blundered past you, taking your look, And scarcely acknowledged how a star Ran through me, to live in the brooks of' my blood for ever. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DYNAMENE. I was quite plain and fat and I was usually Hitting someone. I wish I could remember you. I 1m envious ot the days and children who saw you Then. It is curiously a little painful Not to share your past. TEGEUS. How did it come our stars could mingle for an afternoon So long ago and then forget us or tease us Or helplessly look on the dark high seas Of our separation, while time drank The golden hours? What hesitant fate is that? DYNAMENE. Time? Time? 'Why--how old are we?
TEGEUS. ~ Young, Thank, both ou ~ mothers, but still we're older than to-night And so oider than we should be. Wasn't I born In love with what, only, now, I have grown to meet? I'll tell you something else. I was born entirely For this reason. I was born to till a gap In the world's experience, which had never known Chromis loving Dynamene. DYNAMENE. You are so Excited, poor Chromis. (89) What is it? Here. you sit With a woman who has wept away all claims To appearance, unbecoming in her oldest clothes, With not a trace or liveliness, a drab Of melancholy, entirely shadow without A smear of sun. Forgive me if I tell you That you tall easily into superlatives.
TEGEUS. Very well. I'll say nothing, then. I 1 11 fume With feeling. (90) · DYNAMENE. Now you go to the extreme. (91) Certainly You must speak. You may have more to say. Besides You might let your silence run away with you 60 (92) Turn to her. (93) Up; move around seat. (94) Sit le:f't of him. (95) Up; pull her close. (96) Almost kiss; move right quickly. 61 And not say something that you should. And how Should I answer you then? Chromis, you boy, I can't look away from you. You use The lamplight and the moon so skilfully, So arrestingly, in and around your furrows. A humorous ploughman goes whistling to a team Ot sad sorrow, to and tro in your brow And over your arable cheek. Laugh for me. (92) Have you Cried for women, ever? TEGEUS. In looking about for you. But I have recognized them for what they were. DYNAMENE. What were they? TEGEUS. Never you: never, although They could walk with bright distinction into all men's Longest memories, never you, by a hint Or a faint quality. • • • • • • • • .• • • • • • • • • • Will you make some effort to believe that? DYNAMENE. No, no effort. It lifts me an~ carries me. (93) It may be wild But it comes --c-o me with a charmt like trust indeed, And eats out ot my heart, dear vhromis, Absurd, disconcerting Chromis. You make me Feel I wish I would look my best for you. I wish, at least, that I could believe myself To be showing some beauty for you, to put in the scales Between us. But they dip to you, they sink With masculine victory. {94) TEGEUS. Eros, no ! No! If this is less than your best, then never, in my presence, Be more than you less: never 1 If you should bring More to your mouth or to your eyes, a moisture Or a flake of light, anything, anything fatally More, perfection would fetch her unsparing rod Out of pickle to tlay me, and what would have been love Will be the end of me. 0 Dynamene Let me unload something of my lips' longing On to your receiving. • •••••••• (95) DYNAMENE. Chromis, Where am I going? (96) No, don't answer. It's death I desire, not you. 62 (97) Follow her. (98) Sit; doubt creeps in. ( 99) Pace around s ta.g e during this speech. (100) Come back to her. (101) Up; cross left. (102) Sit. 63 TEGEUS. Where is the difference? Call me Death instead of Chromis. (97) I 111 answer to anything. It's desire all the same, of death in me, or me In death, but Chromis either way. Is it so? Do you not love me, Dynamene? DYNAMENE. How could it happen? I'm going to my husband. I'm too far on the way To admit myself to life again. Love's in Hades. TEGEUS. Also here. And here are we, not there In Hades. Is your husband expecting you? DYNAMENE. Surely, surely? (98) TEGEUS. Not necessarily. (99) I, If I had been your husbandt would never dream Of expecting yeu. I shouln remember your body Descending stairs in the floating light, but not Descending in Hades. I should say 'I have left My wealth warm on the earth, andL helli earth needs it. 1 1 Was all I taught her of love, 1 i shou d sayt 1 so poor That she will-leave her flesh and become shanow? 1 1Wasn 1 t our l~e for each other• (I should continue) 'Infused with life, and life infused with our love? Very well; (100) repeat me in love, repeat me in life, And let me sing in your blood for ever.' DYNAMENE. Stop, stop, I shall be dragged apart 1 (101) Why should the fates do everything to keep me From dying honourably? They must have got Fired of honour in Elysium. Chromis, it's terrible To be susceptible to two conflicting norths. I have the constitution of a whirlpool. Am I actually twirling, or is it just sensation? (102) TEGEUS. You're still; still as the darkness. DYNAMENE. What appears Is so unlike what is. And what is madness To those who only observe, is often wisdom To those to whom it happens. TEGEUS. Are we compelled To go into all this? 64
(103) To her; pull her up. (104) Kiss. (105) Push him away. (106) Turn away; indicate buckle at back.
(107) Working on buckle. (108) They get buckle loose; she carries belt left; set it down. 6.5 DYNAMENE . Why, how could I return To my friends? Am I to be an entertainment?
TEGEUS. That's for to-morrow. To-night I need to kiss you, (103) Dynamene. Let's see what the whirlpool does Between my arms. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DYNAMENE. I am there before I reach you; my body Only follows to join my longing which Is holding you already. (104) Now I am All one again. TEGEU S. I reel as the gods reel: This is their sensation of life, not a man's: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •••••• Can we be made of dust, as they tell us? What 1 Dust with dust releasing such a light And such an apparition of the world Within one body? A thread of your hair has stung me. (105) Why do you push me away? DYNAMENE. There's so much metal About you. Do I have to be imprisoned In an armoury? TEGEUS. Give your hand to the buckles and then To me. (106)
DYNAMENE. Don't help; (107) I 111 do them all myself. TEGEUS. O time and patience! I want you back again. DYNAMENE. We have a lifetime. 0 Chromi s, think, think Of that. And even unfastening a buckle Is loving. And not easy. Very well, You can help me. (108) Chromis, what zone of miracle Did you step into to direct you in the dark To where I waited, not knowing I waited? TEGEUS. I saw The lamplight...... DYNAMENE. But here? So far from life? What brought you near enough to see lamplight? 66
(109) Sit. (110) Move to her; kiss as the lines dictate. (111) He starts out. TEGEUS. Zeus, That reminds me. DYNAMENE. What is it, Chromis? TEGEUS. I•m on duty...... DYNAMENE. Chromis, not that joke Again. TEGEUS. No joke, sweet. To-day our city Held a sextuple hanging. I 1 m minding the bodies Until five o'clock. Already I've been away For half an hour. DYNAMENE. What can they do, poor bodies, In half an hour, or half a century? You don't really mean to go? TEGEUS. Only to make My conscience _easy. Then, •••••••••••••• DYNAMENE. But if every half-hour-- (109) TEGEUS. Hush, smile of my soul, (110) My sprig, my sovereign: this is to hold your eyes, I sign my lips on them both: this is to keep Your forehead--do you feel the claim of my kiss Falling into your thought? And now your throat Is a white branch and my lips two singing birds- They are coming to rest. Throat, remember me Until I come back in five minutes. Over all Here is my parole: I give it to your mouth To give me again before it's dry. I promise: Before it's dry, or not long after. DYNAMENE. Run, Run all the way. (111) You needn 1 t be afraid of stumbling. There's plenty of moon. The fields are blue. Oh, wait, Wait 1 My darling. No, not now: 1 t will keep Until I see you; I 111 have it here at my lips. Hurry. 68
(112) Up: say line to audience. (113) Move upstage to her. (114) Get up; move down stage. (115) Follow her. (116) Cross right; a little too carelessly.
>- 69 TEGEUS. So long, my haven. DYNAMENE. Hurry, hurry ! (~ TEGEUS.) DOTO. Yes, madam, hurry; of course. Are we there Already? How nice. Death doesn't take Any doing at all. We were gulped into Hades As easy as an oyster. DYNAMENE. Doto ! (112) DOTO. Hurry hurry, Yes madam.--But they've taken out ail my bones. I haven't a bone left. I'm a Shadow: wonderfully shady In the legs. We shall have to sit out eternity, madam, If they've done the same to you. DYNAMENE. You'd better wake up. (113) If you can't go to sleep again, you 1d better wake up. Oh dear.--We're still alive, Doto, do you hear me? DOTO. You must speak for yourself, madam. I'm quite dead. I' 11 tell you 'bow I know. I feel Invisible. I'm a wraith, madam; I'm only Waiting to be wafted. DYNAMENE. If only you would be. Do you see where you are? Look. Do you see?
DOTO. Yes. You 1 re right, madam. We're still alive. Isn't it enough to make you swear? (114) Here we are, dying to be dead, And where does it get us? DYNAMENE. Perhaps you should try to die · In some other place. (115) Yes 1 Perhaps the air here SUits you too well. You were sleeping very heavily. DOTO. And all the time you alone and dying. I shouldn't have. Has the corporal been long gone, Madam? DYNAMENE. He came and went, came and went, You know the way. (116) 70
(117) Don't turn to her until word "Listen. 11 (118) Pushing her up to steps. (119) Coming back; move down left. (120) Move far left as if to push her back. 71 DOTO. _ Very well I do. And went He should have, come he should never. Oh dear, he must Have disturbed you, madam. DYNAMENE. He could be said To 1 ve disturbed me. (117) Listen; I have something to say to you. DOTO. I expect so, madam. Maybe I could have kept him out But men are in before I wish they wasn•t. I think quickly enough, but I get behindhand With w~at I ought to be saying. It's a kind of' stammer In my way of life, madam. DYNAMENE. I have been unkind, I have sinfully wronged you, Doto. DOTO. Never, madam. DYNAMENE. Oh yes. I was letting you die with me, Doto, without Any fair reason. I was drowning you In grief' that - ~asn't yours. That was wrong, Doto. DOTO. But I haven't got anything against dying, madam. I may ~ the situation, as far I like Any situation, madam. Now if' you'd said mangling, A lot of mangling, I might have thought twice about staying. We all have our dislikes, madam. DYN.AMENE. I'm asking you To leave me, Doto, and let me forget My bad mind which conf'iden~ .ly expected you To companion me to Hades. .?lo;w good-bye, Good-bye. (118) DOTO. No, it's not good-bye at all. (119) I shouldn't know another night of sleep, wondering How you go on, or what I was missing, come to that. I should be anxious about you, too. When you belong To the upper class, the netherworld might come strange. Now I was born nether, madam, though not As nether as some. No, it's not good-bye, madam. DYNEMENE. Oh Doto, go; you must, you must. (120) And if' I seem 72 (121) Sit. (122) Cross right. (123) Begins to get idea. (124) Very significantly. (125) Idea strikes her fully. (126) Enthusiastically. 73 Without gratitude, forgive me. It isn't so, It is far, far from so. But I can only Regain my peace of mind if I know you're gone. DOTO. Besides, look at the time, madam. Where should I go At three in the morning? Even if I was to think Of going; and think of it I never shall. DYNAMENE. Think of the unmatchable world, Doto. DOTO. I do Think of it, madam. And when I think of it, what Have I thought? Well, it depends, madam. DYNAMENE. I insist, Obey me! At once ! Doto ! DOTO. Here I sit. (121) DYN.AMENE. What shall I do with you? DOTO. Ignore me, madam. I know my place. I shall die quite unobtrusive. Oh look, the ~orporal's forgotten to take his equipment. DYNAMENE. Could he be so careless? DOTO. I shouldn't hardly have thought so. Poor fellow. They 111 go and deduct it off his credits. I suppose, madam, I suppose he couldn't be thinking Of coming back? DYNAMENE. He'll think of these. He will notice He isn't wearing them. He'll come; he is sure to come. (122) DOTO. Oh. (123) DYNAMENE. I know he will. (124)
DOTO. Oh 1 oh. Is that all for to-night, maaam? May I go now, madam? DYNAMENE. Doto ! Will you? (126) DOTO. Just you try to stop me, madam. (127) Get wine bottle; start exit. (128) Move to him. (129) Sit on bench stage right.
.- 75 Sometimes going is a kind of instinct with me. I'll leave death to some other occasion. (127) DYNAMENE. Do, Doto. Any other time. Now you must hurry. I won't delay you from life another moment. Oh, Doto, good-bye. DOTO. Good-bye. . •· . • Remember me to Cerberus. (Re-enter TEGEUS. DOTO passes~ .2!! lh! steps.)
DOTO. (~ ~ g~es). You left something behind. Ye gods, what a moon.
DYNAMENE. Chromis, it 1 s true; my lips are hardly dry. Time runs again; the void is space again; Space has life again; Dynamene has Chromis. TEGEUS. It's over. DYNAMENE. Chromis, you're sick. As white as wool. Come, you cover.ed the distance too quickly. Rest in my arm ; get your breath again. (128)
TEGEUS. I've breathed one night too many. • • • • •
DYNAMENE. • • • • • • • • • • What do you mean? ......
TEGEUS. • • • • • I've lost a body. (129) DYNAMENE. A body? One of the six? Well, it isn't with them you propose To love me; and you couldn't keep it for ever. .Are we going to allow a body that isn't there To come between us? TEGEUS. But I'm responsible for it. I have to account for it in the morning. Surely You see, Dynamene, the horror we're faced with? The relatives have had time to cut him down And take him away for burial. It means A court martial. No doubt about the sentence. I shall take the place of the missing man. (130) Cross left. (131) Follow him. (132) Turn to her.
.-- . 77 To be hanged, Dyna.mene 1 Hanged, Dyna.mane!
DYNAMENE. No; it 1 s monstrous ! Your lite is yours, Chromis.
TEGEUS. Anything but. Tha.t 1 s why I have to take it. At the best we live our lives on loa.n, At the worst in chains. And I was never born To have life. Then for what? To be had by it, And so are we all. But I'll make it what it is, By making it nothing.
DYNAMENE. Chromis, you 1 re frightening me. What are you meaning to do? TEGEUS. I have to die, Dance of my heart, I have to die, to die, To part us, to go my sword a.nd let it part us. I 111 have my free will even if I'm compelled to it. I 111 kill myself. (130) DYNAMENE. Oh, no 1 No, Chromis! (131) It's all unreasona.ble--no such horror Can come of a .pure accident. Have you hanged? How can they"'f!e.ng you for simply not being somewhere? How can they ha.ng you for losing a dead man? They must have wanted to lose him, or they wouldn't Have hanged him. No, you're scaring yourself for nothing And making me frantic. TEGEUS. It's section six, paragraph Three in the Regulations. That's my doom. I 1 ve read it for myself. And, by my doom Since I have to die, let me die here, in love, Promoted by your kiss to tower, in dying, High above my birth. (132) For god's sake let me die On a wave of life, Dynamene, with an action I can take some pride in. How could I settle to death Knowing that you last saw me stripped and strangled On a holly tree? Demoted first and then hanged!
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DYNAMENE. Chromis, You must never die, never! It would be An offence against truth. 78 (133) Move away from him; pace stage during this speech. (134) Move to him. (135) Turn her away; she sits on bench stage right; he goes left after sword; gets sword and starts to kill himself. (136) Up. (137) Lowering sword. 79 TEGEUS. I cannot live to be hanged. It would be an offence against life. Give me my sword, Dynamene. 0 Hades, when you look pale You take the heart out of me. I could die Without a sword by seeing you suffer. Quickly! Give me my heart back again with your lips And I'll live the rest of my ambitions ~ In a last kiss. DYNAMENE. . Oh, no, no, no! (133) Give my blessing to your desertion of me? Never, Chromis, never. Kiss you and then Let you go? Love you, for death to have you? Am I to be made the fool of courts martial? Who are they who think they can discipline souls Right off the earth? What discipline is that? Chromis, love is the only discipline And we're the disciples of love. I hold you to that: Hold you, hold you. (134)
TEGEUS. We have no chance. It 1 s determined In section six, paragraph three, of the Regulations. That has more_power than love. It can snuff the great Candles of cre~tion. It makes me able To do the impossible, to leave you, to go from the light That keeps you. DYNAMENE.. • No! TEGEUS. 0 dark, it does. Good-bye, My memory of earth, my dear most dear Beyond every expectation. • • • Dynamene, turn Your head away. I'm going to let my sword Solve all the riddles. (135) DYNAMENE. Chromis, I have it! I know! Virilius will help you. (136) TEGEUS. Virilius? DYNAMENE. My husband. He can be the other body. TEGEUS. Your husband can? (137) DYNAMENE. He has no further use For what he left of himself to lie with us here. 80 (138) Move to him. (139) Get bowl from upstage. {140) Both holding bowl. (141) Blackout. 81 Is there any reason why he shouldn't hang On your holly tree? Better, far better, he, Than you who are still alive, and surely better Than idling into corruption? TEGEUS. Hang your husband? Dynamene, it's terrible, horrible. · DYNAMENE. How little you can understand. I loved His life not his death. And now we can give his death The power of life. Not horrible: wonderful ! Isn't it so? That I should be' able to feel He moves again in the world, accomplishing Our welfare? It's more than my grief could do. (138) TEGEUS. What can I s•Y? DYNAMENE. That you love me; as I love him And you. Let's celebrate your safety then. Where's the bottle~ (139) There's some wine unfinished in this bowl. I 111 share it with you. Now forget the fear We were in; 102k at me, Chromis. Come away From the pit yo"U nearly dropped us in. My darling, I give you V1r1lius. TEGEUS. Virilius. And all that follows. (140)
DOTO. (£!1 ~steps, with~ bottle). The master. Both the masters.
CURTAIN (141) CHAPTER IV
THE SETTING
The setting for this show presented many problems be cause of the lack of stage facilities on the new campus of Sacramento State College and because of the presentation of another play, ~Monkey's~. on the same evenings. After a discussion of the problems involved, it was decided that the two plays could best be presented in a proscenium type staging. The plays were to be presented in the College theatre workshop which has no stage, and so one corner of the workshop was chosen to be used as the stage. Since the stage was not a raised stage, it was necessary to seat the audiences on risers. A somewhat semi-circular arrangement of flats with openings at stage right and upstage center was suggested by Murphy. "Phoenix" was to have been staged with only one en- trance to the tomb, but since both entrances were necessary to the other play, the director of "Phoenix" decided to drape the stage right door and use it for an entrance to the actual sarcophagus. When the flats were set up, it became obvious that the twelve-foot flats necessary to cover the walls of the theatre workshop would dwarf the actors and the settings. 83 It was impossible to mask the tops of the flats with cur tains, as there were no curtains in the theatre workshop.
The director of 8 Phoen1xu suggested that this be remedied by painting the tops of the flats black in a design similar ' . to an architectural cut-off. This plan was 3greed upon and provided an effective solution to the problem. Little space was available for scenery storage as seating capacity in the workshop was less than one hundred. For this reason, furnishings for both plays had to be kept to a bare minimum. Each director was responsible for the design for the setting of his play. The sets were built in the theatre workshop by the ...: two directors and John Miller. Additional assistance in painting the sets was provided by John George, Lois George, Ruby Shrope, and Joanne Blomberg. In order to be usable for both plays the flats were painted a medium greyl3 and feather dusted with a darker grey and a medium blue. The platform, stairs and benches for 11 Phoenix11 (built to represent marble slabs) were painted purple and texturized with blue. The columns were painted a dull white with streaks of purple to make them look old. The drapery material, used on the door at stage right and
13 All the furnishings for The Monkey 1 s ~were painted black and grey. 84 the two pedestals, was in a deep maroon color. Deep colors were chosen to suggest a tomb, but an attempt was made to choose colors which would not be too mournful for the comic mood of the play.
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CHAPTER V
THE COSTUMES
The costume designs for A Phoenix !2£ Frequent were also the responsibility of the director. Before making these designs the director consulted several books on the art of the Greeks looking at the costuming of the statuary. Unable to make costume designs without more definite in formation, the director turned to the book Dressing ~ Partll were this very helpful information was found.
"General Characteristics: The predominating character istic of clas-s-i.-e Greek dress was simplicity and charm •••
11 Mourning: For mourning women wore dark grey or black and dispensed with jewelry and or namenta tion. They sheared their hair, deposited the locks on t he tomb as a votive offering • • • Women were forbidden by law to scratch their faces or display excessive grief at funerals • . ••
"Footwear: The feet were usually bare, especially indoors ••• The simplest style (of sandals) consisted of a sole with a piece of leather or other material encasing
11 Fairfax Proudfit Walkup, Dressing ~ Part. (New York: F.S. Crofts and Co., 1938). p. 32-4. 87 the heel, and having a strap across the instep with perhaps another connecting with the sole alongside the great toe. Straps were crisscrossed, pierced, or otherwise elaborated. Sometimes the lacings were continued up the leg, with a strip of leather in the back to hold the lacings in place• .
• • • • • •
"Military dress: The officer was ••• elaborately garbed. Over the short ionic chiton (rather full and often decorated with a red border), he wore a bronze or steel corselet, engraved in intricate designs. Sometimes these designs were washed in gold ••• Leather straps, faced with metal to pl!.Otect the shoulders, wer e attached to the corselet at both front and back. Suspended from the waist was a row of leather tabs six or eight inches long with metal facings. Metal greaves covered the shins, and sandals, the feet. The officer had a round or oblong shield, and a sword, which was a sign of his rank. Greek swords were rather short, and either rounded or pointed at the end ••• the sword, in its case, was belted about the officer's waist." Because the mood of this play is not a mournful one, the somber black and dark grey were not used. Instead the widow was clothed in a light grey, and the maid in a medium blue. It was originally planned that the women would make 88 their own costumes, but budget considerations brought about a change of plans. Basic costumes were borrowed, altered, and dyed to conform as nearly as possible to the director's designs.
Although the lines in the play {11 0afish, non-commis sioned, young man; 11 A kind of a Corporal ••• 11 ) suggest that Tegeue is not an officer, his costume was designed after those of the officer to conform to the general con ception of the uniform of a Greek soldier (the common soldier generally did not wear armor; he wore a chiton onlyl2). The chiton was made of sheeting material and a border was paint ed on it. The breast plate and greaves were made of a plastic material called celastic. The armor was. painted gold. Since the armor plate made to be used on the back proved uncomfortable and restricted the actor's movements, it was discarded and a short purple cape was used over the back instead. The helmet was also given up because the making of it presented many difficult problems, and it was not to be worn (only carried) in the interior setting of the play. The character's lunch, wine bottle, bowls, and sword turned out to be a handful without adding the helmet for him to handle.
12 Ibid. 89 The two women went barefoot, as the setting was an interior . Sandals resembling those of the Greeks were purchased at a local shoe store for the soldier. These were painted gold to match the armor. The costumes were not elaborate, but it was generally agreed t hat they were effective.
'/ I
,/, 1,1 ,, / CHAPTER VI
PUBLICITY A large poster announcing the productions was dis played in a prominent place on the State College campus. Newspaper publicity was handled through the regular channels. The following article appeared in the Hornet, Sac ramento State College student newspaper, on April 10, 1953.
PLAY' READING SET FOR LIBRARY Christopher Fry's "A Phoenix Too Frequent" will be presented Tuesday in the library browsing room. Sondra Chapman_, Beyerly Funston and John George will be direct ed in tnei -performance by Wayne Shrope. The reading will begin at 3 p.m. The comedy, which takes place in a Greecian tomb, features a beautiful young widow, her faithful maid and a handsome young soldier. The entire production is scheduled for presentation in the last week of April during an evening of one act plays. Tryouts for "See How They Run", a three act comedy to be presented about the middle of May, are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Walt Murphy will direct the production. Tryouts will be held in the drama workshop.
The Hornet also ran this article on April 24.
DRAMA GROUP SLATES 2 PLAYS, TICKETS FREE
11 The Monkey's Paw 11 , directed by Walter Murphy, and "A Phoenix Too Frequent", directed by Wayne Shrope will be presented Tuesday and Wednesday in the campus drama workshop. Curtain time for these two SSC productions, which are one-act plays featuring college drama students, 94 will be at 8:15 p.m.
Fantastic Melodrama "The Monkey's Paw" is a fantastic melodrama which re volves about this paw and those who come in contact with it. Cast consi ets of Joanne BlombergJ. Alan Gray, R. C. Greene, Kaylaine Miller, and Walter Murphy.
11 A Phoenix Too Frequent" is one of Christopher Fry 1 s better known comedy works. Characters in the story are a lovely and young widow, her maid, and a young soldier. Make Reservations Because the drama workshop can only seat a limited number of people, seats must be reserved prior to the show. Reservations may be obtained from the office of the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, Room 112, Dougl a ss Hall. Tickets are free to those with ASSSC cards and 60 cents to the'se without cards.
Th e Sacramento ~ also ran two stories publicising the productions. On April 25:
COLLEGE WILL STATE CHRISTOPHER FRY PLAY NEXT WEEK A program of one act plays including Christopher Fry's A Phoenix Too Frequent and W. w. Jacobs' The Mon key's Paw will be staged by the Sacramento State College drama department Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:15 PM in the workshop theater on the new campus. The shows are student directed, by Wayne Shrope and Walter Murphy, respectively. Fry's play, a bright and bubbling comedy based on an 95 ancient story about a virtuous wife who decides to end her l t fe in her late husband's tomb and then changes her mind when a handsome soldier happens along, will feature Sondra Chapman and John George as the pair and Beverly Funston as the wife's realistically minded maid. The Monkey's Paw, a chiller which has been a favorite with audiences for many years, will be acted by Joanne Blomberg, Kaylaine Miller, R. C. Green, Allen Gray, and Murphy. The show will be free to student body card holders. Others will be charged 60 cents. On April 27:
ONE ACT PLAYS WILL BE GIVEN AT STATE COLLEGE
A relatively new play by Brittain 1 s leading poet playwright and a perennial stage favorite will make up the bill when the Sacramento State College drama depart ment preserfts a program of one act dramas tomorrow and Wednesday at 8:15 PM in the workshop theater on the new col lege campus. The plays are, respectively, A Phoenix Too Frequent by Christopher Fry and The Monkey's Paw by w. W. Jacobs. The first is a humorous retelling of an ancient story a.bout a Greek widow who is determined to follow her late husband to the next world. Both plays will be directed by students, with Wayne Shrope handling the first and Walter Murphy the second. In the cast of the Fry play are Sondra Chapman John George and Beverly Funston. Playing in the thrilier will be Joanne Blomberg, Kaylaine Miller, R. c. Green, Allen Gray and Murphy. Tickets will be available at the door. VII. EVALUATIONS
The Sacramento Bee {May 2, 1953) published the following statement by its drama critic, Mr. William C. ~ Glackin: DOUBLE BILL -- Charles v. Hume is keeping his drama students commendably busy on the new Sacramento State College campus and making some ingenious use of the tiny workshop which is serving as a theater until the main music-drama hall gets built. This week a couple of student directed one act plays drew a response which indicated the near capacity audiences were pleas ed. .and . .impressed . . . . .with . . them...... Christopher Fry's delightful retelling of an old Greek tale, A Phoenix Too Frequent, was directed, in a somewhat shortened version, by Wayne Shrope. The cuts were in a way unfortunate, since they took away a littie credibiiity--and likableness--from the comely widow who ~fbrgets about her plan to join her late husband when a handsome soldier comes along. In .this version her fall happens a little too fast. But Fry's script is still an amusing, brilliant thing, and Sondra Chapman as the widow and Beverly Funston as her reluctant fellow traveler to the under world got an admirable amount of poetry and broad humor, respectively, out of it. John George, as the soldier, simply was not up to the job of furnishing the necessary poise and above all the ability to read poetic dialog with clarity, emphasis and a sense of its rhythms. Dr. Baxter M. Geeting, chairman of the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, had this to say: The play "A Phoenix Too Frequent" was an excellent choice because the production problems involved neces sitated special attention to pacing, timing, and character- ization. The play demands a kind of naive sophistication which makes it a difficult play for amateurs to do. The play was effectively done. 97 The performance was a very entertaining and enjoyable experience. The audience responded favprably at points where their response was necessary to capture the comedy and the mood of the scene. One of the characterizations was outstanding--that of Doto. The acting and development of this character was very close to being as perfect as one could expect. Dynamene was played with acceptable and believable clarity. The character of Tegeus lacked force and power,- but it was acceptable because he looked the part. Most of the time he had certain poise of manner which made the character believable despite the fact that his articulation was not up to par. At all times, the basic movement of the play was proper. The stage was balanced, and there was little clumsy business. None of the movements were repetitive, and never did the play become static. Once or tw~ce, the characters played important dialogue where the audience could not see the character ization because of the central staging. Fortunately, these scenes did not last long enough for the audience to become restless. Mr. Cha-!tl.es v. Hume, drama instructor at Sacramento State College, wrote: Division of Speech arid Fine Arts May 22, 1953
Mr. Wayne Shrope: The production of Christopher Fry's A Phoenix Too Frequent is a real challenge to a young-director.~ You can well be proud of the performances your cast gave. Your direction was positive yet unobtrusive, line interpretation was quite good, and the staging was satisfactory. I think your cutting of the script was especially judicious. Perhaps a few more rehearsals would have aided the few shortcomings in the show. We shall look forward to seeing your productions when you get on the job as a high-school director. Sincerely,
c. v. Hume XH.ciW-00 I'lS: HI BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clurman, Harold, 11 Theatre- A Phoenix Too Frequent, 11 Th~ ~ew Republic, 122: 21, May 15, 1950. Cornberg, Sol and Emanuel L. Gebauer, ! Stage Crew Handbook. New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1941.
Fry, Christopher, 11 The Artist Views the Critic 11 , Atlantic, 191: 52-5, March 1953. Fry, Christopher, ! Phoenix !£2 Frequent, London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1950. Fry, Christopher, "Poetry in the Theatre", The Saturday Review of Literature, 36: 18-19, March 21, 1953.
Gibbs, Woelcott, 11 The Theatre", The~ Yorker, 26: 52, May 6, 1950. Heffner, Hubert c., Samuel Selden, and Hunton D. Sellman, Modern ~aeatre Practice. New York: Appleton-Century Cr ofts, Inc., 1946.
Krutch, Joseph Wood, 11 Drama 11 , The Nation, 170: 457, May 13, 1950.
Phelan, Kappo, 11 The State - The Season's Odds and an End 11 , ~ Commonweal, 52: 152, May 19, 1950. Rothe, Anna, Editor, Current Biography, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1951.
Spears, M. K., 11 Christopher Fry and the Redemption of Joy", Poetry, 78: 28-43, April 1951.
Theatre~' 34: 15, July, 1950. Review. Walkup, Fairfax Proudfit, Dressing the Part. New York: F. S. Crofts and Co., 1938.
Who 1 s 'Who .!.2£ 1952. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952.
Wyatt, Euphemia Van Rensselaer, 11 Theatre 11 , Catholic World, 171: 227-28, June 1950. XICTN:B:ddV THE MONKEY'SPAW PRODUCTIONSTAFF by w. w.-Jncobs Set design and Construction ••••••.•...••••.•.••••• John Miller --Cast-- John George '- Lois George Mr. White ...... •...... •...•.. Walter Murphy Ruby Shrope Herber.:t; .. .•....••..•.. .-....••.• ·.•. ·, ..• Allen Gray Wayne Shrope Mrs. Whit~..•.••..... ~...... •.•.. Joanne Blomberg Walter Murphy Sergeani; Morris ..... -....•.•..•..•... R. J. Green Miss gimpson ...•.....•..••...•....• Kaylaine Miller Lighting Technician ..••••••.••.•••• John Miller Time: A few years ago. Properties •..•..••...••.•.••..•..•• Kaylaine Miller Scene 1: The White's home; Night. Costume design Next morning. Scene 2: "Pheonix Too Frequent 11 ••••••••• ,.Wayne Shrope Scene 3: Ten days later; Night Stage Manager •.•••.••..••••.••.•••• Kent Walker Directed by Walter Murphy House' Manager ..••..•••.•.••..•.••.• George Costello Ten Minute Intermission Usher ...... Georgia Btlcy
A PqEONIXTOO FREQUENT Faculty Adviser •••••..•.••••..•..•• Charles V. Hume by . Christopher Fry ·
--Cast-- - Other drama productions schedul ed by the Associated Students for this Spring semester: Doto ...... Beverly Funston Dynamene ...... Sondra Chapman PAPA IS ALL..•.••.•••••••••••.• May 25, 27, and 29 Tegeus-Chromis ...... •....•. John George Directed by Duane Weaver Scene: The Tomb of Virilius, near Ephesus. SEE HOWTHEY RUN .•....••...••.. May 26, 28, and 30 Time: More than a few years back; Night Directed by Walter Murphy
Directed by Wayne Shrope ··' The ·
·71,~~!J~:(IAssociated Students of ' ' . ·.,;:I :>' SACRAMENTOSTATE COLLEGE . {!/: in cooperation with
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April 28, & 29, 1953 8:15 p .M.?1r11:1,1:m
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