The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-04-10
Dramatic Extremes.
"EVeryman" and When
Knighthood Was in Flow
eT" Not SO Far Apart as
They Seem-Tha Morality
Plau.

The stage offers few contrasts as
sharp as that between the morality play.
"Everyman, % which is the Columbia Of
fering for the ensuing week, and when
Knighthood Was in Flower which
Miss MarlOwe Will present at the Ma
tional. The one is a revival Of drama-
tic form long ago sUperseded-a play
which briGged the development Of the
drama in it's modern form from the old
mystery and miracle plays o. the
medieval ages. The other is play fit
cred through a novel of the days of
Good Queen Bess, conceived and written
by an author of the nineteenth century.
The one is Intentionally Gldactic; the
other exclusively entertaining. And both
are popular, popular in an age when
the mind is pToverbially lazy. when they
who 90 10 the theater go there TO laugh
and when serious art IS apparently
discredited everywhere!
Ben Greet, through whose enterprise
and sk.u the modern performance Of
''Everyman' is accomplished, has pre-
pared for a pamphlet edition Of the play
a charming little essay on the old mo-
rality.
When Christopher Columbus discOV-
cred America" he begins, and just
century before William Shakespeare
produced his masterpiece. a morality
play, corresponding in many ways with
our 'Everyman,' was well known In the
northern part of Europe. II was the
Dutch play called 'Elckerlyk.' Chat IS,
every mani. written by Peer Dorland,
a monk Of Diest.
This play was at some time repro
duced in Latin. under the name Of
Homulus,' by an author OF uncertain
identity. 1t is believed, however, from
a black letter-copy Of it now preserved
in the library of Lincoln Cathedral, Eng
land, that 'HOmulus was written or
adapted by one of the pbbots toward the
end of the fifteenth century The thread
of the story. we are told, is to be found
in the religious romance Of Barlaam
and Jehoshaphat, ascribed to John OF
Damascus. who died in $780,
The Religious Source of the Drama.
The writer then traces the career Of
''Everyman" as il has been now and
then revived, pays Mr.. Frohman
tribute for bringing his company TO
America, indicates a parallel-mOre in
teresting than signihcant-between the
morality play and the Aristotelian trag-
edy. and continues;
But the place of 'Everyman' is not
primarily with the classic drama of
antiquity. but with the religious drama
of the medieval age. Though not al
ways sharply distinct from one another
either in subject-matter or form of ex-
preston. three groups may be made OF
as much Of the religious medieval
drama as Is extant.
There is, first, the mysteries which,
based upon the old and new testaments,
explain in what manner the world was
Hnysteriously redeemed by the Nativity,
Passion. and Resurrection Of Christ.
Closely akin TO these are the miracle
phys. which had for their substance
stories, legends, incidents drawn from
the lives Of the saints, the historical
books Of the Bible. and the traditions of
the church.
1.-THE province of the mystery and
miracle plays, then, was 10 inculcate
Christianity by inference; to set before
the layman the careers of good men
and induce him 10 cOntritlon by COM
parison of his own life with theirs. But
there was yet lacking a suitable medium
for a cogent indication, not alone Of the
true way. but the perils attendant upon
any other In short, with the tale
adorned, II remained TO point the moral.
Hence, the third and last stage In
the development Of medieval religious
drama was the enforcement Of moral
truths, not by scriptural or legendary
history, but by the speech and action
of anegorical characters. each IMPLYING
abstract virtues or qualities. And this
was the moral play, the crown OF when
is 'Everyman.
The Devil Sticks Up His Head.
Thus Mr.. Greet outlines the birth OF
our modern drama-of which When
Knighthood Was in. Flower is a fair
type-out Of the religious fervor and
uonastic control OF the Middle Ages. Al
first. as in the tenth century, the
priests were themselves the actors. and
their Laws, we may be confident. dealt
exclusively with religion and religious
subjects In time their religious pa
geants and spectacles grew into the
miracles" OF which Mr.. Greet speaks as
the second form Of religious drama. OF
this species the literary substance must
have been provided almost exclusively
by the nonasteries. And last, before the
development Of the secular play. came
the morality, or allegorical plays, which
had their rise with the Norman
troubadours, and which IN France had
almost suSpianted mysteries and mira,
cles by the end Of the thirteenth cen
fury
Latin was at first the only tongue
used. AS the plays grew longer, then
paraphernalia more extensive, and theii
spectators more numerous, they begar
TO be represented outside as well as
inside the churches, and the use OF thu
vulgar tongue came TO be gradually
preferred. Miracles were less de
pendant on this connection with tn
church services than mysteries
proper; and lay associations, guilds, ant
schools in particular soon acted play
in honor Of their patron saints or nea
their own halls. Lastly. as scenes ant
characters Of a more or less trivial de
scription were admitted even into tn
plays acted or superintendent by IN
clergy. as some Of the characters cam
70 be depended upon for conventions
extravaganza or fun, and the devils an
their chief asserted themselves as in
dispensable favorites. the comic elemen
IN the religious drama increased; an
the drama itself even where il RENAME,
associated with the church, grew les
and less religious.
The Play of Mary Tudor's Day.
This transition from the morality
m the F,rofane drama IN prpo.g.Da ~,