The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-20
FINAL PERFORMANCE OF PRINCESS CAPTIVATES
 IMMENSE AUDIENCE
MUCH CREDIT DUE TO MISS CLARK AS WE'LL As THE PRINCIPALS-EFF
 TABLEAUX.
New High School Should Contain Hall Sufficiently Adequate For Dramatic Purposes Com
 pIete Cast of the Princess.


 The members of the class of 1912 repeated their success of Thursday night. presenting The Princess to a large and apprec!ative audience at Warner Hall last evening.
 When it was announced last Decena- Der that the class had voted to pro- duce this piece. very many of those in- terested in the dramatic work Of the students were somewhat doubtful of the wisdom of their choice. Further more, but little attention was paid to character development. The Princess is cold and self-willed up to the very last and gives no sign of the changes that by right, should have been talk ing place in her mind and heart. The cally the only one that gives the iIn- pression of this development consider ed so essential to the good drama, and even in her case it is but meagerly shown.
 But Miss Clarke, to whom has been entrusted the staging of the Senior plays for the past four years, had su- preme confidence in the ability of her young charges to cope with the dif1i- culties which faced them; and they strengthened by her confidence zeal ous-y co-operated with her in turning g out thoroughly creditable production
 Owing to the very poor facilities for stage setting, the waits between the various scenes and acts were some Wnal pfOIOnSSQ. The scenery TOT the play, specially built by Muirhead the local decorator, was more elaborate than that used in any previous High School play and the stage committee in which to work It was a power full argument in favor of a well equip ped auditorium with plenty of stage 1 space as one of the necessary features of our new High School building. In almost every modern High School. in the country can be found a theatre and Bridgeport is too progressive city to neglect this important improvement In iast nights issue of the Farmer, the work of the prime cipals was review ed at length. One feature deserving of special mention is the interlude tableau, accompanying the. lyric, Home They Brought Her Warrior, Dead,'' in which Miss Christine New man, the pretty little daughter of MT. rel avenue, posed as the child of the dead knight The easy grace and sim plicty of the little maids posing in all four pictures of the tableau. was the subject of much comment on the part of the spectators. The story of the play, briefly summarized, is as
 The Princess Ida, daughter of King Cana, bethrothed in early childhood to the son. of neighbor'ng king, re- l iects the idea of marriage and ignor- | life to the uplifting of her downtrod- den sex. With this end in view, she ! establishes 9 University for Women | from which all men are excluded un- | der pain of death. The Prince, seek ing to win his unwilling bride to be, | takes two comrades with him and the | three, in the guise of women, enroll themselves as students in the Univer- sity. Naturally their deception is all most immediately discovered Try the l Lady Psyche whose brother, F1o~ian, is one of the Princes companions. | Meanwhile the Princes father has de- clared war upon King Cana, in the hope of compelling a recognition of the marriage contract. The two armies | meet in a field near the University, but | after a council between the leaders. | decide to settle the question by bat tie between fifty picked men of each | side. The Princess, in a letter to her i brother Arac. agrees to abide by the outcome of the conflict. Ire Prince is | reported injured and a herald brings 1 to Ida two lockets taken from his person as he lay unconscious. One contains her likeness. the other a lock of her hair. The Princess Ida now ! begins to emerge from her shell of | cold reserve. Love for the Prince, 1 awakens her from her dream of high CT educa tion with the result that the University is abandoned and the nat ural affections of the woman triumph over the attempt of the naughty Prin-