Evening star., 1914-04-11

STl DIES IN STAGECRAFT. By Clay
ton Hamilton. member of the Ma
tional Institute of Arts and Letters,
( author of The Theory of the The
4ter." etc. New York: Henry Holt
x Co.
" SSAYS by Clayton Hamilton, gath
cred up from various sources of
earlier publication, meet here in
- an available. all around, expert
survey of the art of the modern
theater The first appeal of this volume
|1ies IN its wholly readable quality. While
HE studies are technical to the point of
epecitic instruction and information. they
are not exclusively and forbiddingy
technical ON the contrary. the merely
Intelligent Iayman finds them u complex
bf stage history. stage logic and stage
forecast that is calculated to increase
his enjoyment of the drama through the
simple and natural medium of broaden
ng his understanding Of the subject
Nnd to the really out-and-out student OF
he craft 1T is an invaluable handbook OF
he essentials of fact and method The
FIRST of these essays is very compre-
hensive one. The others draw on for
Special consideration one or another of
ne many-sided aspects of the art OF the
hcater This initial essay sums the evo-
ming of the last century when the idea
,f environment as n potent force in the
fnoldng of character crept into literature.
ocauzinS IL as TO time and place HaiI
century later, when the tremendous
impulse TO mechanical inventions made
Il possible, this idea was transferred 10
the stage, adding the new element OF
setting to the play, which hitherto had
possessed only the two elements OF char
acter and action. Then the play became
something to look at as well as somethlns
TO see-a visual. as we'll as an AUDITORY
art. This innovation in turn inhuenceo
action The actor then slipped into the
scenery, becoming a part of it. and COM
porting himself as il no audience were
before him, where formerly he had taken
the center of the stage, ofrering the play
directly to the audience out of MS own
mouth And so plays had to be made
10 fit this change. plays that We're no
longer rounded periods OF speech, call
ing for sonorouS and poetic utterance,
but rather plays of casual conversations
and natural manners. And then the the
aters themselves had to he built smaller
TO meet this relatively quiet perform
ance and to accommodate the eye to the
visual side of the drama. An interest
Ing sequence, that really explains some
of the why's of the modern play, and ac-
counts in part for the difficulty OF carry
ing classic plays across to audlences- IL
is not possible to even mention the spe-
csa1 excellencies of this volume. 1t would
he quite worth while to review MIR. Ham
iiton's defense of melodrama-that form
of play in which the incidents determine
and control the characters. in contrast
TO both tragedy and comedy where the
characters control the plot. And as well
worth while to sum his plea Tor Il new
art of criticism to interpret the new art
of playrnaking. Nothing in way of re-
view however. can take the place OF
reading this volume that combines to an
Uncommon degree a critical. scholarly
and popular summary of the modern as
poets OF the stage
& MAINsAIL HAUL. By John Mase-
field. author of THE Everlasting
Nercv." etc New York: The Mac
milan Company
John Maseheld is a poet. story teller
O. p.aymaker-that is what he is. But
before he was a storyteller and play
-naker. even before he was John Mase-
field. he was sailor and pirate-that
s. what he was. And once in a while,
nov he takes his pen in hand-that is
v hat he does-and tells such tales as
never were about the great doings upon
tho sea and within its waters. Here Is
o story that takes one treasure hunt
Sng with Don Alfonso, the young spanish
buck who lives at Trinidad and who
goes about. when he is not off piratng.
rolling them yellow cigarellers and a
red rose noddins above his ear And ne
tells too, the story of old Moby Dick.
the king of all the whales. whose work
will some day be to head the whole sea
of whales. each plotting wrecked ship
into the peaceful port of Kingdom Come.
with lost sailors all aboard singing and
beating the ships bells. And then there
are tales of mernlaids, and of the seal
man, and the strange case of Lanky
job. who by some misadyenture comes
aboard the rat flagship whose boats row
every sea picking up the rats as they
ecuttle from ships that are about to go
down. This ship is manned by nothing
but great rats, and they all wear blue
clothes like sailors. and snarling they
swing the wards and the null
titude of them is beyond speech and the
decks are ropy with their tails.
The helmsmen are half men and half
rats. and gray like rats. and they have
rats eyes. But they have the minds of
men and right grim are they to look at.
Then there is the story of Capt. John
Ward, "our most notorious pirate. and
the prodigious adventures of other cap
tains second only to Capt. John in
piracy.
And in the telling of all these tales
this old pirate, packed with sea yarns
and superstitions. with sea myths and
smasinings. forgets all about being John
Maseteld and sticks close to the sailor
man that he was. and to the poet that
he is. And the words of this sea lore
march in step so that one reads in
swinging waves. as he sings old tunes in
cadences- And these words, too. are
clear transparencies through which the
sea and its doings shine If there We're
no words in between, and they do group
themselves so artfully, these crystal
ords, that they make air-clear pictures
of the strange and wonderful things that
the sea has taken a hand in in its time.