The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-02-11
MIDSUMMEREvE
AUDIENCE To- o5s.4;;: =: C.
FOR SCHOOL HALL
Creditabyle Production by Grad
ed School Pupils
TOY ORCHESTRA AMUSED
Creditable Production by Grad
Possibilities in Training
Of Children

Midsummer Eve" q musical fairy
play, was produced at high school
hail Friday evening by children OF
the graded school to the continuous
delight OF an audience that filled
every available seat and oyerfIowed
into the lobby. Midsummer Eve
was designed by the writer OF the
play for production by upper class
high school pupils and the success
Iof the entertainment Friday evening
was a fairly marvellous demonstra.
ton OF the training abilities OF Miss
Gertrude Carney and her assistants.
Children's plays have come to be q
recognized element in the education
Of pupils in public schools and tina
progress that has been attained In
Bennington In recent years is rather
amazing. Public entertainments byl
little folks are tar from new, but in
the great majority OF instances the
aud .ence expects to obtain much of
its amusement from the mistakes
and unconscious blunders of the ac-
tors. In Midsummer Eve" as in
King Winters Carnival given a
year ago, this feature was eliminated
and the play stood out on its merits
as theatrical production.
Nothing better coud have been de-
'gned than the opening number. The
toy orchestra was scream" lex.
cuse the slang but precise English
fails TO meet the requirements. When
Judge E. c. Bennett announced that
Miss Carney had imported section
of the New York symphony orches-
ira for the occasion the audience was
prepared Tor session OF laughter but
the result exceeded all expectations.
There was something inexpressively
funny in observing little boys and
girls in the performance Of an act
which to them must have been over.
loaded with giggles and carrying on
with the seriousness Of professional
comedians. To be sure, the leader
smi ed when he bowed TO the audi.
ence but It was the proper smile Of
appreciation, not amusement.
Incorporation of the Mother Goose
rhymes and melodies into the play
was happy thought on the part Of
the writer. There were undoubtedly
persons in the audience who had al
most forgotten the multiplication
table but ii is safe to conclude thaS
there was not one who had failed to
remember Mother Goose, Little Bo.
peep, Mistress Mary with the con-
trary garden the big black spider that
frightened Miss Muffet and all the
other celebrities.
The music was characterized by a
swing and snap that Helped mater!-
ally in keeping up the action. The
apparently impossible in keeping
children's voices in unison was ac-
complished and there was almost as
much pep in the singing (another
apology for DEPRESSION into the YER
nacular) as one would expect from
vocalists working on a salary
A feature that showed a large
amount of artistic talent was the
stage setting. The background was
appropriate and the lighting ef.e Z
exceptionally pretty
An additional hardship was i'm
posed upon the directors Of the en-
terta'nment by the prevailing cpl
demic Of hard colds. During the
day children who had been trained
for leading parts were compelled to
withdraw and 1t became necessary to
make last minute changes and to in
struct children In new lines. with
such a handicap 1t is remarkable
that the production was anything
more than mediocre instead OF the
exceptional success it proved to be.