The interior of a farmer’s cottage; the kitchen. The
entrance is at the back right. To the left is the fire-place, an
open hearth, with a fire of peat. There is a room door to the right,
a pace below the entrance; and another room door below the fire-place.
Between the room door and the entrance there is a row of wooden pegs,
on which men’s coats hang. Below this door is a dresser containing
pretty delpht. There is a small window at back, a settle bed folded
into a high bench; a small mirror hangs right of the window. A
backed chair and some stools are about the hearth. A table to the
right with cloth and tea things on it. The cottage looks pretty and
comfortable. It is towards the close of an Autumn day_.
_James Moynihan has finished tea; Anne Hourican is at the back,
seated on the settle knitting, and watching James. James Moynihan is
about twenty-eight. He has a good forehead, but his face is
indeterminate. He has been working in the fields, and is dressed in
trousers, shirt, and heavy boots. Anne Hourican is a pretty,
dark-haired girl of about nineteen_.

Sku: 3plays

“He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is
in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth
in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in
darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness
hath blinded his eyes. . . . If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen?”

Sku: houseservent

MAR. and GIU. Buon’ giorno, signorine!
GIRLS. Gondolieri carissimi!
Siamo contadine!
MAR. and GIU. (bowing). Servitori umilissimi!
Per chi questi fiori–
Questi fiori bellissimi?
GIRLS. Per voi, bei signori
O eccellentissimi!
(The Girls present their bouquets to Marco and Giuseppe, who are
overwhelmed with them, and carry them with difficulty.)
MAR. and GIU. (their arms full of flowers). O ciel’! O ciel’!
GIRLS. Buon’ giorno, cavalieri!

Sku: completplay

The surviving dramas of Aeschylus are seven in number, though he is
believed to have written nearly a hundred during his life of
sixty-nine years, from 525 B.C. to 456 B.C. That he fought at
Marathon in 490, and at Salamis in 480 B.C. is a strongly accredited
tradition, rendered almost certain by the vivid references to both
battles in his play of _The Persians_, which was produced in 472.
But his earliest extant play was, probably, not _The Persians_ but
_The Suppliant Maidens_–a mythical drama, the fame of which has
been largely eclipsed by the historic interest of _The Persians_,
and is undoubtedly the least known and least regarded of the seven.
Its topic–the flight of the daughters of Danaus from Egypt to Argos,
in order to escape from a forced bridal with their first-cousins,
the sons of Aegyptus–is legendary, and the lyric element
predominates in the play as a whole. We must keep ourselves reminded
that the ancient Athenian custom of presenting dramas in _Trilogies_-
–that is, in three consecutive plays dealing with different stages
of one legend–was probably not uniform: it survives, for us, in one
instance only, viz. the Orestean Trilogy, comprising the _Agamemnon the _Libation-Bearers_, and the _Eumenides_, or _Furies_.

Sku: suppliantmaidens

It is six o’clock of a November evening, in KEITH DARRANT’S
study. A large, dark-curtained room where the light from a single
reading-lamp falling on Turkey carpet, on books beside a large
armchair, on the deep blue-and-gold coffee service, makes a sort of
oasis before a log fire. In red Turkish slippers and an old brown
velvet coat, KEITH DARRANT sits asleep. He has a dark, clean-cut,
clean-shaven face, dark grizzling hair, dark twisting eyebrows.
[The curtained door away out in the dim part of the room behind
him is opened so softly that he does not wake. LARRY DARRANT
enters and stands half lost in the curtain over the door. A
thin figure, with a worn, high cheek-boned face, deep-sunk blue
eyes and wavy hair all ruffled–a face which still has a certain
beauty. He moves inwards along the wall, stands still again and
utters a gasping sigh.

Sku: sortplays06

ELIZABETH is sewing by the table with ANNET. At the open doorway MAY
is polishing a bright mug.
ELIZABETH. [Looking up.] There’s Uncle, back from the Fair.
MAY. [Looking out of the door.] O Uncle’s got some rare big packets
in his arms, he has.
ELIZABETH. Put down that mug afore you damage it, May; and, Annet,
do you go and help your uncle in.
MAY. [Setting down the mug.] O let me go along of her too–[ANNET
rises and goes to the door followed by MAY, who has dropped her
polishing leather upon the ground.
ELIZABETH. [Picking it up and speaking to herself in exasperation.]
If ever there was a careless little wench, ’tis she. I never did
hold with the bringing up of other folks children and if I’d had my
way, ’tis to the poor-house they’d have went, instead of coming here
where I’ve enough to do with my own.
[The FARMER comes in followed by ANNET and MAY carrying large
parcels.
DANIEL. Well Mother, I count I’m back a smartish bit sooner nor what
you did expect.

Contents
The Lovers’ Tasks
Bushes and Briars
My man John
Princess Royal
The Seeds of Love
The New Year

Sku: sixplays

After making a production of _Redemption_, the chief feeling of the
producer is one of deep regret that Tolstoi did not make more use of
the theatre as a medium. His was the rare gift of vitalization: the
ability to breathe life into word-people which survives in them so
long as there is any one left to turn up the pages they have made
their abode.In the world of writing, many terms that should be illuminative have
become meaningless. So often has the barren been called “pregnant,”
the chill of death “the breath of life,” the atrophied “pulsating,”
that when we really come upon a work with beating heart we find it
difficult to give it place that has not already been stuffed to
suffocation with misplaced dummies.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION BY ARTHUR HOPKINS
REDEMPTION
THE POWER OF DARKNESS
FRUITS OF CULTURE

Sku: redemptionand2other

The kitchen is the now abandoned farmhouse of_ JOHN WRIGHT, _a
gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order–unwashed pans
under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread-box, a dish-towel on
the table–other signs of incompleted work. At the rear the outer door
opens and the_ SHERIFF _comes in followed by the_ COUNTY ATTORNEY _and_
HALE. _The_ SHERIFF _and_ HALE _are men in middle life, the_ COUNTY
ATTORNEY _is a young man; all are much bundled up and go at once to the
stove. They are followed by the two women–the_ SHERIFF_’s wife first;
she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face_. MRS HALE _is larger
and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is
disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters.

Sku: playsS

This play was written during the war. But owing to the fact that several
managers politely declined to produce it, it has not appeared on any
stage. Now, perhaps, its theme is more timely, more likely to receive
the attention it deserves, when the smoke of battle has somewhat cleared.
Even when the struggle with Germany and her allies was in progress it was
quite apparent to the discerning that the true issue of the conflict was
one quite familiar to American thought, of self-determination.

Sku: playjonathan

After finishing his course at the gymnasium and spending three years at the
University of Moscow, he entered the civil service in 1843 as an employee
of the Court of Conscience in Moscow, from which he transferred two years
later to the Court of Commerce, where he continued until he was discharged
from the service in 1851. Hence both by his home life and by his
professional training he was brought into contact with types such as
Bolshov and Rizpolozhensky in “It’s a Family Affair–We’ll Settle It
Ourselves.”

Sku: plays03

This book is, to all intents and purposes, entirely new. No considerable
portion of it has already appeared, although here and there short
passages and phrases from articles of bygone years are embedded
–indistinguishably, I hope–in the text. I have tried, wherever
it was possible, to select my examples from published plays, which the
student may read for himself, and so check my observations. One reason,
among others, which led me to go to Shakespeare and Ibsen for so many of
my illustrations, was that they are the most generally accessible of
playwrights.

Sku: playmaking

The place is pleasantly and prettily, though quite
inexpensively, furnished. To the left, at angles with the
distempered wall, is a baby-grand piano; the fireplace, in which
a fire is burning merrily, is on the same side, full centre. To
the right of the door leading to the dining-room is a small
side-table, on which there is a tray with decanter and glasses;
in front of this, a card-table, open, with two packs of cards on
it, and chairs on each side.

CONTENTS

THE MAN IN THE STALLS
A MARRIAGE HAS BEEN ARRANGED….
THE MAN ON THE KERB
THE OPEN DOOR
THE BRACELET
THE MAN IN THE STALLS
A PLAY IN ONE ACT
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
HECTOR ALLEN
ELIZABETH ALLEN (BETTY)
WALTER COZENS.

Sku: fivelittleplays

The drama _Catiline_, with which I entered upon my literary
career, was written during the winter of 1848-49, that is in my
twenty-first year.
I was at the time in Grimstad, under the necessity of earning
with my hands the wherewithal of life and the means for
instruction preparatory to my taking the entrance examinations to
the university. The age was one of great stress. The February
revolution, the uprisings in Hungary and elsewhere, the Slesvig
war,–all this had a great effect upon and hastened my
development, however immature it may have remained for some time after.

Sku: earlyplays

After the lapse of about half a century since the issue of the last
edition of _Dodsley’s Select Collection of Old Plays_,[1] and the
admittance of that work into the honourable rank of scarce and dear
books, it seemed a desirable thing to attempt, with such additional
improvements as might be practicable or expedient, a revival of a
publication which has been a favourite with the lovers of our early drama
since its first publication more than a hundred years ago.

CONTENTS

Preface
Interlude of the Four Elements
Calisto and Melibaea
Everyman: a Moral Play
Hickscorner
The Pardoner and the Friar
The World and the Child (Mundus and Infans)
God’s Promises
The Four P.P.
A New Interlude, called Thersites
Footnotes

Sku: oldplays01

In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of
penance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, the
beautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country.
Smitten with her charms, he asked the king for the hand of his
daughter in marriage. Chitravahana asked him who he was, and
learning that he was Arjuna the Pandara, told him that
Prabhanjana, one of his ancestors in the kingly line of Manipur,
had long been childless. In order to obtain an heir, he
performed severe penances.

Sku: chitraplay

To you, the honoured Chancellor of our own day, I dedicate this
dramatic memorial of your great predecessor;–which, altho’ not
intended in its present form to meet the exigencies of our modern
theatre, has nevertheless–for so you have assured me–won your
approbation.

Sku: becketotherplays

The Victorian era has ceased to be a thing of yesterday; it has become
history; and the fixed look of age, no longer contemporary in character,
which now grades the period, grades also the once living material which
went to its making.

With this period of history those who were once participants in its life
can deal more intimately and with more verisimilitude than can those whose
literary outlook comes later. We can write of it as no sequent generation
will find possible; for we are bone of its bone and flesh of its flesh;
and when we go, something goes with us which will require for its
reconstruction, not the natural piety of a returned native, such as I
claim to be, but the cold, calculating art of literary excursionists whose
domicile is elsewhere.

Sku: angelsandministers

Amphitryon was played for the first time in Paris, at the Theatre du
Palais-Royal, January 13, 1668. It was successfully received,
holding the boards until the 18th of March, when Easter intervened.
After the re-opening of the theatre, it was played half a dozen
times more the same year, and continued to please.
The first edition was published in 1668.

Sku: amphitryonaplay

It is impossible in the present day to attempt anything like a correct
list of the productions of Nash, many of which were unquestionably
printed without his name:[13] the titles of and quotations from a great
number may be found in the various bibliographical miscellanies, easily
accessible. When he began to write cannot be ascertained, but it was
most likely soon after his return from the Continent, and the dispute
between John Penry and the Bishops seems then to have engaged his
pen.[14] There is one considerable pamphlet by him, called “Christ’s
Tears over Jerusalem,” printed in 1593, which, like some of the tracts
by Greene, is of a repentant and religious character; and it has been
said that, though published with his name, it was not in fact his
production.

Sku: oldenglishplaysVIII

This play agrees perfectly with the description given of it in the
title; it is certainly a most pleasant conceited comedy, rich in humour,
and written altogether in a right merry vein. The humour is broad and
strongly marked, and at the same time of the most diverting kind; the
characters are excellent, and admirably discriminated; the comic parts
of the play are written with most exquisite drollery, and the serious
with great truth and feeling. Of the present piece there were seven
editions, within a short period, with all of which the present reprint
has been carefully collated, and is now, for the first time, divided
into acts and scenes.

CONTENTS

How a Man May Choose a Good Wife from a Bad
The Return from Parnassus
Wily Beguiled
Lingua
The Miseries of Enforced Marriage

Sku: oldenglishplaysIX

It appears from William Webbe’s Epistle prefixed to this piece, that
after its first exhibition it was laid aside, and at some distance of
time was new-written by R. Wilmot. The reader, therefore, may not be
displeased with a specimen of it in its original dress. It is here given
from the fragment of an ancient MS. taken out of a chest of papers
formerly belonging to Mr Powell, father-in-law to the author of
“Paradise Lost,” at Forest Hill, about four miles from Oxford, where in
all probability some curiosities of the same kind may remain, the
contents of these chests (for I think there are more than one) having
never yet been properly examined. The following extract is from the
conclusion of the piece.–_Reed_. [Reed’s extract has been collated with
the two MSS.

Sku: oldenglishplaysVII

There are two distinct plots in the present play. The one relates to the
murder of Robert Beech, a chandler of Thames Street, and his boy, by a
tavern-keeper named Thomas Merry; and the other is founded on a story
which bears some resemblance to the well-known ballad of _The Babes in
the Wood_. I have not been able to discover the source from which the
playwright drew his account of the Thames Street murder. Holinshed and
Stow are silent; and I have consulted without avail Antony Munday’s
“View of Sundry Examples,” 1580, and “Sundry strange and inhumaine
Murthers lately committed,” 1591 (an excessively rare, if not unique,
tract preserved at Lambeth). Yet the murder must have created some stir
and was not lightly forgotten.

CONTENTS
Preface
Two Tragedies in One. By Robert Yarington
The Captives, or the Lost Recovered. By Thomas Heywood
The Costlie Whore.
Everie Woman in her Humor.
Appendix
Index
Footnotes

Sku: oldenglishplaysIV

This clever, though somewhat tedious, comedy was published anonymously
in 1606. There is no known dramatic writer of that date to whom it could
be assigned with any great degree of probability. The comic portion
shows clearly the influence of Ben Jonson, and there is much to remind
one of Lyly’s court-comedies. In the serious scenes the philosophising
and moralising, at one time expressed in language of inarticulate
obscurity and at another attaining clear and dignified utterance,
suggest a study of Chapman. The unknown writer might have taken as his
motto a passage in the dedication of Ovid’s _Banquet of Sense_:–
“Obscurity in affection of words and indigested conceits is pedantical
and childish; but where it shroudeth itself in the heart of his subject,
uttered with fitness of figure and expressive epithets, with that
darkness will I still labour to be shrouded.” Chapman’s _Gentleman
Usher_ was published in the same year as _Sir Gyles Goosecappe_; and I
venture to think that in a passage of Act III., Scene II., our author
had in his mind the exquisite scene between the wounded Strozza and his
wife Cynanche.

CONTENTS
Preface
Sir Gyles Goosecappe
The Wisdome of Dr. Dodypoll
The Distracted Emperor
The Tryall of Chevalry
Footnotes

Sku: oldenglishplaysIII

The play of _Dick of Devonshire_, now first printed (from Eg. MS.,
1994[1]), is distinctly a well-written piece, the work of a practised
hand. There is nothing amateurish in the workmanship; the reader is not
doomed to soar into extravagances at one moment, and sink into
flatnesses at another. Ample opportunities were offered for displays of
boisterous riot, but the playwright’s even-balanced mind was not to be
disturbed. Everywhere there are traces of studious care; and we may be
sure that a style at once so equable and strong was not attained without
a long apprenticeship. Nor will the reader fail to note the lesson of
charitableness and Christian forbearance constantly, yet unobtrusively,
inculcated.

CONTENTS
Preface
Dick of Devonshire
The Lady Mother
The Tragedy of Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt
Captain Underwit
Appendix I.
Appendix II.
Footnotes.

Sku: oldenglishplaysII