This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt: ...stage had to be content, and contented its audience, with far less ambitious illustrations of the playwright's text. The chorus in Henry V. dwells apologetically upon the shortcomings of the scene-painter's and machinist's art, and speaks of the stage as "an unworthy scaffold," a "cockpit," and a "wooden O;" ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt: ...stage had to be content, and contented its audience, with far less ambitious illustrations of the playwright's text. The chorus in Henry V. dwells apologetically upon the shortcomings of the scene-painter's and machinist's art, and speaks of the stage as "an unworthy scaffold," a "cockpit," and a "wooden O;" and the curious picture on page 38, taken from William Alabaster's Latin D 2 play of Roxana shows how much the poet and the actors trusted to the effect which their imaginations would have on those of the spectators. Playwrights of our days, much later than the time of Mr. Vincent Crummies and his real tubs, have insured success for inferior dramatic works by the profuse employment upon the stage of things which an audience sees without noticing them every day in real life, but greets with enthusiasm when they are presented under the glare of the footlights. What is the secret of this enthusiasm it might be idle to inquire; the trick is as old, to go no further back, as the days of the Spectator, in which Addison pointed out its folly and inconsistency in these words: --" A little skill in criticism would inform us that shadows and realities ought not to be mixed together in the same piece. If one would represent a wide champaign country filled with flocks and herds, it would be ridiculous to draw the country only upon the scenes, 1 Roxana was published in 1632, and a copy is in the British Museum. The frontispiece, or engraved title, has a border representing various scenes in the play, in little compartments, the whole page being only of the smallest ' old 8vo." size, or about eight inches by four. The cut here reproduced has been carefully enlarged from the central compartment of the lower border, and...
Read Less
Add this copy of Amateur Theatricals to cart. $53.62, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Wentworth Press.
Add this copy of Amateur Theatricals to cart. $53.62, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Palala Press.
