Drama Books

HUGH HENRY BRACKENRIDGE (1748-1816) The battle of Bunker's Hill was an event which stirred whatever dramatic activity there was in America at the time of the Revolution. Therefore, a play written on the subject should not be omitted from a collection supposed to be representative of the different periods in American history and in American thought. The reader has an interesting comparison to make... more...

FAUST.     Night. In a narrow high-arched Gothic room,    FAUST sitting uneasy at his desk. Faust. Have now, alas! quite studied throughPhilosophy and Medicine,And Law, and ah! Theology, too,With hot desire the truth to win!And here, at last, I stand, poor fool!As wise as when I entered school;Am called Magister, Doctor, indeed,—Ten livelong years cease not to leadBackward and forward, to and... more...

ACT ONE SCENE: A Room in the Church Tower. Window shutters at back wide open, starlit sky is seen through windows. Background: Snow covered house-roofs; gable windows in the distance brilliantly illuminated. In room an old chair, a fire-pan and a picture of the Virgin, with a lighted candle before it. Room is divided by posts—two in centre thick enough to conceal an adult. Chant, in unison, from the... more...

ACTORS' DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS Margaret Chalmers. Twenty-seven years of age; a strong, mature woman, but quite feminine where her heart or sense of beauty are concerned. Her eyes are wide apart. Has a dazzling smile, which she knows how to use on occasion. Also, on occasion, she can be firm and hard, even cynical An intellectual woman, and at the same time a very womanly woman, capable of... more...

ACT IV SCENE I.   Cyprus.  Before the Castle. [Enter Othello and Iago.]IAGOWill you think so? OTHELLO                              Think so, Iago? IAGO                                                         What,To kiss in private? OTHELLO                               An unauthoriz'd... more...

SCENE I. MILLER—MRS. MILLER. MILLER (walking quickly up and down the room). Once for all! The affair is becoming serious. My daughter and the baron will soon be the town-talk—my house lose its character—the president will get wind of it, and—the short and long of the matter is, I'll show the younker the door. MRS MILLER. You did not entice him to your house—did not thrust your daughter... more...

INTRODUCTION These five plays were written, in the order in which they appear now, during the years 1916 and 1917. They would hardly have been written had it not been for the war, although only one of them is concerned with that subject. To his other responsibilities the Kaiser now adds this volume. For these plays were not the work of a professional writer, but the recreation of a (temporary)... more...

ACT FIRST. [A spacious garden-room, with one door to the left, and two doors to the right. In the middle of the room a round table, with chairs about it. On the table lie books, periodicals, and newspapers. In the foreground to the left a window, and by it a small sofa, with a worktable in front of it. In the background, the room is continued into a somewhat narrower conservatory, the walls of which... more...

Characters of the Prelude King, Vizier, General (Bijoy Varma) Chinese Ambassador, Pundit (Sruti-bhushan) Poet (Kabi-shekhar), Guards, Courtiers, Herald The stage is on two levels: the higher, at the back, for the Song-preludes alone, concealed by a purple curtain; the lower only being discovered when the drop goes up. Diagonally across the extreme left of the lower stage, is arranged the king's... more...

PREFACE A nice phrase: "A People's Theatre." But what about it? There's no such thing in existence as a People's Theatre: or even on the way to existence, as far as we can tell. The name is chosen, the baby isn't even begotten: nay, the would-be parents aren't married, nor yet courting. A People's Theatre. Note the indefinite article. It isn't The... more...