Chapter III · Choosing Your Play

It may not always be easy to find just the play you wish for your marionettes. If you should go to your library and ask for a marionette play, it is possible that the librarian would have very little to offer you. But if you should go to her and ask for a good story that you could make into a marionette play, you would probably be surprised to see how many books she would place before you. You might even feel confused when you came to make your choice. Suppose that you wish to give a humorous play. Begin by making a list of the very best of the humorous books:

Alice in Wonderland—Carroll

Alice, Through the Looking Glass—Carroll

Gulliver’s Travels—Swift

Pinocchio, The Story of a Marionette—Lorenzini

Don Quixote—Cervantes

Midsummer Night’s Dream—Shakespeare

Peter and Wendy—Barrie

Rip Van Winkle—Irving

Just-So Stories—Kipling

Arabian Nights—Edited by Colum

Uncle Remus—Harris

34Rose and the Ring—Thackeray

Tom Sawyer—Clemens

Wind in the Willows—Grahame

Tales of Laughter—Wiggin and Smith

You will find that it is not at all difficult to turn the vivid and amusing characters of these books into marionettes. Neither is it difficult to turn these stories into marionette plays.

First: Make a list of the most important incidents in the story.

Second: Decide upon the number of scenes that you think necessary for your play.

Third: Decide upon the number of characters required for these scenes.

These three things you must do if your play is to be only the simplest kind of a Burattini play, if it is to be a shadow play, or a marionette play.

If you are not experienced in making marionette plays, you may think that you need a great many characters to act your story. But the more you learn about marionette plays, the more you will be surprised to find how few characters, and incidents, and scenes you will need. Choose only those which are most important. This means that you should know your story very well indeed before you begin to make your play. When you thoroughly know your story and all the characters in it, all that they say and do, you will enjoy your play-making quite as much as your play-giving.

Scenes from the marionette play, "Adventures of Alice," given by ninth year pupils of Fairmount Junior High School at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Marionettes made by Tuesday Marionette Club.

35Let us choose one or two humorous books and see how we can turn them into a marionette play. We might choose Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. You remember how the story of Alice in Wonderland begins? Alice falls asleep under the tree and the white rabbit passes by. So one might select:

Incident I.

Alice and the White Rabbit

Incident II.

Alice and the Caterpillar

Incident III.

Alice and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee

Incident IV.

Alice and Humpty Dumpty

Incident V.

Alice and the Duchess, the Cheshire Cat, the Cook and the Pig Baby

Incident VI.

Alice and the Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse

Of course, a dozen plays could be made from these two books, but these six incidents will be quite enough for your purpose. A good play, as you know, must not be too long, it must begin in the right way, the story must hold together, and it must be very interesting all the time, and it must have the right ending. The above six incidents were selected with these requirements in mind.

Now, how many acts shall we have? Since this is a dream story, the play might begin by showing Alice falling asleep under the trees, and the White Rabbit running past, and then Alice jumping up and following him. This part of the play we might call a Prologue since it begins the story. Then follow with:

Act I.

Scene: In the woods

Act II.

Scene: In the Duchess’s kitchen

Act III.

Scene: The mad tea party

36To bring the play to an end, there might be a closing scene, or epilogue, showing Alice waking from her dream and becoming herself again.

We must now decide just how many characters are really necessary in these six incidents. Let us take a pencil and make the list as we find them in these three acts:

Prologue:

Alice and the White Rabbit.

Act I.

Alice, the Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Humpty Dumpty

Act II.

Alice, the Duchess, the Pig Baby, the Cook, the Cheshire Cat

Act III.

Alice, the Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse

Epilogue.

Alice and the White Rabbit.

Here we have made from six important incidents, in the two stories about Alice, a marionette play of three acts, with a cast of thirteen characters. This play might be called The Adventures of Alice.

Possibly you and your friends are much interested in heroes and heroines and would prefer a hero play made from such stories as:

The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights—MacLeod

Sohrab and Rustum—Arnold

The Boys’ Iliad—Perry

The Boys’ Odyssey—Perry

Adventures of Ulysses—Lamb

Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy—Colum

Robin Hood—Pyle

The Tales of Troy and Greece—Lang

Stories of Charlemagne—Church

The Story of Roland—Baldwin

Seven Champions of Christendom—Johnson

37Beowulf—Cartwright

Sigurd, the Volsung—Morris

Joan of Arc—Boutet de Monvel

Ivanhoe—Scott

Daniel Boone—White

Norse Stories Retold—Mabie

The Cid—Wilson

Britain Long Ago—Wilmot-Buxton

Instead of hero plays you may be interested in plays of adventure. The list of excellent books of adventure is a long one, as you know. Here are just a few that are waiting to be turned into wonderful marionette plays:

Robinson Crusoe—Defoe

Boy’s Froissart—Lanier

The Wonder Book—Hawthorne

The Boys Percy—Lanier

Otto of the Silver Hand—Pyle

Black Arrow—Stevenson

Tales from the Alhambra—Irving

William Tell—Schiller

Treasure Island—Stevenson

Men of Iron—Pyle

The Story of the Canterbury Pilgrims—Darton

The Lance of Kanana—French

The Book of Bravery—Lanier

The Last of the Mohicans—Cooper

With Spurs of Gold—Greene

The Golden Perch—Hutchinson

Captains Courageous—Kipling

Let us take one of these, Howard Pyle’s Men of Iron, a story laid in England in the time of King Henry IV. The list of important incidents is a long one.

1.38

Myles parting from the old servant.

2.

Myles presenting his father’s letter to the Earl of Mackworth.

3.

Myles meeting with Gascoigne.

4.

Myles meeting with Sir James Lea.

5.

Myles at play with the boys.

6.

The ball flies over into the ladies’ garden.

7.

Myles and Lady Alice in the garden.

8.

Myles, discovered by the Earl of Mackworth, learns that the Earl is befriending him.

9.

Arrival of King Henry at Devlin Castle.

10.

The knighting of Myles.

11.

Myles’ challenge to the Earl of Alban, his father’s deadly enemy.

12.

The combat between the Earl of Alban and Myles.

13.

The triumph of Myles and his request for the hand of Lady Alice.

When you have studied the story of Men of Iron and made your list of important incidents, you will find that four acts are sufficient for your play:

Act I.

Courtyard of Devlin Castle

Act II.

The ladies’ garden

Act III.

The great hall in Devlin Castle

Act IV.

The tournament ground and the royal pavilions and gallery .

The list of characters is long but it gives an opportunity to many boys and girls in a class to make marionettes and to have a part in the play. Here is the list of characters:

1.

Myles as a boy in Acts I and II

2.

Myles as a man in Acts III and IV

3.

The old Servant

4.

The Armorer

5.

The Bear Trainer

6.

The Bear

7.

Gascoigne

8.

Walter Blunt

9.

The Squire 39

10.

Sir James Lea

11.

Earl of Mackworth

12.

The Pryor

13.

The Earl of Alban

14.

The Minstrel

15.

The Jester

16.

Lady Alice

17.

Lady Anne

18.

Black Horse

19.

Gray Horse

20.

The Pigeons

Marionette plays are exactly like all other plays. They need songs and dances, and many things that will be certain to interest the audience. Here is a list of the incidents that were added to this play when it was given by the boys and girls of Fairmount Junior High School in Cleveland, Ohio:

1.

An Italian bear trainer, who whistled a jolly tune while his bear danced and did his tricks.

2.

The song of the Armorer as he worked at his forge. (The forge was so made and wired that every stroke of the hammer on the anvil gave forth a shower of sparks.)

3.

A fight between Myles and the young squire, Walter Blunt.

4.

Practice at the pells to show the training of the squires of that day.

5.

Lady Alice’s little dance.

6.

Lady Anne’s song as she plays her lute.

7.

Alice’s tame pigeon that flew down to her shoulder.

8.

The wandering minstrel with his lute and his ballad of Chevy Chase.

9.

The antics, capers, and songs of the jester.

In order to prepare the audience for the play and to carry every person back in imagination to the time of this play, an announcer was chosen, who, in the costume of that day, came before the curtain and gave the introduction to the play. This announcer was chosen with great care because his part was so important. He was responsible for carrying his audience back into the days of chivalry, not only by his speech 40and costume, but by his tone of voice and his gestures. Here is the prologue that one of the children wrote:

Hark ye! Hark ye! Ye who came to see

Enacted here some scenes of chivalry.

The castle gate swings wide its door

Scenes long since gone return to us once more.

Into times dim and far we bid you gaze,

Down the long vista to the tournament days.

Towers and turrets and battlements old,

Squires and pages and bachelors bold.

Lords and ladies step out from past ages

While knights and earls throw down their iron gages.

Then men were bold and strongly said their say

And there were few who dared to say them “nay.”

The minstrel, too, did tune on lyre his hero’s deeds

And sang of love, of hope, and needs.

Bears oft came dancing in court and in hall,

Trained by their master to heed beck and call.

Fair maids in latticed bowers were seen dancing,

Fantastic and gay, a jester comes prancing.

Hark! a blare of trumpets sounds as in a dream

And lo! the king and train in mail and helmets gleam.

Mid fluttering scarfs, the Queen of Beauty sat

While in the lists brave knights did wage combat.

All these have you from history’s page

Now shall you see them pictured on our stage.

Grant us your patience, lend eyes and ears as well,

The truth our puppets now will strive to tell.

41There were many things in this play that every member of the class was uncertain about. No one knew about the kinds of costumes that were worn in England in the time of Henry IV. Neither did anyone know about houses, gardens, and furniture, nor about the armor and the musical instruments of that day until he had studied reference books. Here is a list of some of the books that were found helpful:

Heraldry—Complete Guide to Heraldry—Fox-Davies

Furniture—How to Know Period Styles in Furniture—Kimberly

Tapestry—Bayeux Tapestry—Belloc

Tapestry—Bayeux Tapestry—Bruce

Tapestry—The Practical Book of Tapestry—Hunter

Weapons—Armour and Weapons—Foulkes

Customs and Life of the Time—History of Everyday Things in England—Quennell

Songs and Ballads—Songs of England—Hatton

Costumes—The Heritage of Dress—Webb

Costumes—British Costumes During Nineteen Centuries—Ashdown

The Museum of Art and the Historical Museum can be visited for first-hand information. Librarians, history, art, and English teachers can be counted upon for help. The librarian will help you to find the kind of book you wish, and will be glad to help find reference books and pictures. The history teacher will help you in learning about the life and customs of the people who are of the time of your play. The English teacher can be of invaluable help to you in working out the development of your play. Last, but not least, you will have very great need of your art and manual training teachers. They will help you in 42learning how to make your marionettes, how to make your marionette stage, how to make your scenery and properties, how to light the stage, what colors to use in your costumes and in your scenery, and how to place both your scenery and your actors on the stage. They will also assist you in planning the stage pictures.

Moreover, you may be interested in other literary plays made from such stories as:

Birds’ Christmas Carol—Wiggin

Little Women—Alcott

Prince and the Pauper—Clemens

Oliver Twist—Dickens

Cricket on the Hearth—Dickens

The Tempest—Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice—Shakespeare

Heidi—Spyri

Master Skylark—Bennett

Gabriel and the Hour Book—Stein

Rip Van Winkle—Irving

David Copperfield—Dickens

The Christmas Carol—Dickens

The King of the Golden River—Ruskin

Should you like the story of The Childhood of David Copperfield, some such interesting incidents as the following might be chosen:

1.

David and Pegotty.

2.

David meets Captain Pegotty, Emil, and Mrs. Grummage.

3.

David and Emily.

4.

David in the schoolroom.

5.

Betsy Trotwood and Master Dick.

6.

David and Betsy Trotwood.

43The characters in these incidents are:

1.

David

2.

Pegotty

3.

Captain Pegotty

4.

Mrs. Grummage

5.

Emily

6.

Sam

7.

Tommy Traddles

8.

Schoolboy

9.

Mr. Schoolmaster

10.

Mr. Schoolmaster’s assistant

11.

Betsy Trotwood

12.

Master Dick

13.

The mouse

Five acts would give the story:

Act I.

The Copperfield sitting room

Act II.

Inside the boathouse

Act III.

Along the seashore

Act IV.

In the schoolroom

Act V.

Betsy Trotwood’s garden

Since every act of a play should help in telling the story, in solving the principal problem, and in bringing about the proper ending, this arrangement might be made:

Act I.

David reads and talks to Pegotty about her brother’s boathouse. Pegotty invites David to spend a week there.

Act II.

In the boathouse. David meets Pegotty’s family.

Act III.

By the seashore. David plays with Emily, who sings a song, and David tells Emily how much he will miss her when he goes away to school.

Act IV.

In the schoolroom. The cruel schoolmaster and his assistant. David decides to run away.

Act V.

Betsy Trotwood’s garden. David finds a home with his good Aunt Betsy and gentle old Master Dick.

At the same time that Charles Dickens was writing David Copperfield and other stories about the people he knew, several clever artists were making drawings 44of the same people. You probably know many of the amusing pictures they drew, especially those of Cruikshank, Tenniel, and Du Maurier. If you wish to know how David and Pegotty and Betsy Trotwood and little Emily really looked, ask your librarian to show you some of the illustrations that these artists made. Because these pictures give the very best idea of how the people of Dickens’ time looked, you might copy them for your marionettes. Their faces have a great deal of character, their clothes are those of that time, and they are so quaint and characteristic that they will never be uninteresting.

Probably the most beautiful marionette plays that one can imagine could be done from the great stories in the Bible. Just as in the early days of Christianity, when marionettes helped the people to see and feel the great scenes in their new religion, so, it would seem, that a time might come again when the little figures might return to their earliest uses. This could well be done in Christmas and Easter plays for the church and Sunday school. Imagine the story of Joseph and his brethren with scenes showing:

1.

The tent life of Israel.

2.

The kind old father.

3.

The cruel brothers.

4.

The selling into bondage.

5.

The court life in Egypt.

6.

Joseph among his new friends.

7.

The famine.

8.

The visit of the brothers.

9.

The remorse of the brothers.

10.

Joseph’s forgiveness in the last scene.

45Parables, such as that of the Good Samaritan, are full of dramatic possibilities.

How many beautiful plays appropriate for Christmas, Easter, and saints’ days could be made from the lives of the saints! If you are interested in a play for your Sunday school or your parochial school, read and make into a play the life of Saint Christopher, Saint George, Saint Patrick, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Agnes, Saint Genevieve, Saint Catherine of Sienna, or Saint Joan of Arc.

If you love fairy tales you will, no doubt, wish to make a fairy marionette play. You probably know many of the books listed here:

Mother Goose

Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales—Tr. Lucas

The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales—Tr. Crane.

The Arabian Nights—Ed. Colum

Adventures of Nils—Lagerlöf

Gulliver’s Travels—Swift

The Blue Bird—Maeterlinck

Water Babies—Kingsley

The Little Lame Prince—Craik

Old Peter’s Russian Tales—Ransome

Æsop’s Fables—Ed. Jacobs

Undine—La Motte Fouqué

Story of the Rheingold—Chapin

Japanese Fairy Book—Ozaki

Wonder Tales of China Seas—Olcott

Tales of Wonder—Wiggin and Smith

Here are a few familiar poems that may be turned into marionette plays:

Hiawatha—Longfellow

Evangeline—Longfellow

46Story Telling Ballads—Olcott

Lady of the Lake—Scott

Lays of Ancient Rome—Macaulay

Many other stories will, no doubt, occur to you, and many ways of turning them to your needs.

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