DRAMA 



1852 



DRAMA 



known as acts and scenes. When presented on 

 a stage the story is developed by means of 

 speech, action and gesture, and with the aid of 

 stage scenery and furnishings. The term drama 

 is also applied to the entire body of dramatic 

 writings of any people or period, as the English 

 drama, medieval drama, and the like. The 

 dramatic writings of nearly all nations are an 

 important part of their literature. 



Plays are written both in prose and in poetry. 

 The Greeks, who originated European drama, 

 considered this form of literature one of the 

 divisions of poetry, and Shakespeare's plays 

 are for the most part written in verse; but in 

 modern times prose has been more generally 

 used than poetry as a medium for dramatic 

 composition. The two great divisions of the 

 drama are tragedy and comedy. Tragedies are 

 plays with a gloomy ending, in which the sad 

 or terrible in life is emphasized; in a comedy 

 the outlook on life is gay or cheerful, and there 

 is a happy conclusion. Shakespeare's Hamlet 

 is a tragedy ; his Twelfth Night is a comedy. 



American Drama. America has produced an 

 extensive dramatic literature, though much of 

 this is not of high value. American dramatists 

 have shown the greatest activity in the period 

 beginning about 1880. In the latter part of the 

 nineteenth century a form of play became pop- 

 ular in which the interest is centered upon 

 native types of character rather than upon the 

 plot. Denman Thompson's Old Homestead 

 (1886) and James A. Herne's Shore Acres 

 (1892) are well-known plays of this type. 

 Bronson Howard (1842-1908), one of America's 

 most able dramatists, is remembered for his 

 attractive and spirited comedy, The Henrietta 

 (1887), revived in 1913-1914 as The New Hen- 

 rietta, and for his popular war drama Shenan- 

 doah (1889). Augustus M. Thomas (born 

 1859), whose fondness for local color is shown 

 in his most popular plays, Alabama, In Miz- 

 zoura and Arizona, also achieved success with 

 a striking play dealing with the power of 

 hypnotism, The Witching Hour. Among other 

 well-known plays is his As a Man Thinks. 



Notable work has also been done by William 

 Gillette (born 1855), who made an able drama- 

 tization of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and won a 

 high place for himself in the dramatic world in 

 its title role. Secret Service, a drama of the 

 War of Secession, and The Private Secretary, a 

 delightful and entertaining comedy, are among 

 his other successes. The drama of social life 

 has been represented by Clyde Fitch (1865- 

 1909), notably in The Climbers, The Truth and 



The Girl with the Green Eyes. He produced 

 more plays during a brief career than any other 

 American. Typical phases of modern American 

 life have been treated by Eugene Walter (born 

 1874) in The Easiest Way, Paid in Full and 

 Fine Feathers, and Edward Sheldon (born 

 1886) gave a realistic portrayal of slum life in 

 Salvation Nell. The well-known theatrical pro- 

 ducer and manager, David Belasco (born 1859), 

 has written a number of successful plays, 

 notably The Heart oj Maryland and The Girl 

 of the Golden West. 



The chief representative of the poetic drama 

 is Percy Mackaye (born 1875), whose Jeanne 

 d'Arc and Sappho and Phaon show literary 

 merit. William Vaughn Moody, who died in 

 1910, gave promise of unusual power in his 

 Great Divide (1907), possibly the most artistic 

 of all American prose dramas. 



The American drama has reached a higher 

 standard of excellence in its players than in 

 its plays. Among the earlier artists, the names 

 of Edwin Forrest, Edwin Booth, Lawrence 

 Barrett and Richard Mansfield shine brilliantly. 

 Joseph Jefferson, whose portrayal of Rip Van 

 Winkle is one of the cherished traditions of 

 the American stage, was long a well-loved 

 figure in the theater. 



Notable among later artists are John Drew, 

 Edward H. Sothern, Robert Mantell, William 

 Gillette, William Faversham, William Crane, 

 Henry E. Dixey, Nat Goodwin, Francis Wilson, 

 Maude Adams, Julia Marlowe, Annie Russell, 

 Minnie Maddern Fiske and Mrs. Leslie Carter. 



Some Present-Day Difficulties. The Amer- 

 ican theater since 1910 has shown the effects 

 of rather extraordinary conditions. One of the 

 most commonly-heard complaints on the part 

 of the theatrical producers is that the regular 

 theater no longer enjoys the popularity it once 

 commanded. Undoubtedly the immense vogue 

 of the moving picture and vaudeville programs 

 has diverted the public from the regular play- 

 houses, where, it is generally admitted, the 

 prices charged are often excessive. Plays of 

 genuine merit are the exception, and a person 

 who has paid well to see an inferior play poorly 

 acted is not inclined often to repeat the ex- 

 periment. 



The formation of a theatrical combination, 

 known as the "Syndicate," has also affected the 

 situation. This combination of theatrical man- 

 agers controlled in 1896 thirty-seven first-class 

 theaters; by 1915 nearly all the standard 

 playhouses in the United States had passed 

 under its control.- To the producer the Syndi- 



