During the later and less virile period of school drama, when there was little joy in either the school or its drama, some amazing textbook compendiums in dialogue form passed into academic currency as plays. The 16th century, for example, contributes Rastell's 'Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements); the 17th, Samuel Shaw's 'Dramatized Rhetoric); the 18th, a (History of England,' by John Holmes, for the performance of his
The first of the schools of England to revive interest in the ancient drama was Bradfield College under Dr. Gray, a modern among edu cationists, who for 30 years as warden and headmaster has proved a valiant foe of dry-as dust methods. Bradfield is as famous in Eng land for its miniature Greek theatre, embowered among trees in a shady green hollow, as the University of California is in the United States for its fine theatre at Berkeley; and the per formances at each are of equal note. Many other schools in England are following in spirit the lead of the distinguished classical scholar of Bradfield (consult his article in the English Review of Reviews, listed below) ; and the movement is spreading over the whole English-spealcing world. The first production of a Greek play in the United States was given by Harvard students in 1882. A full account has been written by one of the participants, Mr. Henry Norman, and illustrated by 15 excellent plates (Boston 1882).
At Harvard, Yale, the University of Califor nia, at Stanford and other universities, an ex cellent training is given, and many fine experi ments are rnade in all the arts dramatic. Classes are held on the technique of dramatiz ing, prominence being given to modern dramatic writing. The Harvard Dramatic Club produces
plays by Harvard graduates and undergraduates with the co-operation of a professional stage director of standing. Competitions are held, for glory and a prize of $500— and a production at the Castle Square Theatre. Several of these prize winners have already become known to play goers. Some years ago the interior of Sanders Theatre,— the academic theatre of the univer sity,— was remodeled into a replica of an Elizabethan Theatre under the supervision of Professors Baker and Langford Warren (the latter representing the architectural department of the university), for the performance of Mr. Forbes Robertson's (Hamlet> on the oc casion of that distinguished actor's first repre sentation of the part in America. Professor Baker also devised and directed, in co-operation with his students, the MacDowell pageant of Peterborough, N. H. A dramatic workshop within the university is famous throughout the country, and has trained and stimulated more than one man of superior talent for the wider scope outside its walls. At Yale University the main interests centre round the Dramatic Asso ciation. The roots of this Society were planted in 1899, four years after a talk on the drama by Mr. Joseph Jefferson in the Art School, 2 May 1895. Professor Phelps suggested the formation of the association, and two plays were produced at the Hyperion Theatre. The plays were a success, and the undergraduates were thereafter allowed to maintain an orgam zation. Different in kind from the Harvard Hasty Pudding and the Princeton Triangle clubs in having a serious purpose, the Yale Dramatic Association was founded in the be lief that the university is the natural cradle for the fostering of a better drama and for the encouragement of the new art of the theatre. Up to the year 1908, the Association took short Easter trips to such nearby towns as Hartford, Waterbury and Bridgeport. In 1908 the policy was changed and a long Christmas tour, the first of many such enterprises, was undertaken. In 1910 the Dramatic Association was incor porated. Perhaps the most outstanding event in its history was the presentation by Miss Maude Adams at the Grand Theatre, of 'What Every Woman Knows,' 19 April 1909. The entire gate receipts of the play were generously contributed to the building fund for the Yale Theatre. This proposed theatre is to cost $250,000; of which amount about $20,000 has been collected. The plays already performed include (Iphigenia in Tauris) ; (Troilus and Cressida' ; (An Ideal Husband); (Harold); (Treasure Island> ; (Major Barbara); (Her Husband's Wife' ; and (The Legend of Leonora.) On 21 Oct. 1916, the Yale-New Haven Pageant was produced on the wide field of the Bowl, with more than 7,000 students, citizens and school children as actors, before an audience of nearly 70,000 people. The pageant visualized, step by step, the progress of Yale for 200 years. The production was in the hands of Mr. Francis Hartman Markoe, a Yale graduate who had also studied at Mag dalene College, Oxford, and is the author of (The Book of the Oxford Pageant.) On the scholastic side, too, Yale is eminently modern and practical, offering courses in contemporary drama, and in modern dramatic technique, in addition to the usual historical courses.