Chapter VI: 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

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 and 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.

There 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 learning 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.

The 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.