at a season of the year when children invade both the stage and the auditorium of many theatres in unwonted numbers it would be at least topical to speculate as to the philosophy of pantomime and the artistic merits and defects of child actors and actresses. but while juvenile mimicry of adult conceptions of drama is entertaining enough, it is more to our purpose to consider the dramatic spirit as it is actually present in children themselves. pantomimes certainly do not reflect this spirit, and, in spite of the sentimental, but hardly more childish influence of fairy-plays, are still aimed exclusively at adult audiences who grant themselves no other opportunity of appreciating the humours of the music-halls. probably the ideal children’s play would have the colour of pantomime, the atmosphere of p. 218“peter pan,” the poetry of the “blue bird,” and, most important of all, a downright melodramatic plot. it is this last that is invariably lacking in entertainments nominally provided for children; it is the first consideration in the entertainments they provide for themselves.
if grown-up people were in the habit, which unfortunately they are not, of meeting together in moments of relaxation and acting little extemporary plays, these plays would surely give a first-hand indication of the dramatic situations that interested them. yet this is what children are always doing, and in terms of play every little boy is a dashing and manly actor and every little girl a beautiful and accomplished actress. from the first glad hour when little brother cries to little sister, “you be red riding hood, and i’ll be the wolf and eat you!” the dramatic aspect of life is never absent from the mind of imaginative youth.
in one respect, at all events, these play-dramas of children should meet with the approval of modern dramatic critics. no one can accuse them of losing sight of the p. 219motive of their drama in elaboration of scenery or stage effects. a chair will serve for a beleaguered castle, a pirate ship, or cinderella’s coach in turn, and the costumes imitate this elizabethan simplicity. nevertheless, it cannot be said that their stage is entirely free from the tyranny of those pernicious conventions that place obstacles in the way of art. the law of primogeniture, always rigidly enforced in nurseries, as mr. kenneth grahame has observed, makes the eldest brother as much of a nuisance as the actor-manager. according to his nature, and the character of the play, he always insists on being either hero or villain, and in the absence of limelight contrives to give himself an exaggerated share both of the action and of the dialogue. sisters are placid creatures and do not very much mind whether they have anything to do or not as long as they can all be princesses; but it is hard on a younger brother to be compelled to walk the plank, although he has the heart of a pirate chief. and the fact that whatever part he may play the eldest brother must triumph at the end of the last act tends p. 220to stereotype the lines along which the drama develops.
as for the plays themselves, it must be owned that they cover an extraordinary extent of ground, and display a variety that no other repertory theatre can hope to equal. the present writer has seen five children in one afternoon give spirited performances of aladdin, david and goliath, an unnamed drama of pirates, and the famous comedy of teacher and naughty pupils. this last is the standard performance of elementary school girls all over london, and to the discerning critic displays just those faults of sophistication and over-elaboration to which long runs at our theatres have made us accustomed. the teacher is always too monotonously ill-tempered, the pupils are ill-behaved beyond all discretion; ibsen, one feels, would have expressed this eternal warfare between youth and authority in subtler terms. sometimes, however, london children achieve a really startling realism in their games; and the looker-on may derive a considerable knowledge of the mothers from watching the children perform p. 221in some such drama of life as the ever-popular “shopping on saturday night.” it may be noted here that children’s rhapsodies over dolls and kittens, or, indeed, over anything, are always clever pieces of character-acting. naturally, children do not rhapsodise, but they soon learn the secret of the art from observation of their elders.
but though in large towns the poorer children may not have escaped the spirit of the age, so that their art hardly raises them from the grey levels of their lives, children in general are eager to find the artistic symbol for their dreams, and allow realism but an accidental share in the expression of their romantic ideals. they do not seek the materials for their dramas in the little comedies and tragedies of nursery or schoolroom life; they prefer to forget that ordinary everyday happenings have ever wooed them to tributary laughters or tears, and fulfil their destiny as pirates or highwaymen, fairies or forlorn princesses.
probably the nearest approach to children’s drama that we have on the modern stage is the so-called cloak-and-sword drama. p. 222children’s plays are full of action; speeches are short and emphatic, and attempts at character-acting are desultory and provocative of laughter in the other members of the company. the fights are always carried out with spirit and enthusiasm. to have seen captain shark, that incarnadined pirate, wiping his sword on his pinafore is to have realised that beauty of violence for which mr. chesterton pleads so eloquently in the “napoleon of notting hill.”
bearing in mind the nature of the dramas that children play to please themselves, it should be possible to lay down certain rules as to the composition of plays for their entertainment. working by light of stevenson’s lantern, mr. barrie has done good work in “peter pan,” but he has made tremendous mistakes. the scene on the pirate ship is perfect, a model of what such a scene should be, with plenty of fighting and no burdensome excess of talk. but in a play that is essentially a boys’ play wendy is a mistake. there was no wendy on stevenson’s island of treasure, and her continual intrusion into the story would not be tolerated p. 223in any nursery. in real life she would either have had to discard her sex and become a member of the band, or else have adopted the honorary r?le of princess and stayed tactfully in the background. the pirate chief is very good—so good, in fact, that it looks very like an eldest brother’s part, in which case he would have beaten peter and made him walk the plank. the end, though pleasing to adult minds, is impossible from a childish point of view. the boys would never have left their fun of their own free will. the gong ought to have sounded for tea, or perhaps mr. darling could have returned from the city with some mysterious parcels for the children to open. that is how things really happen. to our mind, as we have said above, the greatest fault a play for children can have is the lack of a straightforward plot that allows of plenty of stirring and adventurous action. children love stories, whether they be make-up stories of their own or real stories told them by some one else. the hero of the play should be the biggest boy acting it; the female characters should have no greater share of p. 224the action than the most rudimentary sense of politeness would allow them, but they may sit in the background, mute but beautiful princesses, as much as they like, and they are permitted to comment on the courage of the hero when occasion offers. successful scenes should be repeated three or four times till their possibilities had been exhausted. every now and then, if realism is desired, nurse or governess should look through the door and say, “children, don’t be rough,” to which the whole company must reply, “we’re only playing!” once at least in the course of the play one of the smaller members of the company should be smitten into tears, to be comforted by the princesses. the actors should quarrel freely among themselves and throw up their parts every half-hour, but, on the whole, they should all enjoy themselves enormously.
such an entertainment, we admit, would be intolerable to the sentimental adult; but the criticisms of the children in the audience would be worth hearing.
