MAY-DAY INDOORS; OR, THE YOTOPSKI FAMILY’S REHEARSAL.
CHARACTERS.
Arthur, William Tell. Ned, the Tyrant. Tommy, Tell’s Son. George. Caroline, Lucy, Anna, Polly, Kate. Girls are dressed in white, with bright sashes, and have little flags. George has a larger flag.
Scene.—Room in residence of Ned, Polly, and Tommy. Lunch-baskets, &c., on chairs. Polly sits, holding her hat, shawl, and sack. Tommy is seated on the floor, playing with marbles. Ned, a much larger boy, leans over a chair-back.
Ned (dolefully). We shall have to give it up, Polly. No May-party to-day. (Goes to window.)
Polly (earnestly). Oh! don’t you think the clouds will blow over?
Ned. The whole sky will have to blow over. It’s all lead-color.
Polly (sighing). Oh, dear, dear, dear!
(Voices heard outside. Enter, with a rush, Caroline, Lucy, Anna, Kate, George, and Arthur, with baskets, tin pails, &c. The boys’ hats are trimmed with evergreen, the girls’ with wreaths and posies. The girls have baskets of flowers. Tommy leaves off playing with his marbles to watch the new-comers.)
George (throwing down a long coil of evergreen). Here we come!
Lucy (almost out of breath, and speaking fast). Yes, here we come, pell-mell! It’s going to pour!
Caroline (speaking just as Lucy finishes). Oh, how we have hurried! I felt a great drop fall on my nose.
Anna (speaking just as Caroline finishes). And think of our dresses!—span-clean white dresses!
Kate (speaking just as Anna finishes). No procession to-day!—no dancing around the May-pole!
(Arthur throws up his hat, and catches it. George does the same.)
Lucy. They got all that evergreen to trim the May-pole; and George brought his flag.
Ned. If it had only been pleasant to-day, I’d have let it rain a week afterward.
George (stepping to the window). There!—it pours! It’s lucky we hurried.
Polly. Now all of you stay here and keep May-day with us (clapping hands). Do, do!
Caroline. Will your mother like it?
Polly. I’ll go ask her. (Runs out.)
Ned. Anyway, you can’t go till it holds up. (Girls go to the window.)
Arthur. That may not be for a week. (Enter Polly in haste.)
Polly. She says we may do any thing but make ’lasses-candy.
Ned. The last time we made it, father said he found some in his slipper-toes.
(Girls take off hats and shawls, which, with baskets, &c., are placed in a corner. Some take seats with some confusion; others remain standing.)
Arthur. Now what shall we do with ourselves?
Ned. Let’s get up an entertainment. Tickets ten cents; grown folks, double price.
Kate. So I say; and call ourselves a “troupe,” or a “family,” or something.
George. Something that has a foreign sound.
Arthur. How would “Yotopski” do?
Caroline, Lucy, and Anna. Splendid!
Anna. Let’s call ourselves “The Yotopski Family.”
Lucy. But what shall we have for our entertainment?
Polly. I think tableaux are perfectly splendid.
Anna. Oh, I’ll tell you! Have the kind that winds up.
George. Why, all entertainments wind up when they are done.
Anna. I mean, have each one wound up with a key, and then they move.
Arthur. She means Mrs. Jarley’s Wax-works.
Ned. All right. We’ll have the winding kind.
Caroline. What wax-works shall we have?
Ned. We might have William Tell shooting the apple, for one.
Tommy. I’ve seen that! ’Twill take three to do that,—Mr. Tell, and his son, and the cross tyrant.
George. And the apple makes four.
Anna. Who’ll be Mr. Tell?—you, Ned?
Ned. No; I’d rather be the cross tyrant: I feel just right for that. Arthur’ll be Mr. Tell.
Arthur. Oh, yes! I’ll be Mr. Tell; and Tommy can be the boy. (Tommy moves toward the door.) Where are you going, Tommy?
Tommy (going out). After my bow’n’arrow.
Lucy (bringing an apple from her basket). Here’s the apple.
Caroline. What shall we do for a feather? Mr. Tell’s hat must have a feather.
Kate. Twist up a piece of newspaper. (Turns Arthur’s hat up at one side, and fastens it with a twist of paper, left open at the top.) There you have it! And Polly’s sack, turned wrong side out, will do for a tunic.
(Arthur puts on hat and sack. Sack is lined with a bright color, or with different colors.)
Polly. He ought to have a wide sash.
Lucy (taking off hers). Here, take mine!
Polly. Not that kind of a sash!
Anna. Oh, that won’t do!
Caroline. It should be a scarf.
Ned (tying sash at the side, around Arthur’s waist). Oh! never mind, we’re only rehearsing.
Lucy. How must the cross tyrant be dressed? Who knows?
Anna. The tyrant I saw had a cape hung on one shoulder. A shawl will do for that. (Brings shawl, which Ned hangs over his left shoulder.) Now, what must he wear on his head?
Lucy. I should think a tyrant ought to wear a tall hat.
Polly (going). I’ll get father’s.
Anna (to Polly). And something bright to put on it. I remember that part plainly.
George (calling after Polly). And something long, for a sword. (Exit Polly.)
Caroline. If the boys do that, can’t we girls make ourselves into wax-works?
Anna. Let’s be a May-day wax-work, singing and dancing round a May-pole.
George. I’ll be the pole.
Caroline. But you’re not long enough.
George (mounting a chair). Now I am!
Girls (laughing and clapping). Oh, yes; oh, yes! He’ll do! Trim him up; trim him up!
Ned (to George). Yes. Come down and be trimmed up.
(George steps down, stands erect, arms close to his body. Girls hand garlands. Ned winds them around George.)
Kate. Shall we hoist the flag?
Ned. Oh, yes! bring the flag. And here’s a string (taking ball of string out of pocket) to fasten it on with. (Ned fastens the flag-stick to George’s head by winding the string around, then helps him mount the chair.) Three cheers for the flag! Now,—One, two, three! (All cheer and clap.)
(Enter Polly with an old hat and a poker.)
Polly. Won’t this hat do? Mother can’t have father’s good one banged about.
George. Oh! that’s good enough. We’re only rehearsing. Did you get something bright?
(Ned puts on hat.)
Polly (taking out yellow bandanna handkerchief). Mother said this was quite bright.
Anna. Why, I meant something shiny, like a clasp, or a buckle.
Kate. No matter: we’re only rehearsing.
(Ned ties handkerchief round the hat, so that the corners hang down.)
Polly (hands the poker). Here’s your sword. That’s the longest thing I could find.
(All laugh. Ned seizes poker, and strikes a military attitude. Enter Tommy with bow and arrow.)
Tommy. Where shall I stand up?
Arthur. Come this way (leads Tommy to one side the stage; Ned follows). Ned, you must scowl and look fierce. Tommy, fold your arms, and stand still as a post.
(Puts apple on Tommy’s head, and takes aim with bow and arrow.)
Tommy. Oh, I’m afraid! Look out for my eyes! The arrow might go off!
Arthur. I’ll put the apple in the chair.
(Tommy stands motionless. Arthur aims at apple in the chair. Ned stands by with drawn sword; then all three resume their former position.)
Kate. Now, we girls must stand around the May-pole (they gather around the pole). Who’ll wind?
The Girls. You, you, you!
Polly. What a little circle! I wish we had more girls.
Kate. So do I. (To Anna.) How shall I wind up the wax-works?
Anna. The ones I saw all stood on a string, and the string led to a box; and, when the box was wound up, the wax-works began to act their parts. A door-key will do to wind with.
Kate. We’ll manage in the same way.
(Lays a long string on the floor, passes it under the feet of the wax-works, and drops the end of it in a work-box upon the table.)
Arthur. Don’t you think you girls ought to be holding your posies, and your flags, and your flower-baskets, and wearing your wreaths? They’ll make your wax-work look handsomer.
Caroline. So they will.
(Girls get their posies, little flags, and baskets, take wreaths from hats, and put them on their heads.)
Anna. You must take a key, and pretend to wind up the machinery. What song shall we sing?
Lucy. “The merry month of May” is perfectly splendid.
Caroline. I wonder if we know the words. Let’s try. (They sing a May-song.)
Kate. That’s a good song. Now then! All ready! Stand in your places (gets the door-key). Arms folded, Tommy! When I’ve done winding up, Arthur will begin to take aim, Ned will begin to scowl and to hold up his sword, and you girls will begin to sing and dance around. Can’t you hold your hands high, so the flowers and flags will show? (Girls raise their hands.) That’s prettier. Now all stand just as still as real wax-works till the machinery is wound up; then begin. We’ll play, that, when I throw up my handkerchief, the curtain falls. Now!
(Kate winds the machinery, the actors remaining quiet. When the winding stops, they begin to perform their parts. When the dancers have danced twice around the circle, Kate throws up her handkerchief.)
(Curtain falls.)
(If desirable, more singing and dancing can be introduced under pretence of practising.)
