WORKS BY PERCY MACKAYE
PLAYS
- The Canterbury Pilgrims. A Comedy.
- Jeanne d’Arc. A Tragedy.
- Sappho and Phaon. A Tragedy.
- Fenris, the Wolf. A Tragedy.
- A Garland to Sylvia. A Dramatic Reverie.
- The Scarecrow. A Tragedy of the Ludicrous.
- Yankee Fantasies. Five One-Act Plays.
- Mater. An American Study in Comedy.
- Anti-Matrimony. A Satirical Comedy.
- To-Morrow. A Play in Three Acts.
- A Thousand Years Ago. A Romance of the Orient.
COMMUNITY DRAMAS
- Caliban. A Community Masque.
- Saint Louis. A Civic Masque.
- Sanctuary. A Bird Masque.
- The New Citizenship. A Civic Ritual.
- The Evergreen Tree. A Christmas Masque.
OPERAS
- Sinbad, the Sailor. A Fantasy.
- The Immigrants. A Tragedy.
- The Canterbury Pilgrims. A Comedy.
POEMS
- The Sistine Eve, and Other Poems.
- Uriel, and Other Poems.
- Lincoln. A Centenary Ode.
- The Present Hour. Poems of War and Peace.
- Poems and Plays. In Two Volumes.
ESSAYS
- The Playhouse and the Play.
- The Civic Theatre.
- A Substitute for War.
- Community Drama. An Interpretation.
ALSO (As Editor)
- The Canterbury Tales. A Modern Rendering into Prose.
- The Modern Reader’s Chaucer (with Professor J. S. P. Tatlock).
AT ALL BOOKSELLERS
Dance-Carol of the Evergreen
So we will sing our even-song
And dance for thee, like king and queen,—
O Evergreen, dear Evergreen!—
To make thy heart be merry.
The
EVERGREEN TREE
by
PERCY MACKAYE
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON
1917
Copyright, 1917, by
Percy MacKaye
All Rights Reserved
Note: For Information concerning Permission to
produce this Masque or to read it in Public, see
ANNOUNCEMENTS, on [page 81] of this volume.
Printed in the United States of America
The
EVERGREEN TREE
A Masque of Christmas Time for
Community Singing and Acting
by
PERCY MACKAYE
With Scenic and Costume Designs
by
ROBERT EDMOND JONES
Together with
Three Monographs on the Masque
written by
the Author, the Scenic Designer,
and
ARTHUR FARWELL
Composer of the Music
To
Those Friendly Thousands
of Men, Women and Children
in American Towns and Cities, Who Have
Shared With the Author in His Masques
a Common Devotion to the Happy Cause
of a Communal Art
This Masque is Dedicated
in Christmas Fellowship
PREFACE
Always an evergreen tree points up at a star.
Always a star looks somewhere down on the cradle of a child.
Always, once in the year, a child laughs up at evergreen boughs.
Tree, star and child are triune in the poetry of nature—a constellation of man that never sets.
The antic mirth, the naïve awe of paganism, the joy and passion of Christianity, are masks happy and tragic which the Folk Spirit of childhood has worn for ages, and shall wear for ages more, in ritual of a tree that never dies.
On the verge of No-Man’s-Land, where the blasted earth reels amid war’s stench and thunder; in calm cathedrals, to carolling choirs; by lonely chimney sides, or amid the young, tense assemblies of army camps, Christmas—this Christmas of our new age—grows again in the ancient greenness of a little tree.
How may we, too, do it homage?
Not forgetting the old simple merriment of folk days gone by, how shall we say—and sing—to our tree something of that deep response which we feel to-day to the creative sadness of our time?
Our young men are going out to the war: our country is grappling the issue of a planet. Here is a dramatic conflict, not for us as spectators, but as participants. Here is a theme, not of the traditional theatre, but of a communal drama, the action of which is at once a battle and a prayer. How may we take part together in expressing such a theme, at this new Christmas time?
Surely it must be through some simple festival—chiefly of song, for song is elemental to us all: a festival in which our people—young, old, rich, poor, women, men, but chiefly our young soldiers—may share, outdoors or indoors, in a ritual, democratic and devotional, on a scale great or small, simple to act and symbolize: a drama not designed for a hollow amphitheatre of spectators, but for a level-floored cathedral of communicants: a drama in which the goal of world liberty we battle for is clearly contrasted with its opposite, that we ourselves may not lose sight of our goal or swerve from it, as our common prayer, in the midst of battle. And there, as the focus-point of our festival and symbol of it—the tree of light: light of our own childhood and of the world’s.
I do not know whether this simple masque will prove worthy to help in creating such a festival for our new Christmas time—I can only wish and hope that it may.
Percy MacKaye.
Cornish, New Hampshire,
September, 1917.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| INTRODUCTORY | ||
| Dedication | [ix] | |
| Preface | [xi] | |
| List of Illustrations | [xiv] | |
| Persons and Groups | [xv] | |
| Choruses and Carols | [xvi] | |
| The Community Chorus | [xvii] | |
| Time and Place | [xvii] | |
| Quotation from St. Matthew | [xviii] | |
| TEXT OF THE MASQUE IN TWELVE ACTIONS | ||
| I. | “Who Keepeth Watch?” | [1] |
| II. | The Lantern in the Desert | [9] |
| III. | “Somebody is Coming!” | [11] |
| IV. | The Light-Child | [14] |
| V. | “Sword of the World” | [21] |
| VI. | The Befriending | [28] |
| VII. | The Three Wise Men | [31] |
| VIII. | “Which, O Lord, is Wisest?” | [34] |
| IX. | Outcasts | [44] |
| X. | The Wounded Pedlar | [48] |
| XI. | The Persecuting Host | [53] |
| XII. | The Morning Stars | [54] |
| COMMENTARIES | ||
| Community Prelude | [69] | |
| Community Epilude | [72] | |
| Three Monographs: | ||
| I. | Dramatizing Community Song, by Percy MacKaye | [73] |
| II. | Community Music and the Composer, by Arthur Farwell | [77] |
| III. | Designs for “The Evergreen Tree,” by Robert Edmond Jones | [78] |
| Action of “The Evergreen Tree” | [80] | |
| Announcements Concerning Music and Production | [81] | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| I. SCENES | |
| Dance-Carol of The Evergreen | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| The Light-Child | [16] |
| Sword of the World | [24] |
| The Three Wise Men | [32] |
| Outcasts | [44] |
| The Pedlar-King | [62] |
| The Morning Stars | [66] |
| II. GROUND-PLAN | |
| [69] | |
| III. COSTUMES | |
| Gnome, Tree, Elf | [78] |
| Bear, Wolf, Lion | [78] |
| Joseph, Mary, Shepherds | [78] |
| Host, Herod, Captain | [78] |
| Belshasar, Caspar, Melchior | [78] |
| Followers of Belshasar, Caspar, Melchior | [78] |
| Sorrow, Song, Death, Poverty | [78] |
| Ruth, Claus, Children, Chorus B | [78] |
PERSONS AND GROUPS
In the Order of their Appearance
PERSONS
- ELF
- GNOME
- TREE
- WOLF
- BEAR
- LION
- JOSEPH
- MARY (Mute)
- SHEPHERD
- CAPTAIN of the host of Herod
- HEROD
- BELSHASAR
- MELCHIOR
- CASPAR
- RUTH
- CLAUS
- SONG (Mute)
- SORROW (Mute)
- DEATH
- POVERTY (Mute)
GROUPS
- SHEPHERDS
- HOST OF HEROD
- FOLLOWERS OF THE THREE KINGS
- OUTCASTS: FOLLOWERS OF SONG, SORROW AND POVERTY
For Army Camp productions, in camps where it may not be practicable to have women as acting principals, the two mute female figures, MARY and SONG, may—if necessary—be omitted, and RUTH be acted by some well-skilled youth, as was the custom in Elizabethan days. The part of TREE, in any production, may be acted either by a young woman or by a young man (in small-scale productions preferably by a young woman). ELF and GNOME are preferably acted by children: a girl and a boy, or—if desirable—by two boys. In Chorus A, and in the first Semi-Chorus of the Outcasts, choir boys may, if need be, take the places of women.
CHORUSES AND CAROLS
CHORUSES
| First Action | I. (A,1) | Chorus of the Wilderness. |
| Fourth Action | II. (A,2) | Light of the World. |
| Fourth Action | III. (A,3) | The Star. |
| Fifth Action | IV. (B,1) | The Might of Herod. |
| Fifth Action | V. (A,4 B,2) | The Wrath of Herod. |
| Fifth and Eleventh | VI. and X. (B,3 and 4) | Song of the Persecuting Host. |
| Sixth Action | VII. and VIII. (A,5 and 6) | Glory and Serenity. |
| Ninth Action | IX. (A,7) | Dirge of the Outcasts. |
| Twelfth Action | XI. (A,8 and B,5) | Chorus of the Christmas Tree. |
| Part I: The Pedlar-King. | ||
| Part II: The Tree. | ||
| Part III: The Child. |
CAROLS
| Second Action | 1. | Joseph’s Carol. |
| Third Action | 2. | Fairy Round. |
| Fourth Action | 3. | Luck Song. |
| Fourth Action | 4. | The Tree-Child’s Lullaby. |
| Seventh Action | 5. | “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” |
| Eighth Action | 6. | The Bell, the Sword and the Laughter. |
| Eighth Action | 7. | Dance-Carol of the Evergreen. |
| Tenth Action | 8. | Ballad of the Kings and the Pedlar. |
In modified small-scale productions of the Masque, where it may be impracticable to render all the music in its completeness, the Carols alone may be sung. In that event, the Choruses should not be wholly omitted, but may be rendered as Choral Poems spoken in chanted speech by properly qualified leaders (at Stage A and Stage B), as indicated in the “Guide to the Evergreen Tree” pamphlet, referred to in the Announcements on the last page of this volume.
THE COMMUNITY CHORUS
is in two divisions, as follows:
CHORUS A, in White: Men and Women: located near Stage A.
CHORUS B, in Red: Men: located near Stage B.
TIME AND PLACE
TIME
The Time is laid on a night shortly after the birth of Christ.
PLACE
The Masque takes place in Four Regions, indicated by Two Stages, and Two Aisles, the Audience being located between the two stages.
Stage A represents the Place of Outcasts: a knoll, with path, in the Wilderness, before the Evergreen Tree.
Stage B (located opposite Stage A) represents the Place of Empire: the Gateway and Steps to the Palace of Herod.
Aisle I (located on the right of Stage B, as one faces Stage A) represents a Pathway from the land of Herod into the Wilderness.
Aisle II (located on the left of Stage B and parallel to Aisle I) represents another Pathway into the Wilderness.
See [Ground Plan opposite page 69].
From the Gospel of Saint Matthew: Chapter II
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled....
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”
When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was....
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Now when they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt....
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under.