Pantomime, Tableaux, Etc.
It is a curious fact that that which is the easiest form of dramatic expression to young children is the most difficult to adolescent young people, namely, the pantomime. This is explained by the fact that little children enter so unconsciously into action without the use of words, while the older ones are rendered more self-conscious by being restricted from the use of speech. Of pantomime for little children, the very simplest form is that of “statues,” in which the children pose, either dressed all in white with powdered hair or with no change of costume, to represent scenes from life, familiar people, common trades, form of action, famous people and well defined thoughts or feelings.
The next dramatic step is the tableaux, in which the children are grouped at least in pairs, arranged in a frame or behind a curtain, dressed in costume. Here, as in the statues, their own inventiveness may be largely depended upon, as they pose to represent characters in story-books, characters in poems, scenes from history, people of other lands and famous pictures.
The third variety is the shadow play, in which with even simpler properties but with more careful rehearsal the children pose as silhouettes and employ a few dramatic gestures. In Miss Perry’s When Mother Lets Us Act the details of all these pantomime performances are given quite adequately.
The next step in dramatic performances is story-playing. The easiest kind consists of simple character sketches, in which a child may portray quickly with language as well as gesture such characters as the father, an old witch, a newspaper boy, a school teacher. Animals may also be imitated. Miss Perry describes a lovely acting game, which she calls Playing Garlands.
“Garlands,” as she describes it, “is a little group of plays acted one after the other, all a part of the same idea and each one acted by one child only. When grandmother comes, you can have the garland of greetings. Encircle grandmother, hand in hand. Then let each child represent something that is glad to welcome grandmother. One represents the chickens and struts and flutters, one represents the flowers—this one spreads her skirts and acts like a flower; and so on. A garland of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poems, each child taking one poem and speaking, or singing, and acting it, is charming.”
Doctor Gesell describes the way this activity develops in the elementary schoolroom: “Very soon the class will not be content with one player. The boy who is trying to represent the monkey will suggest that he have a hand-organ man; the hen will want chickens, and the scene will go naturally and easily without dictation. It is interesting to see how the children grow in power of representation and suggestion, and how naturally language begins to be the necessary accompaniment of gesture. The language of the children will be pictorial and full of unexpected terms and phrases. At this stage of the work it will be found helpful to put a screen between the player and the class. Such a device adds a little mystery to the play. The effect that such work may have upon voice culture is most significant.”
The next step will be stories with simple plot. In performing these it is not necessary to memorize, and it is undesirable to do so. Miss Fry in her Educational Dramatics describes in a vivid way how a story-play evolves. Here is a bit of her monologue, in which we can easily imagine the interruptions of the children. The play is a variant of the Cinderella story:
“Good! Let’s begin with the Market-Place! And the crowd is there, as the story says. What will the crowd be doing? Buying and selling, and walking about and gossiping, as crowds always do anywhere! Yes! We can have chairs about, to be the shops, and Cicily will be in the crowd, of course, shabby and shy, because she is poor, and no one notices her. O, no! Not unhappy, because she is a merry creature, even if she is poor! Barefoot? I s’pose so! Rags? O, let’s plan the whole story first and what they do, and then think about clothes and other things, or we never shall be through and doing it!
“Now what happens? The Bellman’s bell can sound outside the Square just as in the story, and we can hear him calling, ‘O, Ye’s! O, Ye’s!’ and the bell really ringing. Then what will happen? The Bellman will march in, yes! Ringing and calling, all the people of the place will ‘come running,’ as the story says. What a lot more fun it will be to be doing it than just hearing about it! O, yes! of course they chatter at him. The story does not say that, but any one would know it.”