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. Act V. Betsy Trotwood’s garden. David finds a home with his good Aunt Betsy and gentle old Master Dick.
At the same time that Charles Dickens was writing David Copperfield and other stories about the people he knew, several clever artists were making drawings of the same people. You probably know many of the amusing pictures they drew, especially those of Cruikshank, Tenniel, and Du Maurier. If you wish to know how David and Pegotty and Betsy Trotwood and little Emily really looked, ask your librarian to show you some of the illustrations that these artists made. Because these pictures give the very best idea of how the people of Dickens’ time looked, you might copy them for your marionettes. Their faces have a great deal of character, their clothes are those of that time, and they are so quaint and characteristic that they will never be uninteresting.
Probably the most beautiful marionette plays that one can imagine could be done from the great stories in the Bible. Just as in the early days of Christianity, when marionettes helped the people to see and feel the great scenes in their new religion, so, it would seem, that a time might come again when the little figures might return to their earliest uses. This could well be done in Christmas and Easter plays for the church and Sunday school. Imagine the story of Joseph and his brethren with scenes showing:
1. The tent life of Israel. 2. The kind old father. 3. The cruel brothers. 4. The selling into bondage. 5. The court life in Egypt. 6. Joseph among his new friends. 7. The famine. 8. The visit of the brothers. 9. The remorse of the brothers. 10. Joseph’s forgiveness in the last scene.
Parables, such as that of the Good Samaritan, are full of dramatic possibilities.
How many beautiful plays appropriate for Christmas, Easter, and saints’ days could be made from the lives of the saints! If you are interested in a play for your Sunday school or your parochial school, read and make into a play the life of Saint Christopher, Saint George, Saint Patrick, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Agnes, Saint Genevieve, Saint Catherine of Sienna, or Saint Joan of Arc.
If you love fairy tales you will, no doubt, wish to make a fairy marionette play. You probably know many of the books listed here:
Mother Goose