Laver

I have finally got to the end of the book about drama at reference 1, first noticed at reference 2. Told from the point of view of costume and décor – not unreasonable given the day job of the author at the V&A as keeper of the department which included theatre in its brief – rather than that of texts. A point of view which reminded me of the role of theatre as spectacle, rather than as a vehicle for poetry or higher thought. 

A civilised canter through the history of European theatre, starting at the very beginning with Frazer (of the Golden Bough) and Freud. The Greeks and Romans. The medieval mysteries and the processional (not to say triumphal) entries of medieval kings. The evolution of the perspective theatre with stage, proscenium arch, flats and backdrop from the elaborate court masques of 17th century, through public, purpose built theatres, through the ‘missing wall’ interior sets full of real furniture and onto the upheavals of the 20th century. The comings and goings of stage and action in front of the proscenium arch. The vagaries of costume: was it meant to be a bit of fun, a reconstruction of something past or a commentary on the wearer?

All conveniently arranged in fifteen mostly quite short chapters, as summarised in the snap above. With, given the date of the book, lots of black and white illustrations, mostly photographs of sketches and paintings of costumes, sets and productions. The originals of a lot of them, reasonably enough, being held by the V&A, as at reference 5.

I do not offer a view, but I do offer a few snippets.

Early on in the book Laver offers a theatrical trajectory through seven (always a popular number for this sort of thing) stages, starting and ending with drama as magic. And he covers himself with a pre-emptive, pejorative remark about something called Fourierism, which on investigation (at reference 7) turns out to be nothing to do with Fourier analysis, rather a different Frenchman altogether who believed in society evolving in a regular way through 32 stages, starting in the Garden of Eden – which is now a bit out of date in so far as the Garden of Eden was in what is now Iraq, whereas most scholars now think that we came out of Africa.

The medieval mass might well have been dramatic. But it was not drama as there was no impersonation, an essential ingredient. But this was to be found in the mystery plays, sometimes acted out inside churches.

The medical and dental charlatans of fairs are also offered as one of the streams that fed into the river of theatre. With my copy of his illustration turned up on some website selling art.

With Bing turning up another scene of the same sort. Having a dentist father, who came on-stream not that long after dentists were first required to be qualified and registered, I always take an interest in this sort of thing. From where I associate to the yarn that in rustic England, such operations were always carried out next to the stage where the band was to be found, so that the screams would not disturb family outings.

Also to the noisy salesmen you still get in open air markets, who also put on a kind of show to draw in their clients. Here in Epsom, we had Dave of Dave’s Discounts, whose large stall of household goods was a feature of the twice weekly market for many years. And we still have the butcher selling meat with patter from the back of his converted lorry. And patter used to be part of the offering from the butcher in Manor Green Road, although in that case BH was put off, rather than attracted. And then there is the rather elementary patter of Bingo callers in Bingo halls and disc jockeys in clubs and on radios.

Painting the scenery, in particular the backdrop, was very important. So important that some scenery painters thought the best thing to do would be to get rid of the play and concentrate on what was important. Some of them were successful, but only for a while. A diversion for a season.

Perspective staging was targeted at what is now the middle of the fifth row of the stalls – where the throne for the presiding monarch would have been set up. That is to say, a perspective scene has a point of view as well as a vanishing point.

It seems that in the eighteenth century at least, the English custom was number every change of scene, while the French custom was to number every major entrance. Did this reflect a different focus of attention?

The tension between the audience love of elaborate scenery, the cost of such scenery – perhaps only used for one production – and the time it took to change the scenery between sets. With the expensive trick of a revolving stage not being a solution to this last problem which fitted many productions.

And at some point, in English theatres, the stalls audience was so badly behaved that management installed spikes along the front of the stage to stop members of the audience climbing onto it. A snippet which might have come from reference 4, strong on popular aspects of theatre history.

Gordon Craig of reference 9 gets quite a few mentions.

Ernst Toller of reference 8 does not make it to the index, but he does make it to the illustrations, with illustration 211 being a setting for his ‘Masse Mensch’, possibly that used in a 1924 production. While the snap above, lifted from reference 11, is ‘Masse Mensch-actor Jacob Ben-Ami’ (1924) by Eugene Camille Fitsch.

All in all, a good read. I shall knock off reference 4, recently unearthed from a bookcase, then reference 5, then I shall have another go at it.

PS 1: perhaps there is room for a new edition, with new illustrations. The full Thames & Hudson treatment?

PS 2: the paper weight in the snap above is the handle of a pair of dental forceps, bought from a junk shop somewhere in Brighton. A purchase first noticed at reference 6. Forceps which I use as precision pliers, but which my dentist told me were actually intended for the removal of childish incisors.

References

Reference 1: Drama: its Costume and Décor – James Laver – 1951. 

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/nymph-errant.html. Notice of another book by Laver.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/02/getting-rich-quick.html. A passing mention.

Reference 4: A theatre for everybody – E J Dent – 1945. More a history of Sadler’s Wells and the Old Vic than a general history – but the opening chapter give a rather different view of the history of theatre in England in the nineteenth century.

Reference 5: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/theatre-performance. ‘The theatre & performance collections are an incredible resource that document current practice and the history of all areas of performing arts in the UK, including drama, dance, opera, circus, puppetry, comedy, musical theatre, costume, set design, pantomime, popular music and much more. The collection was founded in the 1920s when a private collector, Gabrielle Enthoven, donated her extensive collection of theatrical designs, memorabilia, books and photographs to the Museum. Since then the collection has continued to grow to include significant objects and works of art; books, manuscripts, audio-visual recordings and ephemerality; and the archives of performing arts companies, performers, directors, stage designers and private collectors’.

Reference 6: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2011/08/whole-new-minor-fad.html. 

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourierism. 

Reference 8: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/12/ernst.html.   

Reference 9: Woodcuts and some words – Edward Gordon Craig – 1924. My own copy, dating from the same year, including what appears to be a contemporary clipping of a short but kind review from the Observer.

Reference 10: Some Pictorial Aspects of Early Mountebank Stages – John H. McDowell – 1946.

Reference 11: http://eugenefitsch.missouri.edu/Masse%20Mensch.html.