WHAT THE CHILDREN'S THEATRE HAS TAUGHT ME .sx The Theatre the Best School .sx - The Plays Children Like .sx - Is Scenery Necessary ?sx By JOAN LUXTON , late Lessee and Manager of the Children's Theatre .sx The sense of drama is one of the earliest senses developed in a child .sx The baby who laughs when his nurse balances his tiny cap on her head shows the first signs of this love of impersonation .sx As soon as words come a child loves a story - sure proof that the dramatic sense is well alive .sx A child's stories are almost invariably told by a loved person , probably the mother .sx Does the child confuse love of the story with love of the narrator or actor - do we see here one of those subconscious reasons for the adulation in later years of the actor ?sx These early instincts die hard .sx BORN ACTORS OF THE NURSERY .sx Then as soon as the child is capable of consecutive thought and conscious and physical control , he starts being a little actor himself .sx A healthy child cannot help being a little actor , it is an impulse as any merely physical one .sx So the child will have its drama .sx But is self-made drama sufficient ?sx Certainly for the first two or three years , till the eye and ear is able to record all that goes on around without conscious effort .sx After that opinions differ .sx Some would leave the child to work out its dramatic instincts alone , others would develop that instinct by stimulation .sx But both schools of thought agree on one thing , adult drama is too strong food for the juvenile mind .sx It leads to confusion of thinking , and sometimes checks imagination by over-straining it .sx So to meet the case we have the children's play .sx THE PLAYS CHILDREN LIKE .sx Children's plays are naturally based on what the normal child unconsciously dramatises in his games .sx Both boys and girls base their play on three things - home and school life , or the actual fairy tales and fantasies , which are their representation of the ideal , and adventure .sx So we observe their play consists of realism , idealism and a midday world of adventure which combines something of each .sx Of these three classes the idealistic , or fantasy play , is chiefly represented on the children's stage .sx This is both natural and healthy .sx Adults do not go to a theatre to see life , they go to get away from it .sx That is why realism , though it has its votaries , always succumbs in the end to idealism .sx ITCHING TO TAKE PART .sx Fairy stories always excite a child ; a true representation of life in an ordinary school might bore him .sx Although children are always re-acting their every day life themselves , it is the personal action that makes it interesting .sx To see their ordinary life portrayed on the stage would make them impatient , for they would be wanting to take their part .sx The same thing applies to a certain extent to the adventure play , unless it is linked , as it usually is , with fantasy .sx In that case the child is well content with the role of onlooker .sx As one would expect , the play with a plot is popular with children , and the reason is fairly obvious .sx Even though the child's eye is interested , the brain seldom fails to register and retain the necessary connecting links .sx But it is evident that the plot should be clear , and above all , consistent .sx THE RIGHT LENGTH .sx It has been suggested that a skeleton plot , told in simple words before the play began , might interest children .sx But the obvious objection arises that this would spoil the story for the child whose chief pleasure is intellectual rather than artistic , and who enjoys watching the plot unfold itself .sx The consideration of a play with a plot leads one to wonder if the average child's play is too long .sx If the small brain cannot carry on the sequence of the story without effort it would almost seem that the play is over-long .sx But so many children's plays are purely spectacular , new interest is aroused for the eye from moment to moment , and so long as the physical strain is not too great , perhaps length does not matter much , though there is always a danger in over-stimulation .sx IS SCENERY NECESSARY ?sx All will agree that to portray ugliness , the tawdry or anything in bad taste before children is disastrous .sx Realism is most certainly not for the young .sx We all want children to see , and to expect to see , the beautiful .sx Yet the desire to portray the beautiful inevitably has its dangers .sx We must not fail to give the child's imagination room to play .sx A bright child is quite able to create its own mental stage furniture .sx Given bright stage lighting , and the barest suggestion of luxury , and any child will create a mental palace for himself .sx Some people would leave him to it , in the belief that self-created beauty is always more satisfactory than the manufactured article .sx STAGE DISTRACTIONS .sx But there is another school who cannot have the scene of a children's play laid too elaborately and beautifully .sx Their theory is that this will develop the latent artistic and sensuous side of the child's nature .sx Do stage properties restrict or stimulate the imagination ?sx The point has been debated since the first days of conscious drama .sx Does a child appreciate music as an accompaniment to action or is it a distraction , and sometimes even an irritant ?sx All depends on the individual child .sx So long as accompanying music is in harmony with the play and not too obtrusive , most children enjoy it ; very few find it distracting ; and the rest , with childhood's gift or concentration , never hear it at all .sx SPRINKLE WITH GROWN-UPS .sx A certain proportion of adults must be always present at children's plays , and they are welcomed by the management .sx An adult audience tends to tone things up .sx Children follow the lead of the grown-ups , and if they are amused the children will feel they have a right to indulge in their own enthusiasm .sx A child's writer who appeals to adults is quite sure of his child audience .sx Lewis Carroll is a case in point , with his wonderful hold of both old and young .sx And a play that bridges the gulf between the generations must have in it something of true greatness .sx AN EVENING SCHOOL ENGLISH COURSE .sx By W. P. LITTLE , English Master at Pound Lane Evening Institute , Willesden .sx THE SYLLABUS APPEARED ON SEPTEMBER 2 AND 9 .sx GENERAL NOTES ON PLANNING OF COURSE .sx Most evening school classes meet on three evenings per week , for two hours per evening .sx There are thus six one-hour lesson periods available , and in an ordinary commercial course two of these will usually be allotted to English .sx It is an advantage if they are taken on different evenings , and still more so if one of them is a -hour period ( 7.30-8.30 p.m. ) and the other a second-hour period ( 8.30-9.30 ) .sx Where this has been arranged for , the work may be planned as follows :sx - Take all the oral work , language study and vocabulary work , and the written work in the first-hour periods .sx Take a play and a book ( all reading and quiet study work in general ) in the second-hour periods .sx The reasons for this are :sx - There are usually more students present for the second hour than for the first ( particularly round about Christmas , when quite a number of students have to work later ) but they are often more tired , and less inclined to do much written work .sx Moreover , by this means , the larger number of them will at least have covered the book work for the session .sx Where the above arrangement has not been made , and the class has the same hour on both evenings , devote one to written work and the other to book work .sx DETAILS OF WORK .sx Assuming that a class meets on Mondays for the first-hour period ( 7.30-8.30 ) and on Fridays for the second-hour period ( 8.30-9.30 ) the work for the session is arranged as follows :sx - First Monday in each Month .sx LITERATURE .sx The study of some well-known author or poet ( for one of a series or group ) some class reading and discussion of his better-known works , and notes on them .sx Where any of the students will be entered for an examination the syllabus of which indicates certain authors by name , this is the opportunity for " covering " them .sx Second Monday in each Month .sx ORAL WORK .sx To take , in succession , each of the following .sx ( a ) Questions and Answers .sx For this , write or type on slips of paper short questions of the general knowledge or everyday information kind , choosing such as are suitable to the nature , and capacity of the class .sx Some should be well-known facts , and others less known but equally of general interest .sx Give these papers out , and allow , say , ten minutes for their perusal .sx The students may write their answers out in full , or merely jot down notes .sx Whilst this is being done , write the names of those present on pieces of paper and shake them up in a hat .sx Pick one out .sx The student thus " called " stands up and reads his ( or her ) question , and then gives the answer to it .sx If the question has been fully answered , pass on to another .sx If not , see what the rest of the class can supply , and , if need be , help them out , but do not allow any question to become laboured .sx Pass on before the interest flags .sx In this way , deal with as many as time permits .sx ( b ) Ten Minute Talks .sx The students should be informed a week or so before that they will be asked to " mention " any topic or item of interest that they have seen in their papers or magazines , or have heard of or talked about during the course of the week .sx Here again they should be given a few minutes to ponder their subject , and then be called upon individually to state the nature of the topic , their own opinions upon it , or queries about it .sx Differences of opinion and answers to queries may be asked for from the rest , but each student should be encouraged to deal as fully as possible with his ( or her ) own subject .sx Generally , about five topics can be dealt with in this way in an hour , and it rests with the master either to deal with the four or five he happens to call upon , or to run quickly round the class hearing all the topics first , and then to choose the most suitable or most popular .sx ( c ) Lecturettes or Papers .sx By the time this form of oral work comes up on the programme , the master should have been able to ascertain and note down any student who has a really " live " hobby , or a " special interest " outside school or business .sx Two ( or three ) of these should be approached at least a fortnight before the date with the suggestion that they should prepare a short " paper " about their particular interest , to give ( or read ) to the class .sx The master should urge them to " rough out " their talk as soon as possible , and bring it along to him .sx He can then run it through with them , note the ground covered , any fallacies in the line of thought , or difficulties in the matter of expression , and at the same time by tactful suggestions and a little encouragement , he can inspire the extra confidence that will make the lecturette a success .sx The writer has found that when students are thus " prepared , " they can usually deliver their lecturette without actually reading their notes .sx ( d ) Class Debates .sx Debates are , of course , one of the best forms of practice in self-expression , and if the subject is well chosen and sufficiently prepared , there is usually no difficulty .sx But the choice of a subject is not always easy .sx The writer once set three or four controversial topics for essay writing a month or so before the debate .sx He noted the best efforts , and chose from these two papers that were obviously " pro " the subject , and two others that were equally " con. " .sx He called up these four students in pairs , and urged them to expand and develop their essays as much as possible , and bring them again .sx