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The country itself is permanent-for the season. Houses and stations can also be made to stand the weather. But railway lines, trains, boats, and the inhabitants should be put away in a shed for the night.

A Playtown of course demands a certain amount of attention. You cannot keep the little country in trim if you bestow no more care on it than you would upon nursery floor-games. But there is no reason why a man or a boy should not spend as much care and attention upon such a thing as this as he would upon his garden. During the summer term I was accustomed to give ten or twelve hours a week myself to working at Playtown, though this of course included building new features and repairing old ones, as well as tending the place in a general way.

Needless to say we do not anticipate that there will ever be many Playtowns. But those few players who like the idea may be glad of the above hints.

The Play Way, let it be said again, is not the easy way. You cannot just throw a few materials to the boys and leave them to amuse themselves. They will find enough sheer amusement in their own free time; but where a teacher takes part, the play should be something of pith and substance. There is more hard work, even actual labour, attached to the Play Way schemes than there is in classroom "work." work." And the driving power, which enables both the boys and the masters to undertake the arduous duties which are always part and parcel of real play, is interest. If it chance that you are so made that you could never take an active interest in Playtown, then of course you will leave it alone and try something else. But if any one fancies that grown-up people (grave and reverend signiors as we all fancy we are) cannot be thoroughly enchanted with such toys as clockwork boats and trains, then he is blind. Men and women do not play with toys, simply because they are too busy or because toys are not at hand. But while Playtown has been available many grown men and several women have spent hours playing there. And on more than one occasion, when the Littlemen had all gone home to bed, three or four staid and responsible adults have left care behind them in the house, and come out with me after dinner to sail the boats and

to run the trains. When it grew too dark to see any longer we did not go in, but brought out lighted candles and still pursued the game. Sometimes we have played away the length of two . whole candles after dark.

"But what has all this to do with education?" you may ask. Yes, you may well ask; but, like Shylock, "I'll not answer that!"

CHAPTER VII

ACTING SHAKESPEARE IN THE CLASSROOM *

Within this wooden O.

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Henry V "

A TEACHER Who is desirous of adopting play-methods with his boys in connexion with at least some of their lessons will perhaps at first find some difficulty in devising schemes of play. It is too much to expect that the boys or the master should start suddenly from their desks and say, "Go to, we will now study in the Play Way." For the teacher of English the easiest way of making a start is obviously to let the boys act some story or portion of a book which they are reading. It is of course out of the question for any one to sit down and write a dramatic version of the story. The thing must be acted extempore in the classroom. But unless you happen to have a special knack of casting stories into dramatic form you may find yourself in difficulties at the very start. And it is very disheartening to the boys if their experiments keep falling through, and the play of which so much was expected turns out a failure.

We early formed a habit of dramatizing almost everything we read. But at first I used to give the boys suggestions of a scheme of action. This was a very simple aid, but without it the boys never would have found the acting successful.

What is meant by planning the play will be seen best in an actual illustration. In dramatizing the story of Beowulf, the

* This chapter should have been on "Acting in the Classroom," but in writing it I found that apart from matters in connexion with Shakespeare, there was very little of importance to say, which is not dealt with in the chapters on Miming" and on 'Playmaking." After all, if you can act Shakespeare you can act anything, and if you cannot act even Shakespeare you might as well sit down again.

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boys would be quite likely to begin with the coming of Beowulf to the land of Hrothgar. But as Beowulf is coming to help Hrothgar against the demon Grendel, who has been carrying off his men, it is obvious that earlier scenes must show Hrothgar in his difficulty. Accordingly one would take as the first scene the building of the hall Heorot, and the holding of a beerdrinking there as a celebration. The building of the hall presents no difficulties in the classroom, as it may be thought, although it is best (if you have to avoid making a noise, out of consideration for the neighbouring classes) to repair to the gymnasium or some empty place afar off. Of course you do not dwell in the hall you build! We simply stood a few benches on end to represent the trees of the forest. Then the king entered and, after announcing in a fine speech his intention of building a great hall, directed his men to hew down the trees. This they soon accomplished, and then two men to each log bore away the timber, chanting a song as they went. If you wish to show the actual building operations they are easily represented by going through the motions of sawing, planing, and so on, but as there is but small opportunity for anything of purpose to be said at this point it is best to set your second scene as the interior of the finished hall. But note, in passing, that when your playboys become expert in acting and playmaking they will, at such a juncture as this, interpolate a comic scene in which the builders rag one another and make comments upon life in general. This interpolated comic scene is of course borrowed from Shakespeare as instanced in the porter in "Macbeth," and the grave-digger in "Hamlet." But the tradition goes back to the Miracle Plays, and further.

During this second scene Hrothgar, the king, makes a great speech, inaugurating the hall and foretelling many a feast therein and the prospect of long and happy days. Then the minstrel comes forward and chants a lay* in praise of Hrothgar

* As all this actually took place it is possible to state that a boy can chant an extempore lay. Beowulf was dramatized in the first instance by Form IIb (average age about 12). No book was used. The story was told by the master, first as a whole and then in the sections as required in detail for each scene. Certain simple elements of the style, such as alliteration, were explained. And for the purposes of the lay balance of phrasing was also mentioned. This and other chants

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