To
LIONEL S. MARKS
MEMORIAL THEATRE, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
Tuesday Evening, July 26th, 1910
FIRST PERFORMANCE
OF
The Piper
( The Prize Play )
BY JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY
Produced by MR. and MRS. F. R. BENSON and THEIR SHAKESPEAREAN COMPANY Including Miss MARION TERRY
Scenery by Messrs. Joseph and Phil Harker
Music specially composed by Mr. Christopher Wilson
THE NEW THEATRE, NEW YORK
Monday Evening, January 30th, 1911
FIRST PERFORMANCE IN AMERICA
OF
The Piper
BY JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY
Produced by Mr. George Foster Platt
Scenery and costumes under the direction of Mr. E. Hamilton Bell
One week is supposed to elapse between Acts I and II .
Acts II and III occupy one day .
Act IV concerns the following morning .
SCENE. — The market-place of Hamelin. Right, the Minster, with an open shrine ( right centre ) containing a large sculptured figure of the Christ. Right, farther front, the house of KURT; and other narrow house-fronts. Left, the Rathaus, and ( down ) the home of JACOBUS. Front, to left and right, are cornerhouses with projecting stories and casement windows. At the centre rear, a narrow street leads away between houses whose gables all but meet overhead .
It is late summer afternoon, with a holiday crowd. In the open casements, front ( right and left, opposite each other ), sit OLD URSULA and OLD CLAUS, looking on at men and things. In the centre of the place now stands a rude wooden Ark with a tented top : and out of the openings ( right and left ) appear the artificial heads of animals, worn by the players inside. One is a Bear ( inhabited by MICHAEL-THE-SWORD-EATER); one is a large Reynard-the-Fox, later apparent as the PIPER. Close by is the medioeval piece of stage-property known as 'Hell-Mouth' , i.e. a red painted cave with a jaw-like opening, into which a mountebank dressed in scarlet (CHEAT-THE-DEVIL) is poking 'Lost Souls' with a pitchfork .
BARBARA loiters by the tent . VERONIKA, the sad young wife of KURT, watches from the house steps, left, keeping her little lame boy, Jan, close beside her .
Shouts of delight greet the end of the show, — a Noah's Ark miracle-play of the rudest; and the Children continue to scream with joy whenever an Animal looks out of the Ark .
Men and women pay scant attention either to JACOBUS, when he speaks ( himself none too sober ) — from his doorstep, prompted by the frowning KURT, — or yet to ANSELM, the priest, who stands forth with lifted hands, at the close of the miracle-play .
Beckoning others, he and KURT go into the Rathaus, followed by all the men. Exit ANSELM with the Holy Book into the Minster. — The children play Mouse, to and fro, round about the PIPER. — The women, some of them, spin on the doorsteps, with little hand distaffs, or stand about, gossiping .
The PIPER wipes his forehead and goes up slowly ( centre ) to drink from the fountain at the foot of the Shrine . — MICHAEL, like one in a dream, comes down towards BARBARA, who gazes back at him, fascinated, through her laughter
Others laugh too, pass by, with pity and derision for the PIPER, and echoes of "Masterless Dog!" Exeunt WOMEN and MEN to the Minster .
Only the children are left, dancing round the motionless figure of the PIPER]
The children stop first, and look at him, fascinated; then they laugh, drowsily, and creep closer , — JAN always near. They crowd around him. He pipes louder, moving backwards, slowly with magical gestures, towards the little by-streets and the closed doors. The doors open, everywhere .
Out come the children: little ones in nightgowns; bigger ones, with playthings, toy animals, dolls. He pipes, gayer and louder. They pour in, right and left. Motion and music fill the air. The PIPER lifts JAN to his shoulder ( dropping the little crutch ) and marches off, up the street at the rear, piping, in the midst of them all .
Last, out of the Minster come tumbling two little acolytes in red, and after them , PETER the Sacristan. He trips over them in his amazement and terror; and they are gone after the vanishing children before the church-people come out .
The old folks lean from their windows
A great, dim-lighted, cavernous place, which shows signs of masonry. It is part cavern and part cellerage of a ruined, burned-down and forgotten old monastery in the hills. — The only entrance ( at the centre rear ), a ramshackle wooden door, closes against a flight of rocky steps. — Light comes from an opening in the roof, and from the right, where a faggot-fire glows under an iron pot. — The scene reaches ( right and left ) into dim corners, where sleeping children lie curled up together like kittens .
By the fire sits the PIPER, on a tree-stump seat, stitching at a bit of red leather. At his feet is a row of bright-colored small shoes, set two and two. He looks up now and then, to recount the children, and goes back to work, with quizzical despair .
Left, sits a group of three forlorn STROLLERS. One nurses a lame knee; one, evidently dumb, talks in signs to the others; one is munching bread and cheese out of a wallet. All have the look of hunted and hungry men. They speak only in whispers to each other throughout the scene; but their hoarse laughter breaks out now and then over the bird-like ignorance of the children .
A shaft of sunlight steals through the hole in the roof . JAN, who lies nearest the PIPER, wakes up .
A wooded country: high hills at back. The place is wild and overgrown, like the haunted spot it is reputed to be. In the foreground, right, a ruined stone well appears, in a mass of weeds and vines. Opposite, left, tall trees and dense thickets. Where the roads cross ( to left of centre ), stands a large, neglected shrine, with a weather-worn figure of Christ, — again the "Lonely Man," — facing toward Hamelin. — The stage is empty, at rise of the curtain; but the sound of chanting from burghers just gone by fades slowly, on the road to Rudersheim .
From the hillside at the rear comes the PIPER, wrapped in a long green cloak, his pipe in his hand. He looks after the procession, and back to Hamelin. — Enter, springing from the bushes to the right , MICHAEL, who seizes him. Their speech goes breathlessly .
[MICHAEL climbs down the ancient well, reaching his head up warily, to see .
The PIPER waves to him debonairly, points to the tree-tops, left, and stands a moment showing in his face his disapproval of the music. He fingers his pipe. As the hymn draws near, he scrambles among the bushes, left, and disappears .
Enter slowly, chanting, the company of burghers from Hamelin, — men together first, headed by priests; then the women . — ANSELM and all the townsfolk appear ( saving VERONIKA, the wife of KURT); JACOBUS is meek; KURT very stern. — As they appear, the piping of the Dance-spell begins softly, high in air. The hymn wavers; when the first burghers reach the centre of the stage, it breaks down .
They look up, bewildered; then, with every sign of consternation, struggle, and vacant fear, they begin to dance, willy-nilly. Their faces work; they struggle to walk on; but it is useless. The music whirls them irresistibly into a rhythmic pace of ¾ time, and jogs their wards, when they try to speak, into the same dance-measure. One by one, — two and two they go, — round and round like corks at first, with every sign of struggle and protest, then off, on the long road to Rudersheim. Fat priests waltz together . — KURT the fierce and JACOBUS the sleek hug each other in frantic endeavor to be released. Their words jolt insanely
[BARBARA appears, pale and beautiful; — richly dressed in while, with flouring locks. She is wan and exhausted. — The dance-mania, as it seizes her, makes her circle slowly and dazedly with a certain pitiful silliness. The nuns and monks accompanying her point in horror. But they, too, dance off with each other, willy-nilly, — like leaves in a tempest . BARBARA is left alone, still circling slowly. The piping sounds softer. She staggers against a tree, and keeps on waving her hands and turning her head, vaguely, in time .
MICHAEL looks forth from the well; then climbs out and approaches her
SCENE. — The same, later . BARBARA lies motionless, still sleeping . — MICHAEL, sitting on the bank opposite, fingers the pipe with awe and wistfulness. He blows softly upon it; then looks at the girl hopefully. She does not stir .
Enter the PIPER, from the hills at back. He carries a pair of water-jars slung over his shoulders, and seems to be in high feather
The herd-bell sounds nearer. He lets down a water-jar into the well again. The nearness of the bell startles him. He becomes watchful as a wild creature It sounds nearer and nearer. A woman's voice calls like the wind: "Jan! Jan!" —
The PIPER, tense and cautious, moves softly down into the shrubbery by the well
SCENE. — Hamelin market-place.
It is early morning; so dark that only a bleak twilight glimmers in the square; the little streets are dim. Everywhere gloom and stillness. In the house of KURT, beside the Minster, there in one window-light behind a curtain in the second story. At the casements, down right and left, sit OLD CLAUS and OLD URSULA, wan and motionless as the dead .
The church-bell, which likewise seems to have aged, croaks softly, twice . PETER the Sacristan stands by the bell-rope .
Enter, at the rear, with a straggling crowd , BARBARA and MICHAEL, both radiant and resolute. She wears the long green cloak over her bridal array .
JACOBUS appears in his doorway, night-capped and fur-gowned, shrinking from the hostile crowd. The people murmur
Their cries turn into an uproar of rage and desperation. They surge and fall back between fury and fear . HANS the Butcher, broken with hope, cries , "Loose him! Let him speak!" — The PIPER shakes himself free . —
He sees BARBARA and MICHAEL for the first time and recoils with amazement . BARBARA steps towards him. — It is to be understood in the following pages, where the crowd speaks, that only a general consensus of meaning comes out of the uproar
The casement of the lighted window opens wide and slowly. — Re-enter the PIPER with JAN in his arms. The little boy holds the Pipe, and smiles about with tranquil happiness. The PIPER, radiant with joy, lifts him high, looking toward VERONIKA'S window. — The awe-struck people point to the open casement .
VERONIKA'S two white hands reach out; then she herself appears, pale, shining with ecstasy
Some rush out madly; others go into their houses for lights; some are left on their knees, weeping for joy .
The PIPER sounds a few notes; then lifts his hand and listens, smiling. — Uproar in the distance. — A great barking of dogs; — shouts and cheers; then the high, sweet voices of the CHILDREN.
The piping is drowned in cries of joy. The sun comes out, still rosy, in a flood of light. The crowd rushes in. Fat burghers hug each other, and laugh and cry. They are all younger. Their faces bloom, as by a miracle .
The CHILDREN pour in. Some are carried, some run hand-in-hand. Everywhere women embrace their own . — KURT has his sons . — CHEAT-THE-DEVIL comes, with a daisy-chain around his neck, all smiles .
An uproar of light and faces