Dramatic Technique Part 72

_Comes there to listen to his tale one Doctor Lucius O'Grady, whose nose can no more keep out of other people's business than can his busy brain refrain from all manner of schemings or his tongue from uttering the grandest, gloriousest, whooping lies that the mouth of man e'er uttered._

_To the American tourist he unreels anecdote and episode dealing with the romantic life of the great General while he had been yet a boy in Ballymoy. He sends Golligher, the editor of the Connaught Eagle, to show the American gentleman the birthplace of the General, a broken down cow-shed, in a nearby field._

_The American leaves Ballymoy wildly excited and fermenting under the constant nagging of the doctor's busy self and never resting tongue, and promises that he will be back in a few days, and that in the meantime, should the citizens of Ballymoy have enough patriotism in them to erect a statue of their great townie in the market place, he would contribute a hundred pounds towards it._

_This sets the Doctor at work with even more (if possible) vim. He gets Doyle to promise to contribute ten pounds, the parish priest_ _(though it nearly breaks the good father's heart) ten also, Major Kent, the local landlord, another ten, and keeps the list himself--explaining that it is not necessary for him to put himself down for anything for that reason._

_It develops that Doyle has a nephew in Dublin who is a mortuary sculptor, and has a statue of some deceased citizen on hand which was never paid for. This statue Doyle's nephew agrees to sell to Ballymoy for some eighty-odd pounds. The Doctor arranges to buy it, thus figuring that there will be a balance of twenty pounds out of the American's contribution to divide among themselves. This pleases Doyle, Father McCormack, and Golligher_ (_who form the statue committee_) _very much; but unfortunately, it develops also that Doyle has neglected to get the money from the American for the statue before he left._

_This does not stump the Doctor in the least, however. Among his plans for the unveiling of the statue is the appearance of Mary Ellen, the servant in Doyle's hotel, as a green fairy, and the appearance of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to make a speech. He suggests that when the Lord Lieutenant appears, they ask him for five hundred pounds for a pier--as the town already has but five or six piers--and that the money for the statue be taken out of that. The Major objects to this, but the Doctor's ability to explain does not desert him, and the Major is satisfied._

_The great day of the unveiling finally arrives. The statue from the mortuary sculptor in Dublin is standing in the market place, with a veil over it. A letter comes from the Lord Lieutenant to the effect that he has never heard of General John Regan, can find no record of him in any history of any country on the globe, and, in the person of his aide de camp, Lord Al Blakeney, protests and accuses Ballymoy of having put a hoax over on him and all that sort of bally rot, by Jove._

_The Doctor rises to the occasion beautifully. The aide de camp is made to make a speech as a representative of the Lord Lieutenant, and Mary Ellen unveils the statue, disclosing a hideous caricature of a grinning dead man in an ill-fitting business suit._

_At that moment the American appears, explains grandly that there is no such man as General John Regan, and says that if the Doctor can prove to him that the General is not a fiction he himself will give the five hundred pounds for the pier--as, he says, "the show is worth it!"_

_The Doctor merely asks the American to prove to the satisfaction of the a.s.sembled townsfolk that the General does not exist_.

_Billing gives it up and writes out a check to the Doctor's order for five hundred pounds, while the Doctor poses grandly before the cheers of the a.s.sembled and admiring populace of Ballymoy._[2]

Here, too, is an outline which led to a very dramatic sermon. Obviously it is a satisfactory summary of the story underlying the sermon, but just what it would give a reader, if it were a perfect scenario, is lacking--namely, suggestion of the emotional treatment of the scenes which is to make them worth the manager's or actor's producing:

AT THE TOP OF THE TENEMENT

_The arrangement of the platform will suggest the bare condition of the home in the first part of the sermon, and in the second part will show the improved condition a year later._

PART I

_Dan Howard comes home discouraged. He cannot get work. Christmas is approaching. His wife keeps his courage up and that of the family. The Minister calls and is not received kindly by Dan Howard, who does not believe in the church. He promises to get Dan work and thus proves himself a true friend in need. Misfortune has come to the home. The oldest boy is drinking and the next son has been arrested for theft.

Things looks very black. It is Christmas eve and the father compels the children to go to bed. He tells them Santa Claus will not come to-night. But they hang up their stockings by the fireplace._

PART II

_A year later. Things have changed. The home is better. All are happy tonight. The father has had steady work and so they are to have a good Christmas this year. The boys are doing well. The family all go to church now and it has made a difference in them all. The children have gone to bed with joy tonight. Dan Howard tells his wife what a help she has been to him through thick and thin. While they stand talking they hear the carol singers from the church, singing outside their home. The Minister comes in and is made very welcome. While they exchange greetings the Christmas Carol is sung and the beautiful illuminated star s.h.i.+nes out in the night._

The following may be full of dramatic suggestion for its writer, but if we mean by scenario a doc.u.ment which, when handed to a manager or actor, is to arouse his enthusiasm because it tells him interestingly just what a proposed play will do, this is not a scenario at all.

THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE: A NIGHTMARE

[Diagram of stage]

_Dramatis Personae_

_Sylvia Macshane, the actress._ _Norman Pritchard, the manager._ _Laddie Benton, the poet._ _The Imp_, sentinel at Ventilator X-10, h.e.l.l.

SCENE: _Room in a well-furnished apartment, New York City. Large round-topped window back right, matched by large semicircular mirror over fireplace back left. Mirror s.p.a.ce later serves as Ventilator X-10._

SCENARIO

_I. Curtain rises on crimson sunset in room of apartment.

Actress and Manager in jealous love scene.

Enter the bone of contention--the Poet.

Quarrel scene--Poet crushed.

By accident Actress drinks Poet's suicide potion.

Poet strangles Manager, Actress smashes chair on Poet.

The lamp is knocked over.

Black darkness accompanied by shrieks._

_II. In red glow of semi-circular opening appear Imp and two mutes.

Humorous talk of their job, guarding this ventilator of h.e.l.l.

The Poet's face appears, followed by Manager's and Actress'.

Both Heaven and h.e.l.l have refused them admission.

Explanations by Imp--they are not truly dead.

Renewed quarrels--Actress shows she loves neither one.

She returns to earth.

They pursue her.

Imp is ordered to close ventilator.

Black darkness again._

_III. Moonlight in the apartment.

Actress, Poet, and Manager where they fell on the floor.

They arouse--each believes the others ghosts.

Explanations--light;--the men's quarrel renewed and dropped forever.

Poet and Manager plan to make a play of the nightmare.

Actress is wildly jealous of their new-found friends.h.i.+p.

She cajoles each--then quarrels ferociously with each.

They are proof against her and prepare to go.

She demands a part in the play, gets it, and stamps off to her room.

Poet and Manager depart cheerily planning._

Obviously _General John Regan_ is offered not as a scenario, but a summary. All the other so-called "scenarios" are planned only to suggest to the writer or somebody fully acquainted with the content of his mind on the subject what, in broadest terms, may be done with the material.

They are all too broadly referential, too vague, to be of real use to a manager or actor looking for a play to produce.

What, then, is the work a real scenario should do? It must show clearly just what is the story, slight or complicated, which the play is to present. It must make the reader understand who the people of the play are, their relations to one another, and anything in their past or present history which he must know if the play at the outset or in its course is to produce upon him the effect desired by the writer. It must tell him where the play takes place--that is, what the settings are, and in such a way as to create atmosphere if anything more than a mere suggestion of background is desirable. It must let the reader see into how many acts the play will break up, and into what scenes if there be more than one setting to an act. Above all, it must make perfectly clear what is the nature of the play--comedy, tragedy, tragi-comedy, farce, or melodrama, and whether it merely tells a story, is a character study, a play of ideas, a problem play, or a fantasy. Proportioning and emphasis as already explained in chapters V and VI will, if rightly understood, bring out correctly in a scenario all these matters of form and purpose.

A good scenario begins with a list of the _dramatis personae_, that is, a statement of the names and, broadly, the relations of the characters to one another. If the ages are important, they may be given. Without a list of _dramatis personae_ a reader must go far into the scenario before he can decide who the people are and what are their relations to one another. As the following scenario shows, he may easily guess wrong and is sure to be uncertain:

SCENARIO. _As the curtain rises Nat is seated at the right of centre table, planning an attack upon a fort of blocks with an army of wooden soldiers. A drum lies on the floor beside him. Enter Benny, a bag over his shoulder. They salute each other and throughout use frequent military terms in their talk. Benny has just returned from the village and he gives an account of his trip and his purchases. Mention is made of the probable war with Spain. Benny then surprises Nat with a letter from Harold, which proves to contain an announcement that war has been declared and that Harold has enlisted. The two are proud and delighted at the thought of their hero. They recall his former discontent on the farm, the day of his departure to seek his fortune in the city, his statement that he was "no soldier"--now so gloriously disproved.

Harold enters in the midst of their preparations for dinner. He is gaunt and shabby and has a nervous hunted air. He receives their plaudits sullenly. He explains that he is away on a week's furlough and answers their questions concerning the regiment and his plans with nervous impatience...._

In this next so-called scenario who is Professor Ward? What is his relation to Phronie? What is her age? What is the age of Keith Sanford and what are the relations of each of these to Professor Ward himself? A good list of _dramatis personae_ would clear all this at once.

THE EYES OF THE BLIND

ACT I