DELTA UPSILON PLAY CHOSEN

The Harvard Chapter of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity has decided to present this year for its fourteenth annual dramatic revival, the earliest Elizabethan play extant, "Ralph Roister Doister", by Nicholas Udall. This comedy has been successfully revived by various college dramatic clubs in recent years and has been selected for the present revival because of its significance in the history of drama and for its excellent staging qualities.

History of Play.

The play was probably written between 1534 and 1541 when Udall was headmaster of Eton School, the play having been performed by the Eton boys at that time. It is unlikely that the play was written after 1541, as Udall was dismissed from Eton soon afterwards charged with stealing the silver images from the college chapel. The play is supposed to have been lost from 1566 for a period of about two hundred and fifty years, so that not until 1818 was a copy extant and the play again produced. Since that date it has been revived with greater frequency than is usual for Elizabethan plays.

"Ralph Roister Doister" marks the combination of classical and native elements in the English drama. The play follows the "Miles Gloriosus", of Plautus, but interprets the characters in the vein of Elizabethan comedy. The plot of the story centres about a town gallant who is made to believe that he is in love with a fascinating young widow. The climax comes with his disillusionment.

Dates of Performances.

The rehearsals will begin immediately after the mid-year examination period and the first performance will be given on "Graduates' Night", March 8, in Brattle Hall. Four public performances will be given as follows: two in Brattle Hall on March 11 and 12, the former date especially for students, one in Jordan Hall, Boston, on March 15, and one in "The Barn" at Wellesley on March 17.