OLD ENGLAND COMES TO GERMANIC MUSEUM

In continuance of what promises to be a regular custom, the Harvard Dramatic Club has announced that it will present again this year an Old English miracle play. It will be produced, as last year, before the Cathedral background of the Germanic Museum. Performances will be given on Tuesday, December 19 and will be open only to persons holding tickets to the "Liar" at its various presentations.

These Miracle Plays were originally acted in the churches. They were all variations on Biblical themes. As time went on, however, the trade guilds took them over. With no change of subject, but a great deal of improvement in the form, the guild plays gradually, developed into pre-Elizabethan drama. Several groups of these plays have come down to us.

Last year the Dramatic Club presented two plays from the Coventry cycle and a selection from one play of the Hegge Cycle. This year one play from the Towneley Cycle has been chosen. It treats the infancy of the Christ, beginning with the Annunciation to Mary and continuing the story to the Flight into Egypt, including the stories of Elizabeth, the three shepherds, the Magi, and Herod, who is of course the villain of the piece.

The Towneley cycle is by far the most developed of all those which survive. It was given yearly by the Chaundlers or Candle Makers' guild. From the point of view of construction, acting, and characterization, it is more fitted for modern presentation than any of the others. It loses, moreover, nothing but the stiffness of its predecessors; the spirit remains unchanged.

This spirit, together with the simplicity and sincerity of the original actors, the Dramatic Club is making every effort to retain in its offering. The production is under the direction of R. C. Burrell '24, president of the club. He and Donald Stralem '24 have translated the play into modern English from the Old English in which it was written. Beyond that necessary revision the play remains as it was, and the atmosphere of the Germanic Museum will enhance the original effect.

Because of the small size of the room in which the play is to be presented, two performances will be necessary on both evenings, the first at 7.30 and the second at 9 o'clock. Purchasers of tickets for the "Liar" will be admitted free to any one of the four performances.

The cast for the play will be chosen in the near future and work begun as soon as possible.