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E. G. Craig: The Drama for Marionettes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Marina Maymone Siniscalchi
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Extract

In these notes I shall deal with the origin of the Drama for Fools – a drama for marionettes by E. G. Craig. That is, I intend to approach the drama along the thread that Craig himself must have followed from his initial liking for marionettes up to his writing of playlets for them. Naturally by thread I mean Craig's artistic experience in the development of its events. I have been stimulated to proceed along this line by practical and theoretical problems. Practical because I have been able to examine many unpublished papers which, however, still require a long period of study; for this reason the present notes must be considered preliminary conclusions. Theoretical because I believe that for a full understanding of the Drama it is essential to examine the contribution of the marionette ‘Toward a New Theatre’, Craig's outstanding project elaborated between 1900–10. It can be said without a shadow of doubt that the marionette is the source from which the characters of the ‘New Theatre’ have drawn inspiration: it has characterized the human element in the scene, it is the prototype of what he chose to call the übermarionette, that new figure created by Craig and integrated into his scenic machine. It dictates his style to the actor-artist. This leads me to the conclusion that the Drama begun in 1914 was nothing but the continuation of the ‘New Theatre’ with other means and in another period.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , Spring 1980 , pp. 122 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1980

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References

Notes

1. Documents, drawings, annotated texts and rare books were made available to me through the generosity of Edward, son of Gordon Craig, in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire.

2. Craig, E. G., On the Art of the Theatre, Heinemann, London, 1911 (1968), pp. 82–4.Google Scholar

3. The Theatre Advancing, Constable, London, 1921, p. 110.

4. ‘While he was still spellbound by Isadora, ideas filtered through his mind, some of them remaining to become the embryos of other ideas that were to play a big part in his main theory later on. One was this conception of a supremely beautiful creature – something like a Greek statue – which could be made to move, and could be controlled like a marionette, but would not suffer from, or be affected by emotions – like Isadora. Ar first he referred to this figure as “a being”, then he used a word compounded from German and French and called it the Über-marionette.’ Craig, E., Gordon Craig, The Story of his Life, Gollancz, London, 1968, p. 198.Google Scholar

5. Craig, E. G., ‘On the Ghosts in the Tragedies of Shakespeare’, On the Art of the Theatre, op. cit., p. 267.Google Scholar

6. ibid., p. 268.

7. On the Art of the Theatre, op. cit., p. 90.

8. Kantor, T., ‘Arte come Morte’Google Scholar, interview given to Petrignani, Sandra in Il Messaggero, 31 luglio 1978.Google Scholar

9. Craig, E. G., Towards a New Theatre, Dent and Sons, London, 1913.Google Scholar

10. On the Art of the Theatre, pp. 293–4.

11. Scene, OUP, p. 18.

12. Leeds, D. N., ‘The Sacre Rappresentazioni of Florence’, The Mask, Vol. IV, 1911–1912.Google Scholar

13. ibid., vol III, p. 14 bis.

14. Scene, op. cit., pp. 21–2.

15. On the Art of the Theatre, op. cit., p. 86.

16. MSS 9 – October 1914.

17. On the Art of the Theatre, op. cit., p. 92.

18. ibid., p. 61.

19. ibid., p. 57.

20. ibid.

21. ‘Seth 10,000 B.B. by Horace Fool’, The Marionnette, Vol. I, no. 9, November 1918, pp. 263–5.

22. Drama for Fools, Sketch Plan, 1918.

23. Towards a New Theatre, op. cit., pp. 89–90.

24. The Marionnette, op. cit., vol I, no 1, April 1918, pp. 12–19; vol I, no 2, March (sic!) 1918, pp. 48–53; vol I, no 3, May 1918, pp. 82–7.

25. Craig, G., School, English Review, v. 26, 1918, pp. 24–8Google Scholar; Blue Sky, English Review, v. 32, 1921, pp. 198–212.

26. More precise bibliographic information is missing.

27. Notes for further use in the DFF (1916–1917), cit.

28. Craig, E. G., ‘Method and Form of the Whole’, Drama for Fools, Sketch Plan, 1918 (ms).Google Scholar

29. MSS 19 Italia. 1916–18; 1955 Mostly Marionettes.

30. Notes for an Introduction; D for Fs. Marionette – Technical, June 1917.

31. Drama for Fools – Notes – Designs for the Marionnettes, June, 1916.

32. T. F. Dedication (to come before the first piece of the Drama itself, ‘Blind Boy’) (ms).

33. Sketch Plan (ms).

34. ibid.

35. Bibliographic information is missing; a parchment binding covers the frontispiece.

36. Brewer, E. C., Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Odham Press Ltd., LondonCrossRefGoogle Scholar (date missing).

37. Prophetae, a mediaeval liturgical play (see Chambers, E. K., The Medieval Stage, vol. II, p. 52Google Scholar and following.

38. ‘I am astride the Magic Ass’, The Marionnette, op. cit., vol. I, no 3, May 1918, pp. 70–6.

39. MSS 20 Italia, 1916–1918.