We staged the play with a very pronounced colour-scheme, and I have
noticed that the more obviously decorative is the scene and costuming
of any play, the more it is lifted out of time and place, and the
nearer to faeryland do we carry it.
noticed that the more obviously decorative is the scene and costuming
of any play, the more it is lifted out of time and place, and the
nearer to faeryland do we carry it.
Yeats
_
_The Golden Helmet_ was produced at the Abbey Theatre on March 19,
1908, with the following cast:--Cuchulain, J. M. Kerrigan; Conal, Arthur
Sinclair; Leagerie, Fred. O' Donovan; Laeg, Sydney Morgan; Emer, Sara
Allgood; Conal's Wife, Maire O'Neill; Leagerie's Wife, Eileen O'
Doherty; Red Man, Ambrose Power; Horseboys, Scullions, and Black Men,
S. Hamilton, T. J. Fox, U. Wright, D. Robertson, T. O'Neill, I. A.
O'Rourke, P. Kearney.
In performance we left the black hands to the imagination, and probably
when there is so much noise and movement on the stage they would
always fail to produce any effect. Our stage is too small to try the
experiment, for they would be hidden by the figures of the players.
We staged the play with a very pronounced colour-scheme, and I have
noticed that the more obviously decorative is the scene and costuming
of any play, the more it is lifted out of time and place, and the
nearer to faeryland do we carry it. One gets also much more effect
out of concerted movements--above all, if there are many players--when
all the clothes are the same colour. No breadth of treatment gives
monotony when there is movement and change of lighting. It concentrates
attention on every new effect and makes every change of outline or of
light and shadow surprising and delightful. Because of this one can
use contrasts of colour, between clothes and background, or in the
background itself, the complementary colours for instance, which would
be too obvious to keep the attention in a painting. One wishes to make
the movement of the action as important as possible, and the simplicity
which gives depth of colour does this, just as, for precisely similar
reasons, the lack of colour in a statue fixes the attention upon the
form.
The play is founded upon an old Irish story, _The Feast of Bricriu_,
given in _Cuchulain of Muirthemne_, and is meant as an introduction to
_On Baile's Strand_.
APPENDIX IV
DATES AND PLACES OF THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF NEW PLAYS PRODUCED BY THE
NATIONAL THEATRE SOCIETY AND ITS PREDECESSORS:--
1899.
IRISH LITERARY THEATRE AT ANTIENT CONCERT ROOMS.
May 8th. _The Countess Cathleen_, by W. B. Yeats.
May 9th. _The Heather Field_, by Edward Martyn.
1900.
_The Golden Helmet_ was produced at the Abbey Theatre on March 19,
1908, with the following cast:--Cuchulain, J. M. Kerrigan; Conal, Arthur
Sinclair; Leagerie, Fred. O' Donovan; Laeg, Sydney Morgan; Emer, Sara
Allgood; Conal's Wife, Maire O'Neill; Leagerie's Wife, Eileen O'
Doherty; Red Man, Ambrose Power; Horseboys, Scullions, and Black Men,
S. Hamilton, T. J. Fox, U. Wright, D. Robertson, T. O'Neill, I. A.
O'Rourke, P. Kearney.
In performance we left the black hands to the imagination, and probably
when there is so much noise and movement on the stage they would
always fail to produce any effect. Our stage is too small to try the
experiment, for they would be hidden by the figures of the players.
We staged the play with a very pronounced colour-scheme, and I have
noticed that the more obviously decorative is the scene and costuming
of any play, the more it is lifted out of time and place, and the
nearer to faeryland do we carry it. One gets also much more effect
out of concerted movements--above all, if there are many players--when
all the clothes are the same colour. No breadth of treatment gives
monotony when there is movement and change of lighting. It concentrates
attention on every new effect and makes every change of outline or of
light and shadow surprising and delightful. Because of this one can
use contrasts of colour, between clothes and background, or in the
background itself, the complementary colours for instance, which would
be too obvious to keep the attention in a painting. One wishes to make
the movement of the action as important as possible, and the simplicity
which gives depth of colour does this, just as, for precisely similar
reasons, the lack of colour in a statue fixes the attention upon the
form.
The play is founded upon an old Irish story, _The Feast of Bricriu_,
given in _Cuchulain of Muirthemne_, and is meant as an introduction to
_On Baile's Strand_.
APPENDIX IV
DATES AND PLACES OF THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF NEW PLAYS PRODUCED BY THE
NATIONAL THEATRE SOCIETY AND ITS PREDECESSORS:--
1899.
IRISH LITERARY THEATRE AT ANTIENT CONCERT ROOMS.
May 8th. _The Countess Cathleen_, by W. B. Yeats.
May 9th. _The Heather Field_, by Edward Martyn.
1900.
