The English Stage Since Shakespeare ( Originally Published 1920
) BY LINA WRIGHT BERLE. THERE is no artistic and literary form
which has a longer history in the development of English letters
than the drama, whose origins go back to the days of Chaucer and
earlier, and which has been a favorite with the people during
all that time. Unlike almost any other art, the drama appeals to
the common and uneducated folk, and their verdict has been
entirely responsible for the success or failure of every play of
which we have record. It is interesting to note the supposed
origins of the drama, before proceeding to the examination of
modern English plays. As far as we can discover, English drama
has its origin in the various services of the Roman Church, in
the Dark Ages. As all Catholics will remember, there is a point
in the Easter service where the graduale, so-called, is played,
originally a musical phrase or two. But the good fathers
conceived the idea of pictoralizing the episode commemorated by
that portion of th