IT is an ungrateful task to write a preface, for few people, if any,
ever read one.
“The play’s the thing,” and “a good play needs no epilogue.” So should
a good book need no preface, and for one that can boast of containing
between its two covers seven picked scenes from the pen of one of
the most charming writers in the English language—Jane Austen—no
introduction whatever is needed. But to ruthlessly tear her from the
library shelf and place her in the hands of the amateur actor demands
explanation and even apology.
Jane Austen as a novelist has won and maintained a place in the
first rank, but as a writer of true comedy she has been too long
unrecognised. She is essentially dramatic, and her characters assume
shape, form, and colour; her plots are human, her people are alive. No
individual in any of her novels degenerates into caricature, yet there
is not one but has a touch of the humorous in his or her composition.
Her duologues and scenes are complete in themselves, and in them one
appreciates the maxim of Alexandre Dumas, who declared that the _only_
essentials for a play were “_une passion, deux personages, et un
paravent_.”
Keeping, therefore, to this rule, these scenes should be represented
with no scenery whatever—(by scenery, I mean stage, proscenium,
footlights, and curtain)—but it is essential that the accurate
costume of the day should be worn; for though the plot and sentiments
thoroughly appeal to the modern mind, the language belongs to a past
generation, and an incongruity would arise were it spoken in modern
dress. The period represented is from 1792-1807, and a pen and ink
sketch of the type of character and style of dress, the work of Miss
Margaret Fletcher, accompanies each scene.
In order to make the plots clear and the duologues intelligible to
those of the audience who are unacquainted with the novels themselves,
a few words in monologue form have sometimes been added to the
text—the greatest care being taken, however, to keep as much as
possible to the spirit of the original—while for dramatic effect
and finish, the time or place of action has often been changed from
a garden or street scene to that of an interior, lest the absence of
scenery should be felt by actors or audience.
The idea of compiling this small book arose from the dearth of good
duologues and one-act plays suitable for amateur performance. The
acting rights of the best pieces being reserved, it is difficult
for the uninitiated to obtain them; moreover, it is expensive, and
so the orange-covered book is sought, and a play neither clever nor
interesting selected, simply because it is found to contain the
requisite number of characters, and has no elaborate scenery.
How refreshing, then, must these seven scenes be to both artists
and audience—they play themselves—the language, sentiments, and
personalities are within the reach of every cultivated amateur; and I
am convinced that Jane Austen _as a play-wright_ will fascinate her
audiences as much as she has her readers _as a novelist_.