In one or two of the plays there are speaking parts which can be taken by quite little children, such as the DISH and SPOON in the _Cat and the Fiddle_, the latter especially being within the grasp of the smallest performer able to speak distinctly enough for the words to be recognisable. The part of POLLY in _Polly Put the Kettle On_ can be played by any intelligent child of five. In _Oranges and Lemons_, _Humpty Dumpty_, and _Ride-a-Cock-horse_ there are possibilities of a crowd in which any number of children available can "come on" and so take a share in the performance.
The writer ventures to suggest that the preface of a book entitled _Fairy-Tale Plays_ (Longman) contains detailed directions which may be found helpful for rehearsing with children. The great thing for the "Producers" to remember is not to cast a gloom over the proceedings by being depressed or losing their tempers when the performers still don't know their parts on the day of the performance, when their "business" at that performance is exactly opposite to that inculcated at rehearsals, and when they invent on "the night" an entirely new series of mistakes. It does not matter if they do. The audience, which will probably largely consist of the relations of the performers, will be just as pleased whatever happens, and so will every child-lover who is looking on. So will the actors, whose enjoyment is assured if they are acting and dressing up. And the spectator who does not like seeing their enjoyment does not deserve to have any himself, so we need not take him into account.
Neither the writer nor the producers of these absurd little plays, therefore, need have much fear of failure. They are spared the acute preliminary--and subsequent--agonies of those who produce plays of a larger size and a better quality than those contained in this little book.
_A room in Mrs. MOOCOWS Boarding House. A chair R.C., a settee, or another chair, up stage R. At back L.C. two ordinary folding screens about 2ft. 6in. apart, a curtain hung across the space between them. A picture of a full moon painted on a large piece of cardboard must be propped up behind the opening between the screens, so that when the curtain is drawn back the moon is seen on the horizon_, i.e. _its lower edge on the level of the ground._