Hat Box Plays
by me with Midjourney"I like Hat Box Plays. They aren't fancy, but they more than make up for the lack of fancy props and costumes with good jokes and very energetic actors. And they usually only cost the price of a cup of ale to see a show, good value." -Havro the peasant farmer The phrase "He wears many hats" was an early 20th century idiom, but it would be fairly easily understood to medieval people, and it would certainly apply in Scarterra because hats are culturally important and tied to one's role and status.. A lot of Scarterran actors and actresses take the proverb of "She wears many hats" rather literally.If a performance troupe is on a tight budget, and they can't afford elaborate costumes, or hire an illusionist to conjure ephemeral costumes, they often wear normal street clothes and rely on fancy hats to convey a character identity. A "Hat Box Play" is a slang term for a play produced on a very simple budget with little to nothing more than a bunch of hats. Even if it's not based on hats "a hat box performance" is a common Scarterran slang term made for any performance on a budget. Depending on context, the connotations could be positive or negative.by Eron12 with Heroforge"A lot of Scarterran performance troupes are barely scraping by monetarily, so they have to cut corners. No matter how strapped for coins an actor becomes, he should never skimp on his hats. Besides the performers themselves, hats are the most vital component of good theater." Zajac, actor and priest of ZarthusHistory
Nowadays, high end performances have plenty of hatted characters too and plenty of rich people can buy tickets for Hat Box Plays without embarrassment. I talked to an older gnome playwright and she said that Hat Box Plays go back several centuries and they go in an out of favor over and over again roughly once every two or three human generations. Right now they are viewed by the higher up as being "charmingly elegant in their simplicity" but predicts that by the time I'm old and craggy, that it will be shunned by the upper class folks yet again."-Zajac, actor and priest of Zarthusby Eron12 with Heroforge"My grandfather tells me that in his day, 'Hat Box Play' was a pejorative. They were considered cheap and low brow. High-brow plays overcompensated and often deliberately showcased fully un-hatted casts. My grandfather told me that 'Wig Plays' was a slang term for pretentious plays that took themselves too seriously. More than a few actors of Wig Performances and Hat Box Plays got in tavern brawls over this rivalry, but I've never seen an problem like that, and I haven't heard anyone under the age of fifty-five say the phrase 'Wig Play'.Execution
Sometimes, before a play begins, the acting troupe will give an introduction and outright tell the audience which hats represent which characters. More often, the actors use commonly known tropes and exaggerated introductions to demonstrate this relatively organically. It's very common for characters to announce their name at their first appearance on stage or to have the other performers loudly greet them by name.Components and tools
A fake crown means the character is a king or queen (even though real monarch hardly ever wear their physical crowns). A helmet means a character is a warrior. A pointy orange hat means a character is a mage. If a male actor is playing a female character, they are likely to wear a flowery blue bonnet. If a female actor is playing a male character they often wear a red hat with sharp corners that also hides her hair. Fake mustaches are often featured as well."[ -Henio the hat makerby me with MidjourneyIt's always a good day when I actor or actress enters my shop. Not only am I going to get lots of paid work, but I'm going to get interesting work. And members of the Hatter's Guild usually get free tickets to shows as part of our payment. Hat Box Plays use simple symbology to communicate the basics of a character. If a play has more characters than they have performers, hat switches communicate character switch. Sometimes a one-man or one-woman show has a character represent a two person dialogue with rapid hat switching.by me with MidjourneyPrimary Related LocationRelated Organizations
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me with Midjourney
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