Membership form for the Elizabethan Stage Society, December 1926

              2007-03(Re-established December, 1926.) THE REASON WHY. THIS Society was founded in 1894 as a protest against the modern method of representing Shakespeares plays. For the first time the disadvantages of the pro", scenium stage were recognized by critical subscribers, among whom may be mentioned, taking their names from an early list: Miss Sophie Bryant, Sir E. H. Busk, Hall Caine, Walter Crane, Dr. H. H. Furness, Dr. F. J. Furnivall, Israel Gollancz, Sir Lawrence Gomme, Edmund Gosse, Dr. Oow, Mrs. J. R. Green, Sir Charles Holroyd, Holman Hunt, R.A.~ Seymour Lucas, R.A., Mrs. Ludwig Mond, Sir E. J. Poynter,P.R.A., Sir Walter Raleigh, Mrs.Thackeray Ritchie, Dr. Rouse, Miss Alice Sargant, John J. Sargent, R.i\., . William Sharp, Bernard Shaw, H. M. Spielmann, Mrs, Strang, Miss Verrall, Mrs. Lancaster Wallis. ~,~ The advent of the picture houses, with their unrivalled 
attraction for sightseers, has unfortunately still further 
'retarded the hope that playg6er~ might become interested in a dramatic performance which has no scenic back­ground. But to the admission it should be added that before scenery can be removed altogether from Shakes­peare's stage, radical and permanent alteration must be made in' the method of speaking the verse. This difficulty constitutes the primary drawback to improvement in Elizabethan production, Yet a changed vocal method, more than any other, can assist actors to give an im­