Major Barbara

An archival collection of all dramaturgical notes for WCSU’s Fall 2012 production of Major Barbara. Also included are brief historical facts of the time period, because, of course, you must know where you’ve been to get where you’re going.

[funerealephemera-deactivated201]

Anatomy Class  - circa 1905

George Grantham Bain Collection

[onlyredemption]

Lyle’s Golden Syrup Black Treacle

[the-four-hundred]

Central Park Casino Restaurant, 1900

[witlovesyou]

Viktor Schramm, 1900

[majorlybarbara-blog]

We're into Tech Weekend!

Here's a cookie with sunglasses for the occasion:

[majorlybarbara-blog]

One of the boards in the lobby of our theater for Major Barbara!

[majorlybarbara-blog]

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EVERYONE WATCH THIS. It's sort of just a summary of the show, but he adds some nice insight.

Shakespeare Theatre Company, Director Ethan McSweeney talks of "The Story of Major Barbara".

[majorlybarbara-blog]

The Belle Epoque

The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (French for "Beautiful Era") was a period in French history that is conventionally dated as starting in 1890 and ending when World War I began in 1914. In the United Kingdom, the Belle Époque overlapped with the late Victorian era and the Edwardian era.

[majorlybarbara-blog]

The Folies Bergere was a cabaret venue during the Belle Epoque. It was comparable to The Moulin Rouge.

The Folies Bergerer foyer.

[majorlybarbara-blog]

The World Fair of 1900 in Paris.

[majorlybarbara-blog]

The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal of beauty portrayed by the satirical pen-and-ink illustrations of Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period that spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States.

Some people argue that the Gibson Girl was the first national beauty standard for American women. Gibson's fictional images of her published in newspapers and magazines during the Belle Époque were extremely popular.

[majorlybarbara-blog]

Hair, 1905

[majorlybarbara-blog]

Razors, 1905. Genuine and "cheap imitation".

From this PDF version of The Manual on Barbering.

[majorlybarbara-blog]

"In considering the idea of becoming a barber, the first question that presents itself is: What are the requirements necessary in order to insure success after laboring at this work? Will my nervous system permit of handling the razor? Will the nature of work I have done in the past bar me from this profession? Are my mental propensities such that they will allow me to wait upon others with patience and with solicitude for their welfare?"

become a barber in 1905 only if your nervous system can handle razors.

[majorlybarbara-blog]

Anna Pavlova as the Dying Swan in 1905

[majorlybarbara-blog]

Anna Pavlova's costume from The Dying Swan, 1905

[misterchiken]

Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, stamped postcard, August 2, 1905.