|
There is a tradition of doing Shakesperian plays at English schools. There are even productions at preparatory (private primary) schools. I'm not sure if other countries as commonly have school productions of their Renaissance plays. Here we see a producrion at a French school, although we are not sure just what is being performed. All we know about this production is that it was done in 1938. A reader writes, "A point about the image of the French children dressing up in Elizabethan costums. They wear wide bloomers, meant obviously to represent the trunk hose of male courtiers of the late 16th century. But what is odd is the bare legs. Renaissance men and boys of course wore long stockings under their trunk hose and certainly never exposed their bare legs. I wonder why the children do not wear long stockings with the bloomers, which would give a much more realistic and historically accurate an effect." Of course schools have to cut corners in costuming because of limited budgets. It does seem a little strange to have such elaborate costumes and not wear tights. This production occurred in 1938. At the time tights were not worn and probably were not readilt available for children. We do note English production and they managed to get tights, although not for this age group. Our reader adds, "I agree that tights would have been a big expense since they were not readily available as part of children's dress. But they could have worn long stockings which were widely worn in Europe in the 1930s,
although less in France than in countries such as Germany, Poland, Russia, and Czechoslovakia."
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Renaissance drama country page]
[Return to the Main theatrical page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Country]
[Essays]
[Photography]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
