Plays.

Plays. See DRAMA, THEATRE. A relic of the censorship of the press survives in Britain in the licensing of stage plays. By an Act of 1843 no plays may be acted for hire till they have been submitted to the Lord Chamberlain, who may refuse to license them in whole or in parts; the official who reads them for this purpose being the 'examiner of stage plays.' A penalty of £50 attaches to the offence of acting an unlicensed or prohibited play; and the theatre in which it is represented forfeits its license. In the United States there is no general censor, but local authorities have power to forbid the representation of plays which they consider to be hurtful to morality.