The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-18 00:00:00

BEHIND THE SCHNKS.

Within the last two years several new theatres
have been built at the West End, and we observe
that another is to be opened next week. If this
iuerete a continues, it will soon become a serious
question whether the supply will not exceed the
demand. London contains, in proportion to its
sire, the smaller number of theatre-goers of any
metropolis in Europe. This is due, in part, to the
prevalence among many of its inhabitants of a
religious objection to " plays," and in part to the
love of the fire-side which characterises the nation.
New theatres, therefore, cannot be indefinitely
opened without either proving commercial failures
or shutting up, by their success, some of the old
once. It was Mr. Cobden who, if we remember
rightly, said that no one could understand the
internal working of a land society ; and we sus-
pect there are very few who know much of the
internal working of a theatre. We propose, there-
fore, to give some details of theatres in their
vulgar commercial aspect.
The proprietor of a theatre gets a good per oen-
tage on the outlay of his capital, so long as his rent
is paid. Sometimes, however, it happens that this is
not the case, or that his theatre remains for many
months without an occupier. Tenants are indeed
always to be found, but tenants able to give sub-
stantial security for their rent are not quite so
plentiful.
The lessee is usually his own manager. His profits
may be large or small. His business is essentially
a speculative one. In a large first clams West-end
theatre the nightly expenses average about 701. or
SOL, and the receipts vary from 30/. to 3001., ac-
cording to the success of the entertainments. As a
rule the receipts are below the expenses; the loss
is made up by some lucky hit, when they are
largely in excess. Christmas is the best theatrical
season in the year ; summer is the worst, except
she n it is wet. In winter.hewever,every wet night
costs the manager about 20/. The stalls are seldom
full, except between February and May. During
the season fashionable people usually go to the
opera or to partite—as their object is rather to be
teen than to ace; during the winter months, how-
ever, they go in large parties to the stalls
of theatres. Although the dress circle is
cheaper and more comfortable than the stalls, it is
the portion of a theatre generally the least full.
Clerks and small tradesmen usually go to the pit.
The gallery is the home of the working-classes,
who are the surest patrons of theatres. They take
the deepest interest in what goes on upon the
stage; and if any " god" is noisy, the intervention
of a policeman is not necessary, as he is immediately
turned out or reduced to silence by his neigh-
bours. Applause invariably comes from the
gallery and the pit, as the occupants of the stalls
and the dress circle, however much they may be
pleased, consider it beneath their dignity to give
any outward expression to their feelings. Nothing,
however, is more deceptive than a full
" bonne ;" for no one, except the manager and the
acting-manager, knows whether it is filled with
money or " paper." Paper is the slang term for
an order. As the general public dislike a void—if
that void be not filled up with persons who
have paid for their seats, it has to be filled with
persons who have notpaid fortheru. A large and by
no means spoor class never pay to go into a theatre;
indeed thoroughly to understand the parsimony of
the human species a man must have been the ma-
nager of a theatre. His table is covered every
morning with letters asking for orders, on all con-
ceivable pretexts. It managers would put an end
to this begging-letter nuisance, and agree among
themselves not to pack their houses, they would-,
in the end, be gainers, for order-hunters, as a
class, cannot exist without seeing every new play
which is produced, and if it were once made clear
to them that they must either pay or keep away,
they would do the latter. The weekly expenses
of the lessee are made up in the following
manner :

1. Rer.l.—Thin item, with taxes and insurance,
amounts to about 701. a week.

2. Adre-rthany, Punting, and Billing, -Some time
ago the managers of the principal theatres met toge-
ther in order to concert measures to diminish the
lavish outlay in advertising and posting that has
become the custom. They were, however, unable t.)
agree upon a common erode of rules. Newspaper
advertising coats about 401. weekly, and posting a
rather larger sum. Could managers agree not to
put above ono advertisement in each newspaper,
and were they to take stations where bills from
each theatre might be exhibited, they would all of
them be gainers, and the general public would not
be losers.
3. The Trardrole.—At the head of this depart..
ment is a master tailor and a mistress of the ward-
robe. The silks and satins used on the stage are
usually bought wholesale. The dresses for a large
burlesque or a pantomime coat many hundred
pounds. Actresses are obliged to tlnd their own
, boots, and gloves. Actors in plays of
modern life find their own dresses.
4. The Scenery, itc.—The principal wane painter
of • theatre is usually an artist of eminence in his
profeasion ; he has several assistants under him.
It is seldom that lesathan NW. is spent on colours
and canvas in the course of a year. Scenes, when
they are not likely to be used again, are
painted out; but as in each separate piece
the position of all the doors and the windows
is different, it is seldom that " clothes" cart be
need a second time. In every theatre, however,
there is a large quantity of stock *emery, consist-
ing of forests, interiors, gardens, &c., which does
duty in farms.

The master carpenter is charged with the pre-
paration of all the woodwork used in the frames
of the scenery, and in the sets, which now-a-days
are frequently almost built up on the stage. The
scene shifters are under his orders ; and, as scenes
have to be shifted with almost lightning speed,
their number is legion.
The property-man makes or provides all the
properties that are required in a pieoe. This in-
cludes everything- -from furniture to theatrical
suppers.
L. Lighting.— The gas bill amounts to about
30?. • week. Few dramas, and scaniely any
burlesques, are without moonlight effects, which
are produced by lime light. At Christmas the
moon generally costa a manager at least 201. a
week.

6. The Orchestra.— The band is usually con-
tracted for with the leader. It costs about 301. a
week.

7. TLe Stage.--Everything connected with
bringing out a pietaa is under the control of the
stage manager. In a first-clam theatre the com-
pany consists of at least the following artists: -
One leading man, one light comedian, two old
men, three walkingC gentlemen, two character
actors, two low comedians, one letding lady, one
old woman, one young leading lady, one singing
chambermaid, one broad chambermaid, three
walking ladies, utility men, male and female
supernumeraries. Salaries of stock actors and
actresses vary from 121. to 21. They are by no
mtans easy pea de to manage. They live in a
world apart, and their ideas of their own merits
ate frequently at variance with those of the stage
manager. No part is too good for any of theta,
but few parts are, good enough. Those who are
" cast" in bad parts in a play usually announce
their intention to leave rather than play them,
but on reflection they generally think better of
their decision. No one, however, will ever play a
part of a Lair's breadth out of his own particular
line. If a first walking gentleman were asked to
play a third walking gentlen.an's part, he would
he as indignant us an Attorney-General were he
called upon to defend a pickpocket in a police-
court. Managers are often blamed because
minor parts in a piece are badly played;
they cannot, however, help themselves, be-
MUM good actors will not play them.
Actresses stand even morn on their dignity than
actors ; their mutual jealousies exceed even those
of fine ladies. Audiences must often have re-
marked that in burlesques songs and dances are
introluted in defiance of the requirements of the
situation. The reason usually is that Miss A. re-
fuses to play unless, like Miss 8., she be given a
song, or, like Miss C., a dance. The great difficulty
in bringing out burlesques is to find actresses who
will flay the part of girls. They all want to be
boys- -to show their legs, which in nine cases out
of ten are podded. The padding is woven into
the flesh-coloured leggings which they wear, so
that it is almost impossible to detect it.

Stars.—These bright particular luminaries some-
times receive as much as 00/. a week, or they
share the receipts after expenses. Their great
object is to play in a piece with which
they may afterwards make the tour of
the provinces; they therefore, as much as
possible, eschew these which require elaborate
and expensive scenery. As a rule, their engage-
ments are more profitable to themselves than to
the managers who pay them. Their lofty esti-
mate of their talents stands in the way of their
financial success. No play twits them unless its
whole interest is concentrated on themselves, and
the public will not put up with what are called
" one actor pieces."
The Ballet.--Ballet girls are seldom required
in • theatre except when burlesques or panto-
mimes are played. They receive about 2-is, a
week. It is an error to suppose that, as a rule,
they are " fast.- On the contrary, they are
usually the daughters or nieces of actors, and
they work honestly for a small pittance.
Pesidem the persons already enumerated there
are, on the working stuff of a theatre, dressers. gas
men, firemen, cheek-takers, cleaners, one or two
messengers, a hall porter, a prompter, and a
call boy: altogether about 100 persons find a
permanent employment.
Ploys cad Burlesques.---A play is either paid for
by a per centago on the profits, or at a fixed rate
per night, or it is bought. It is by no means easy
to obtain good ones. The mintiesr of bad ones
sent to managers is enormous. They are usually
written by aspiring authors, who know nothing of
stage effects. It requires not only talent but a
vast amount of technical knowledge to write well
for the etage. Managers are almost always
obliged to fall back upon experienced dramatic
authors, and to accept with gratitude what-
ever they may offer. Three or five act plays, when
not paid for by a per tentage on profits, usually
cost front 2001. to 3001., or from 31. to 51. every
night they. are acted. The prier. of a good bur-
lesque varies from 601. to 1201. Farces are seldom
worth more than 101. Their success usually de-
pends more upon the actors than the author.
From the above analysis of the principal ex-
penses of first-class theatres, it will be seen that
they are not kept open for nothing. Some
managers have in the last few years made large
sums of money ; but since the financial crisis
audiences have diminished in numbers. People
are stall obliged to economise, by remaining at
home instead of going to Places of amusement, or
when they do go by leaving their wives and chil-
dren at home. On the whole, it is a far safer
speculation to build a theatre than to hire one—to
sell plays than to buy them. Managers occa-
sionally make fortunes, but they more frequently
lose than.—Daily News.

SACRED HARMONIC SOClETY.—Handers Messiah
will be performed by this society at Exeter-ball on Mon-
day evening next, with Miss Edith Wynne, Madame
Satan-Dolby. Vernon Rigby, and Mr. Staley, as
l v
A NOVEL ACCIDENT AT CHANCERY-LANE.—
Yebterday afternoon, at half-past 4 o'clock, always • busy
time in the neighbourhood of Fleet-street, an accident
occurred at the coiner of Chancery-lane, which although
seemly worth recording on account of its results, may be
the means of iinlueung the authorities to make some alter-
ation in • matter which has not probably hitherto been
pressed upon their attention. Probably no ono except
the tutucock employed by the water company has ever
taken notice of the fact that at the Fleet-street end of
Cluineery-lane, over which thousands of people pass
daily, frequently iu a very hurried manner, in (louse-
queues of the continuous plumage of omnibuses, cabs, and
other vehicles, there are three, if not more, plog-holes,
end their are constantly left open. In the comparative
darkness of yesterday afternoon there was a rush across
the road when omnibuses, carte, and cabs were
posing in great numbers, and pedestrians had,
am best they • ht, to dodge between them,
in order to be to MOM at al. In making this
perilous passage a man cenerived to get himself fixed by
his foot in one of these plug-holes, and at the same mo-
ment a cab horse toadied hint down. The boa of the
man's bimt was violently wrenched off, and the man got
up and walked away, without sustaining further injury.
the result, however, must have bean otherwise if the
man's hoot had been a moderately good one ; indeed, it is
inipmeibie to understand how he could lave been knocked
down in that way without its lag or some
other swims injuries being oreedng is at
all times °newish it Is
wry Ellison to Inverse. between
4 and 6 o'clock it is ahn impeinable, neurmastaiming
the prehoworthy exertions od the one QI, polieeemn who
is stationed three to assails the tense as far as he ma,
sad
insm a more l°
Mims traps hi the he
embus m*
esesW t plug.kolseass ammo
to sshan Shot of pekedeg
afternoon amy have to be chrenided.

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