The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-19 00:00:00

BEHIND THE SCENES.

The recent increase in the number of metropolitan
theatres has induced the Daily News to publish an
interesting article on the management of these insti-
tutions. The proprietor of a theatre gets a good per-
centage on the outlay of his capital so long as the
rent is paid. This, together with taxes and insurance,
generally amounts to about £7O a week, so that
it is necessary that the lessee should be a thoroughly
responsible person if the lessor is not to lose
his money. This amount is a tolerably large item
to begin with, but it is only one of many. News-
paper advertising costs £4O weekly, and bill-posting
another considerable sum. Several months ago
theatre managers met together in order to concert
some means of diminishing this expenditure ; but
they were unable to agree, and so the w-lls of
London are more than ever covered with pictorial
representations of the most sensational scenes which
are being put upon the various stages from
time to time. The wardrobe costs many hundred
pounds, although actresses are obliged to find
their own bonnets, boots, and gloves, and actors in
plays of modern life find their own dresses. Scenery
costs £5OO a year, independently of the staff required
for superintending and shifting it. As the scenes
have to be shifted with the rapidity of lightning, the
number of scene-shifters is legion, and they have to
be well drilled by the master carpenter. It is very
seldom that the scenery of one piece will do for
another; but there is a certain quantity of forests,
interiors, and gardens kept on stock for farces.
The gas bill amounts to £3O a week. Few dramas
are without moonlight effects ; these are produced
by the lime-light, and the moon in a Christmas
pantomime costs £2O a week. The orchestra is paid
£3O a week. The salaries of stock actors vary from
£l2 to £2, and " stars " often get as much as £6O.
The first are great sticklers for etiquette. No
one, however, will ever play a part of a hair's
breadth out of his own particular line. If
a first walking gentleman were asked to
play a third walking gentleman's part, he would be
as indignant as 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, because good actors will not play them.
Actresses stand even more on their dignity than
actors; their mutual jealousies exceed even those
of fine ladies. Audiences must often have
remarked that in burlesques songs and dances are
introduced in defiance of the requirements of the
situation. The reason usually is that Miss A. refuses
to play unless, like Miss 8., she be given a song, or,
like Miss C., a dance. The " stars " like to play in a
piece in which all the interest is concentrated on
themselves, and in which there is no expensive
scenery, so that they may the more readily get engage-
ments in the provinces. These two requirements
are just what the public do not like ; they disap-
prove of meagre scenery and of " one-actor " pieces.
Ballet girls get 255. a week, and are by no means of
the " fast " type usually supposed. A play is paid for
either by a percentage on the profits, or so much a
night, or the play is bought. Three or five act plays,
when not paid for by a percentage on profits;
usually cost from £2OO to £3OO, or from £3 to £5
every night they are acted. The price of a good bur-;
lesque varies from £5O to £l2O. Farces are seldom
worth more than £lO. Their success usually depends
more upon the actors than the authors,
These particulars suffice to shew that a theatre is a
very speculative affair so far as the lessee is con-
cerned. The increase in the number of theatres
makes the chance of profit more doubtful than ever.
In order to meet this excessive competition the East-
end theatres have hit upon the device of lowering the
price of admission, and having two performances in
the same evening. The Pall Mall Gazette states that
at some theatres the admission to the pit is only
4d., and at one the admission to the gallery 34
only Id.