The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-23
.Her maiestx,s rh.ntre.n


From The London Tones
"What is now called Her Maiesty's' was
the first theatre built for the performance of
Italian opera in England, and it was begun by
| Sir John Vanbrugh, on its present site, in
1903, and finished in 1705. 1t was not, how
ever, till ITO that Italian operas were wholly
acted there-till Handel's Rinaldo was first
performed by Italian singers as a commercial
speculation. The new house was a failure,
and in 1920 George l headed a subscription of
ESQ, 900, with a small gift towards its main
tenance. In less than two seasons Ebers, the
then lessee, lost f44, 600 in his efforts to make
1t pay. Such result is not surprising when
we see what he had really TO pay first of all.
For one season there was f15,000 year rent;
for expenses there were:-0pers, fS600;
ballet, 910, 600; orchestra, f3200; scene paint
ing and wardrobes, f5300; lighting, 9130;
ss.ll:SIiies, E2600; servants, f400; military
guard at the doors, ESQ; fittings of the Kings
box, G300, etc. With such outgoings 1t is no
wonder there was a loss. At last, in 1889, the
Kings Theatre, as it was then called, was
burnt to the ground; and though nothing was
saved, not very much was lost by its destruc-
tion, for the theatre, as theatre, was i'll
built, ill-nourished, and ill-managed.
"Another arose upon its ruins, built by
Novolsielski, who was among the first to in
troduce the horseshoe form of auditorium.
The first stone was laid by the Earl Of Buck
inghamshire. Under the stone were laid
guinea, half-guinea, seven, five, and one shil-
ling coins. All these, though not laid in
bottle, as is usual now, were found during the
building of the new theatre to be as bright and
fresh as when they came from the mint. In
1920 the exterior of this new building was al
tered by Nash and Ripton. The ground on
which the late theatre stood is crown pro-
perty, the lease of which, held by private
Individual, has still more than forty years to
Tha nd FAM
stage was too small; its means of ingress and
egress were lamentably deficient. Only one
narrow wooden stair communicated with the
amphitheatre, gallery, and side slips, and it is
not too much to say that, had the fire which
atlast destroyed it in less than an hour occurred
when the house was full, some four hundred
or five hundred people must almost inevitably
have lost their lives.
'The new theatre, though smaller in the
auditorium, is in every way finer, better, and
more convenient than the old. The length of
the space at the disposal of Mr.. Lee was one
hundred and sixty-six feet and its width one
hundred and forty-six feet. This has been
utilized to the utmost. The stage is now
tifty-one feet deep, ninety five feet wide, and
seventy zone feet high-ss large as the largest
stages yet built, either here or abroad.
Twelve feet below this stage is mezzanine
floor, and the total depth below the stage ex-
tends to nearly thirty feet, where the drums
are placed for hoisting the scenery. 1t is not
intended to have the usual sliding scenes on
the stage at all. They are nearly all, if not
| entirely, to be what are technically called
'cloths'-that is, scenes not painted on frame
work, but on loose canvas, with heavy rollers
at the ends to keep them firm and stiff in
| their places when lowered. The advantage of
this plan is that it does away with the noise
and hustle and laber of scene-shifting, the
| scene being merely raised up or lowered be-
| Elya rtaiu
'The side scenes, too, as they are called,
| are not intended to be run in the ordinary
wooden grooves, which constantly occasion
| embarrassment and delay. These scenes will
simply be taken down twelve feet below the
| stage into the mezzanine floor, and then run
in grooves without requiring support from
above. Every part of the stage, though made
in the firmest manner, is, in fact movable,
and can be adapted in a few minutes to the
most urgent requirements of a great scenic
| opera. The house is built in a horseshoe
curve, seventy feet deep from the curtain by
| fifty. six feet wide in the middle. The seats
| will be wide enough to accommodate even the
utmost amplitude of fashionable toilets, and
sufficient space will be given to allow every
will accommodate about six hundred visitors.
| There are four tiers of boxes in front of the
| stage, and four tiers and an additional half
| tier at either side.
tThe boxes are much larger than of old.
| They have about six feet frontage, with
heights according to the line of seven and
| half feet and nine feet, with depths varying
| from seven feet to twelve feet. All the tiers
of boxes are 30 built that there is no need of
columns for the support OF any part, and the
partitions between them are so arranged that
during the winter season they can be removed
| in the course Of day or so, and almost the
whole of the curve formed into the unbroken
balcony of a dress circle. The plan on which
the boxes have been thus constructed to do
away with great supporting pillars is very
simple. From the outer walls series OF
wrought-iron brackets have been built out,
radiating towards the centre. These, midway
from the wall, are supported by series OF
| powerful cast-iron columns which extend
from the basement to the roof. The broad
passages between these iron columns and the
walls are filed up on the inner theatre side
with firepToof walls and lofty arohed hreprooi
roofs overhead. Then there is distinct fire.
proof passage round every tier of boxes from
top to bottom. The weight OF the boxes
themselves is carried on that part or the
brackets or cantalevers which project beyond
these columns, and these are strong enough
not only to bear the weight of the usual four
| visitors in a box, but enough literally 10
support the box if it were filed with bricks
or stone.
''There are two great staircases between
fre-proof walls, which pass upwards to the
very roof of the building, and which would
suffice to empty IL in case OF alarm in less than
five minutes; the grand staircase is equally
protected, 80 is the crush-r0om, and the
saloons and retiring rooms specially devoted
| IN tha uaa of Iadias Baneath the wooden