The Red Cloud chief., 1879-05-08

when the performance comes you are all
- bad - ever"
Some good stories are told of rehears-
ais. The management Of the London
Haymarket once depressed from its usu-
al custom TO the extent Of producing
Richard ILL.," and borrowed the
necessary armor from Astley's. The
night previous TO the opening perform.
ance q dress rehearsal was held, and all
went well till the battle scenes. Per.
haps as a joke the Caesby and Ratcti6e
were not permitted To g their bea-
vers up, and they wandered about like
two animated Dutch ovens. None OF
the armors fitted the wearers, and in
the final combat between the candidates
for the crown, the Earl of Richmond,
on lifting his arm up 10 strike at Rich
ard, found it would rot come down
again. Some of the helmets worn BY
the soldiers, having needed much a
ing before they could be got ON the
heads Of the wearers. strenuousiy re-
fused to come Off again; and An un!or-
tunate super, vino had been upset two
or three times, much to the amusement
Of bis comrades, was so disguised that
he was heard to say, eli this armor
dodge gees on, l shall retire from the
profession" a serious loss, which was
averted by the utter failue OF the pro-
duction. An Interpolation Of Quinn's
ut rehearsal resulted t~ragically. Play
ing in " Cato 7" at the Drury Lane Thea
ter, Williams, who acted the Messenger,
in delivering the sentence, "C;r-ar
sends health TO Cato" gave such
a peculiarly ludicrous pronunciation
to the last word that Quinn
replied: "Yes, and he's sent a
pretty messenger" Williams challeDg-
ed him there and then, and Quinn, be-
ing the better swordsman, readily dis
patched him. Queer orders TO the stage
workmen are sometimes intorpolatsd in
the lines of the part, and q OF Rich
ards best-known speeches has been thus
translated:
Hence. babbling dreams, you threaten here
in vain,
Where's Mat-gas.man?
Richards himself again"
The most experienced actor is apt TO
find his tongue unruly at times in per-
formances, and much oftener at re-
hearsals. Quinn was rehearsing Balance
and Peg Wellington Syluia in the :" Re-
cruiting Officer" q play seldom heard
of nowadays. Quoth Quinn: "Sylvia,
how old were you when your mother
was marriedP" "Mr. Quinn!" ex-
claimed the indignant Peg. "Pshaw!
| mean how old were you when your
mother was born?" "Your questions
are unanswerable," replied the lady;
"but, according to the prompts book, l
can tell you how old l was when my
mother died" An actress having to ask
if somebody retained his influence in
Parliament, inquired: "Does he still
retain his infants in Parliament?" An
other one declared: "a candle is COM
ing along the gallery with a man in his
hand; and another astonisbed her fell
low-players by announcing that Betty
had locked the key and carried away the
door in her pocket"
The second act of Sheridan's "Critic"
shows a rehearsal as it would probably
strike an unprofessional person in the
auditorium, but rehearsals are moi usu-
ally ludicrous in any particular to those
actively engaged in them, though they
may appear so from the incopgruities
they present to one unfamiliar with
them. They are exacting, l%aborious,
exhausting. Their chief interest is in
the indication they give of the care,
study, perseverance,, discipline, and drill
the preparation of a play entails. The
same /" business is repeated again and
again with tedious repetition. The same
word is uttered and reiterated with
changing degrees of emphasis and in
Election until what seems to be the prop
er shade of meaning has been acquired.
The prompter becomes petulant, the
stage manager wrothy, the performers
indignant. No doubt a hypercritical
person will be disposed to say that the
results of all this labor and anxiety are
invisible at many theaters, but if the
performance as be sees it lacks
finish. the deficiency has been vastly re-
duced by the rehearsals. When a new
play is being produced by a stock COM
pany, the training continues many
weeks, beginning with undress rehear-
sails on the dimly lighted stage, without
scenery or a~uxiliaries, and endin" with
a full-dress rehearsal as complete as the
opening performance. The toll of The
actors who are PLAYING in one piece
while another is in active preparation
leaves little time for sleep. The current
play is over, perhaps, at IL o'clock, and
it is midnight before the players reach
their homes. They are called to the
theater at 9 o'clock next morning to a
final rehearsal, which confines until 8
or 4 in the afternoon. The play is pro-
duced at 8o'clock the same evening,
and, as it does not end until after u,
the complete nervous, mental and ply
steal prostration Of the artists by that
time needs only to be referred to.
Cardinals In Society.