, 1888-03-01
DRAMA IN WINNIPEG.
4 BARN SToRMlN0 CoMPANY'S Ex-
PERiENCE IN MANITOBA.

An Audience OF Indians, Trnppers and
Trnders-Piaying to Enormous Houses
A Primitive Thcatrc-Two Perform
nnccs In Ono Night--lseceipts.
Charles Arnold, who Is now star actor
In England tells Vt his visit to Manitoba
in this fashoni Eve were advised to
visit that place, as no dramatic company
had Mt that time been there. Accordingly
a little party, numbering sixteen members
Of tho stock company from Montreal,
journcyed 1000 miles to Winnipeg, which
was then littlo village. This was In 40
or 80 There were no public lights, pave
ments or roads in the city which con-
sisted of ono street only. Winnipeg was
inhabited by Indians, half breeds and u
few English settlers. We opened In the
Market hall, Immediately over tho Jail,
and our performances were cnllvtncd by
the shrleks Of the Indians and half breed
women, who had taken too much fire
water
81 was very much disgusted with tho
noble red man'--hc Is nothing but beg
gar, after oil. The ideal Indian that
Fcnimore Cooper refers TO Is simply
knocked on tho head. I found one in
telllgent Indian, n nephew of Sitting Bull,
who had been educated at u college in Min
ncapolis, 1 found he had n decided tasto
twenty pieces ho selected Gilbcrt's En-
gagged and 'Pylmallon and GNlatca' as his
favorito plays, Except for the novelty ci
the life, there was littlo amusement for US
In Winnipeg. The hotels were so crowded
that wo had to live In tents. We slept on
the prairie, and for amusement we hor.
rowed few laths, obtained some fish
hooks, and went along the banks OF tho
brooks spearlng frogs. This was great
finn n a gnnnrn1 tl,rnn or al -
these edible reptiles in an hour. a most
delicious supper was obtained from their
legs, which were dipped In egg batter,
rolled in biscuit paste and fried in boiling
fat.
1--WE played 10 enormous houses In
Winnipeg. Indians and half breeds mado
up our audiences, and every one seemed
flush of money Many carried rolls OF
bills about with them. There were no
coppers used, and half dime was tho
lowest coin. While we were i'm Winnipeg
the mayor OF Emerson, II small town OF
500 inhabitants, came up and said thev
had never had dramatic performance.
and insisted upon our visiting that place.
He said there was not much in the way
of theatre, but that they had IN old
bonded warehouse full of agricultural Inn
plements, soap boxes, brandy and cham
pagno cases and by clearing those out he
Having two days to spare we decided to
visit Emerson, and upon entering the
place we were received by the inhabitants
with great ovation. a committee Of
ten had been appointed to clear out the
building which was nothing but barn,
with windows on the ground floor. a
hole was cut in the building for purposes
OF exit, and another exit was constructed
from the platform on to the prairie. where
20 hoI haan ripupI tba
pany. There, was no house for II mile
around and we had to dress In the tents
"At night there was II big house, every
ono coming to town on horseback. 1t
seemed like Il big horse fair, as the ami.
mails were picketed in the bushes around
the building, and now and again we We're
startled by II shrill neigh from their direc.
tion. Tho committee OF ten citizens,
headed by the mayor, had done their
work well, and while tho old warehouse
did not present very inviting appear.
ance 1t served purpose. The stalls, or
back seats, consisted Of soap and candle
boxes, brandy and champagne cases placed
in rows in front OF the stnge mo extra
charge for champagne cases. I may add
that the cases were not empty. Each
scat represented II dozen or two OF brandy
or champagne. The committee saw that
no liberties We're taken with the seats O..
We performed Lester Wallack's military
drama, "Rosedalc," which seemed to
please our audience greatly. The Indy
members OF our company had u lively
time of it all through the performance as
the mosquitoes insisted on making their
presence felt in most uncomfortable
manner 1t was laughablc to see the
gentle slaps this victims gave during the
moro serious portions Of the play to rid
themselves Of the stingng pests.
CON the ypppnd NIGHT nf Dt1r sfnv wa
performed The Shaughraun,' with all the
effects, revolving tower, etc. Ut the con-
clusion Of the second nct the committee
waited on me and requested that we pro-
long our visit another night. This could
not be done, us we had engagements to
meet elsewhere, but II occurred to me that
we could give another performance that
night. We could finish playing TIE
ShOughraun' at 1O:4J O'Clock, and by dis
missing the audience for fifteen minutes
start again with another play at i o'clock.
/ announced this to the audience and was
received with cheers and cries Of Play all
nightp Well, we finished The Shaugh-
raun,' and the male portion of the audi
cnce retired to the prairie, while l collect
cd the admission fee for tho second per-
formance from the ladies', who remained
seated the gentlemen then returned, pay
ing at the door.
"At 1t15 we commenced the second
programme, which consisted cf bur-
lesque on Canadian politics, entitled III.
NJ. S. Parliament written to 'Pinafore'
music. Each character was made up to
represent prominent Canadian states
man. Our orchestra was n small church
organ, played by our conductor. That
was my first experience OF playing twice
in one night, and there was only twelve
shillings difference between the two
hpncaa Tho nanpla nniI S'ii1linUg m
look In the windows to sec the perform
ance. Some borrowed and others stole
ladders so that they might peep through
the upper windows as the fIouse would