The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-09-18
SCENERY OF .srnE soupAN."
The Stage Setting OF Modern speotacu.
lar Drama.

Attention!
shoulder arms
"Order arms!
''Stand at easel"
Such were the orders that Stage
Manager Lawrence mccarthy addressed
to his army Of soldiers on the stage of
the Boston theater Saturday afternoon,
just before the curtain went up for the
fourth act of 1.-THE Soudon," one of the
greatest acts ever seen on any stage.
The men went through the drill as
ordered.
Turning to Herald reporter, who
had been pleased at the opportunity &C.
corded to see how 1.-THE Soudan" was
staged, Mr.. McCarty said: "Ten years
ago all would have held up their hands
ut the idea Of staging play like The
Soudan.' The Exiles' was great pro-
duction in its day, but it is not to be
compared with The Soudan' in any re.
spect. The Exiles' is child's play as
com pared with this production. In fact,
l think that The Soudan' is the great.
est play ever put upon the stage. The
Boston theatre version is superior to
that given at the Drury Lane Theatre
in London.
We were seven months at work on
the scenery for the play. A great deal
Of the work is papier mache, and the
results were very satisfactory. Look at
the second scene in act 8. 1t is one of
thu finest sets ever attempted any
where. and by far the most elaborate
over set in this country, If not in the
world. The inn on the right side is en-
tirely made of papier mache. This inn
is 10 feet high and "a feet long. 1t has
a balcony and dormer window, and is
ella borately trimmed with vines. On
the left of the scene is the parsonage,
also an elaborate set and cross bow.
All of these pieces are in sections, for
they must be cut down to a width of
feet 10 inches, 80 as to be easily trans
ported when the company is on the road,
and when this takes place all the scenery
now used in the play will be taken
along. The sets are very heavy indeed.
The work on the stage setting may be
imagined when 1t is stated that all OF
the scenes are deep ones, and there is
no boys play in making the changes.
There is no small scene shown in the
whole play and then big one, so as to
give time for the latter while the former
is going on, as is generally the case in
settings for these great melodramas.
Eyes, you can say that The Soudan'
is the king of them all. We employ IS
men to handle the scenery, and our
usual complement is 10. In the Trafal.
gar square scene there are $50 people on
the stage, not including the stage hands,
30 you see that there are over 400 souls
back of the footlights at that time. We
make eight changes in the darkness,
and when 1 say darkness mean that
1t is just as dark to us behind the scenes
as to those in the audience. could not
see my hand two feet in front of my face.
We have not had single hitch in the
setting under such circumstances since
the play began its run. Many rehearsals
brought about this remarkable record.
suppose that l went over my part of
the production thirty times, and 1
rehearsed it just two weeks; and one
night we rehearsed the scenery alone
from in the evening until 230 the next
morning.
There is another great change in the
third scene in the second act. From
Nellie's retreat the audience is con-
Quoted to Stonefield farm, with big
house on the right, wood hut on the
left, and large log in the centre, where
the boys play. The writer timed this
change, and stop watch showed that
it required just 81 seconds from the
time that the lights went out until they
we're relighted.
SIT took but 10 seconds to pass from
the camp scene, the ia eba," to the in
terror Of the Arab city. Here is another
very heavy scene. There is wall on
the right, which is very heavily con-
structed, as the soldiers leap upon it
and on to the stage eight or ten at
time. hen there is gate, represented
to appear nine inches thick. It's height
is 25 feet. On the left are two houses
with canopies add awnings. These can
opies and awnings are made to fold fat
The wall is used again in the Trafalgar
square scene, and becomes part of the
base of the monument"