| Show STRANGE SCENE IN A THEATRE FEW of tile the public perhaps ever ima imagine the desperate straits which theatrical people those who devote their lives to catering to the amusement of the public are reduced to occasionally in their struggle for life while inthe in the estimation of many people who are used to seeing them upon the stage only their life may appear to be a ve very ry jolly one if we could look behind the scenes and discover the details of their existence we would find that their life is by no means to be envied and that there is nothing strange about traveling troops becoming stranded and having to pawn their wardrobe to pay their hotel bills as a company recently did in this city the keighley herald published in yorkshire england in a recent issue gives the following folio wins account of a scene alcene witnessed in the greatest city in the world lately which tended to reveal to the public the deplorable condition of a company of actors an acutely painful scene has been witnessed at her Maje theatre london faust was produced but at the end of act 2 the audience became so exasperated by a delay of half an hour that there was a near approach to a riot at the end of the third act another provokingly tedious delay occurred and as boxes and stalls gradually became deserted the stage manager in an a r gave forth the announcement that me the c carpenters ar penters had ref refused used to pay further attention to the scenery and the national anthem would bouli consequently be substituted for the remainder of the piece but even this morsel of consolation was denied the audience or that part of it which had not vanished the chorus appeared in a suppliant instead of a musical capacity after a tedious wait the curtain suddenly rose e and over a hundred of the minor members of the company imploringly besought assistance some extending their hands and exclaiming we must starve unless you help ua us 1 the generous remnant of the audience showered coppers on to the stage and a frantic scramble ensued abing among the more robust while the weak and timid snatched at the stray pennies which came their way altogether the scene was perhaps the most painfully realistic ever witnessed upon any stage and will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed it |
