LONDON UNDER FIRE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 63, 7 December 1917, Page 5

LONDON UNDER FIRE

THEATRE SCENES PUBLIC TRULY BRITISH

Perhaps one of the most noteworthy features of Monday night's' raid was (says the London "Daily Telegraph' of September 2G) the coolness shown by playgoers, and the perfect sangfroid with which the artists accepted the situation. AVith tho exception of two theatres, performances went steadily oil, save for a temporary break while the firing was at its height. At the Savoy, Mr. H. B. Irving decided that tho most prudent step was not to raise tho curtain at all, visitors who had previously booked 6eats being informed on their arrival that they could either havo their monoy back or have seats for Bomo other evening. At tho Royalty a start was mado as usual, but towards the end of the first act of "Billeted" Mr. Denis Eadie addressed the audience, stating that it was considered .wiser to suspend operations, but that evoryono would bo welcome to remain under shelter until tho conolusion of tho raid. Of this offer practically all present were only too glad to take advantage. Both at the Haymarkot and the London Hippodrome tho. audience assembled at the customary hour. The ourtain in each case remained down until twenty minutes past nffie, however, after which things followed their normal course. Mr. George Robey and Mr. Albert de Courville, together with certain adventurous members of the Hippodrome company, profited by tho delay in commencing to ascend to tho roof, from which they enjoyed an unexpected view of a spectacle far surpassing in intensity anything they had themselves ever taken partin. Mr. Robey, indeed, was so fascinated by the display that ho allowed himself no time to change for hie first entrance on the stage, appearing in his ordinary clothes with a shrapnel helmet on his head.

The Criterion, of course, being entirely underground, offers unique attractions to all seeking a refuge. Aβ a matter of fact, very few in tho audience on Monday night even knew that arnid was in progress, while the hospitality of tho corridors was offered by the management to any who cared to make use of them. At His Majesty's it wiis deemed advisable to suspend the performance of "Chu Chin Chow" for three-quarters of an hour, from 8.30 to 9.15, and practically no ono left until the curtain fell shortly after 11.30. Very much tho same thing happened at the Queen's where somo of tho occupants of the upper circle acted upon the management's invitation to descend to the pit. At tho Lyceum an amusing .little episode occurred. First there was a brief speech from the stage of a reassuring character, which was received with much applause, tho audience remaining quietly seated -until tho sound of the firing had died away. In the last act of "Seven Days' Leave" a gun is supposed to be fired at an enemy submarine ■by a British destroyer, an effect produced by a resounding whack on the big drum in tho orchestra. On Monday the result appeared to tickle the audience's sense of humour immensely, being received with a burst of derisive laugbter, amid which could b6 heard.the voice of one of the spectators loudly declaring, "Not a bit like the real thing.". At the Lvric there was tho usual pause during hostilities, those in front being invited to take sanctuary beneath tho stage, where .they fraternised with members of the company in the friendliest fashion, the performance being resumed exactly at the point where it had been broken off. Mr. Leslie Henson acted as speochmaker at the Gaiety, seizing the occasion to compliment his hearers on :the calm manner in,which they had taken matters. "Never in my life," he remarked yesterday, "have I, when proceedings wero resumed, played to a more light-hearted nudieneo or to one which entered more thoroughly into tho fun of tho piece." Of the demeanour of those present at his various houses, Mr. Charles B. Coohran speaks in the highest terms. "During tho course of the evening I made a tour of my theatres to see what was going on, andin every caso the artists proceeded with their work entirely unmoved, while not ono Bingle individual left his place,' was his significant criticism yesterday. Save" that a few visitors to tho gallery were accommodated with seats in the pit at Dmry Lano, everything went on there as if nothing of an unwonted nature wero happening outside, an exactly similar state of affairs prevailing at the Comedy, where late arrivals were actually buying seats at tho moment bombs were being dropped, and the aircraft guns were shouting their loudest. From Wyndham's, the Playhouse, the Empire, the Palladium, and elsewhere come equally reassuring accounts testifying'to tho unruffled bohaviour of the-atre-goers generally. A correspondent present at the Ambassadors Theatre writes: "Men, women, rmd young girls, taking courage from the actors on the stage, remained to enjoy the play, and laughed a the bursting shells! What a people! Which other country could .show men and womon on the stage proceeding with their parts, though at times their words were punctuated by the sound of dropping bombs? The audience, appreciating tho courage of the artists, were more than usually enthusiastic u> their applause, which m turn almost drownod.the noise of the guns. Hif women, above all, were splendid. They did not Bcream or faint. They were just British women."