ACTORS “RAGGED”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 944, 10 April 1930, Page 6

ACTORS “RAGGED”

SHAKESPEARIAN SEASON ft MELBOURNE * - Rowdy demonstrations whicj, vented the actors iron being **" occurred at times during the*nerf^l 4 ance oi “Julius Caesar at the KinTheatre, Melbourne, recently. This was a climax to noisy bpv iour at performances of “Macbeth'' " the previous Friday night, and "As V° E Like If on the Wednesday nlth? when a number of boys were ejects j Public schoolboys are blamed. “I have never encountered aisvthin. like it in England or in MelbonrnetZ tore today," declared Mr. J Hnet. Watts, who is Mr. Allan Wilkie’s hU ness manager, and who was formerW a public school teacher for eight in England. Mr. Hunter-Watts expressed the opinion that some of the older nn>! lie schoolboys had attended the theatre with the deliberate intertion of having a "rag." During the per formance of “Macbeth” he ejected 17 boys. He received a score of letters from members of the audience protesting against the disturbance at the performance, and copies of a typical one were sent to the headmasters of four or five public schools. In the accompanying letter he said that he was certain that he only had to bring the unfortunate incident under notice to obviate its recurrence, in every ease that came under his notice the offender was a public schoolboy, and of an age when a certain sense of decency and tone might not unduly have been expected. “I can understand one occurrence of this kind, but in the circumstances noa repetition. At the performance of As You Like It,’ there was more unseemly behaviour. I had to get the police to put some of the older boyi out of the gallery, for they had refused to heed the ushers. Fifteen were removed.” Mr. Hunter-Watts added all the regular ushers were not employed at matinees, and the matinee staff did not know how to handle a crowd so well. At the intervals yesterday several warnings were given, and he had directed that if the demonstrations recurred, offenders were to be removed. The performance of “Julius Caesar” was the only one for the season and was specially requested by the schools, as this play is listed for the Intermediate examination. Mr. Hnn-ter-Watts said that it was usual to limit the proportion of school children to 60 per cent., but owing to persistent demands from schools he had allotted them practically 90 per cent, of the accommodation. By practically exeluding the general public to„accommodate schools at concession rates, he had reduced the v alue of the house by approximately 50 per cent. Mr. Hunter-Watts added that there had been no misbehaviour at the recent performance of “Hamlet," and at no time had girls been unruly.