EXTRAORDINARY SCENE IN A LONDON THEATRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2296, 15 May 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE IN A LONDON THEATRE.

The.ltalian Opera season at Her Majesty's Theatre came to a prematnre and somewhat sensational close on Saturday night, March 6, The announcement that Gounod's " Faust" would be given had drawn a very large audience, which filled the cheaper part of the house to overflowing. The cur tain fell on the Kermisse scene amid

ihunders of applause. A verj long muse followed, which the gallery, luspectitig at first nothing worse thun

the osual dilatoriuess of operatic scone shifters, beguiled by singing "Wait till the clouds roll by," and other ditties humorously adapted to the situation. In tho meantime many seats iu the orchestra remained empty, and presently a voice was heard to say " I professori non sono pagati," which statement being interpreted to the effect that the band not having been paid refused to play, and travelling from the first row of the stalls to all pans of the bouse, produced a perfect roar of indignation.

Some of the leading artists remained at their posts, and Signor Mascheroni, the conductor, gave a sign to begin the prelude, to the next act. But the public refused to be satisfied, and even after the curtain had risen indignant calls for " the manager" and for " an exp'anation' 1 continued to resound from pit and galleries. At length, however, the performance was allowed to proceed. The curtain again fell amid rapturous applause, and again nn interminable " wait" ensued. The account given by the Times proceeds:—" By 'this time the audience had fairly lost its temper, and the groans and angry cries waxed louder and louder. When tho tumult

was at its highest the stage manager stepped forwurd and declared that the scene-shifters, not having received their money, refused to work, and that therefore the performance would terminate with " God Save the Queen." But even this modest sop to the Cerebus of excited feeling was not vouchsafed. The curtain rose once more, and on the stage, drawn up iu double file, were seen a number of supers and other employees, female and male, partly in their ordinary dress and partly in their theatrical costumes, Instead of intoning the National Anthem they made pitiful appeals to the audience for the pay of which they had been defrauded by the. manager.

Coins were thrown and scrambled for in wild confusion, no one making the slightest attempt to put an end to the, disgraceful proceedings, which lasted for upwards-of half an hour. After this the few persons remaining iu the stalls to leave the house, but they were met in the passage by the

occupants of the gallery clamoring for the entrance money and for the manager

who, of course, was nowhere to be found. Sonio rough horse-play now

ensued in the lobby of the house ; oarpots were pulled up, and one or two lamps brokon. Fortunately the crowd, like moßt English crowds, was goodhumored,, having probably derived more

amusement from the exciting incidents of the evening, than the finest performance of Gounod's masterpiece

could have afforded. The mischief to life and property that might have been done under different circumstances is incalculable, the Theatre being at tho absolute mercy of the excited audience from eleven at night till one in the morning, when the last stragglers dispersed, What must have struck intelligent foreigners on and off the stage mo ,- e than anything else *as the hanpy-go-lucky state of indifference displayed by 'the authorities' no policeman was anywhere to be seen, and this after the recent experiences in Pall Mall and Mayfair. Artistically speaking, the recent riotous proceedings of that night will probably be remembered as the ignominious end ot an institution for two centuries the mos ( t fashionable in England. Covent Garden is a circus; the sooner Her Majesty's Theatre is turnod into a post office or any other respeotable plaoe of business the better."