BEHIND THE STAGE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21716, 25 February 1936, Page 8

BEHIND THE STAGE

ORDER AMID CHAOS SCENE AT “WHITE HORSE INN” When the audience at “The White Horse Inn” watches the spectacular and rapidly changing scenes, and the perfectly-timed entrances and exits of the players and choruses, it may not occur to most people that what is seen from the front is only a small part of what is being done on the stage, and that the spontaneous movement of the play Is made possible only by an organisation as efficient as it is elaborate and complex. Actually the stage that the audience sees is but an island of colour and light behind and round which is a scene which is as different as it could possibly be. To the layman who sees it for the first time as it was when a reporter of “The Press” visited the theatre last evening, it would seem impossible that order and thorough organisation could ever be achieved amid the vast accumulation of properties, stage sets, and costumes, and the crowded groups of waiting players that make up the scene back stage. Yet there is no bustle whatever, and everything is done with the utmost speed and smoothness. Indeed, the. attitude of the stage hands, the mechanics, and the players seems almost casual; nobody ever becomes excited, and everyone can be relied on to do the right thing at the right moment. Attitude of the Players it is perhaps the conversation of the ..players as they t-re waiting to go on that strikes the, observer first. There is none of the tenseness and suppressed excitement that characterises an amateur performance. The players seem to be talking about anything but the play itself. The girls of the chorus discuss trifling events and experiences as though they were talking over a cup of afternoon tea. their ■ call comes, a conversation is broken off in the middle of a sentence, their whole manner changes, and in a second they are on the stage, singing and dancing as though they had been rehearsing up to the last moment. Even the children, young Aucklanders, engaged by the company in New Zealand, seem to take their responsibilities lightly. One of the goats, however, for the most part as blase as any of the human actors, may bleat now and again while waiting for its cue. But it knows that it must bleat quietly. Its young mistress explains that it wants soma peanuts. When the chorus comes off the stage th§re is a sudden burst of speed in the aeßvities. Each member throws whatever properties-she is carrying to a stage hand, who catches them as deftly as a runner taking up the baton in a relay race. The girls rush off to change their costumes. . This is perhaps the one .occasion when a woman makes dressing an act of lightning rapidity. In a few seconds they are completely re-attired and looking entirely different. This has to be done no less than 23 times during the show, and frequently the girls are seen hurrying across the back of the stage wlth their

next change of costume to leave in readiness in the small room near the wing which is kept for hurried Changes. Often when they come off the stage they are quite out of breath, but they are back again in a few minutes as fresh as ever in a new number. The Revolving Stage At the end of the scene the revolving stage, which has four sections, is rapidly turned round with the aid of : a winch from which wire cables run around Its circumference. It is a simple device, worked with perfect precision by two men, who see nothing of the show but steady streams of players passing to and fro. It is during the interval between the acts that changes are made in the scenes set up in the various sections. This is accomplished with astonishing ease and takes no more than five minutes, though it could be done in two if necessary. None of the men is told what to do, there is no central authority, yet, though 20 new hands are engaged locally, a mistake is never made. Huge sets are removed and put away where they will be ready when needed again. There is no hesitation or fumbling, whatsoever. In the centre of, the revolving stags there is what Is called the tunnel. It is from here that such wonderful effects as the waterfall are produced by the simplest means—in this case by a hand pump. Othereffects such as the rainstorm, which are most impressive when seen from the front, are produced with extreme nonchalance by the stage hands, who calmly'turn on the water, which is caught in a tarpaulin, and a few minutes later has disappeared, leaving scarcely any evidence that there has been such a heavy fall. There are moments when the stage hands are all keyed up, waiting intently to make a sudden change or duce some effect at the right moment. But their easy-going manner returns when it is all over and they can relax once more. It seems strange to a visitor to see one of the mechanicians engage in a game of patience on one of the back sections of the stage for a few minutes when there is nothing to be done. But nobody ever becomes so absorbed in anything else as to forget the moment when he has to act with a promptness oil which the success of* the play depends. Even the call-boy seems to take his task very lightly; but he sees to it that nobody escapes being warned of the approaching cue. Vast Store ,of Properties The most bewildering part of the huge organisation is the vast store of properties, which apparently lie at random all round the stage. There is everything from huge stacks of 'umbrellas to a Small armoury of rifles! And yet everything seems to be found when it Is wanted. Not even one of the dozens of cups and saucers seems to go astray. The articles to be seen cover a range too wide to detail, and with every appearance of extreme disorder, everything must have a place and be in its place. The presence of the actors causes no concern to the stage hands. They go quietly about their business, making as they work a sort of huge machine ih which every man fits naturally into his place, producing the results which the audience sees with an enjoyment unmarred by any contemplation of the intense activity that makes them possible.