UNREHEARSED STAGE EFFECT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1110, 25 April 1911, Page 7

UNREHEARSED STAGE EFFECT.

DELUGE OF WATER. (By Trfegraph.-SDecial CorresDondenU Auckland, April 24. c .. Tl ;e. large number of theatregoers who tilled His Jlajesty's Theatre on Saturday night were- prepared to witness many exciting events, these being a feature of the piece staged, but an incident in the.latter, part of the evening—an avalanche of water pouring from the top of the stage—provided an unexpected sensation. The play had reached an exciting point when this accident occurred. • The audience were thrilled by the spectacle of a great railway smash, presented in a most realistic manner, and the curtain had just fallen on the scene when water commenced to issue, from the top of the curtain, continuing in a heavy downpour. The water quickly emptied the orchestral stalls. For some minutes matters were unpleasant, and, before the play could be resumed} some damage had been done. The fogtlights could not be used again during the evening, the curtain was a good deal sodden, and the orchestra had to read wet music in' watery surroundings. It appears that, above the stage, a system of sprinklers is erected, and it is thought that the curtain, in falling, struck and turned on one of the taps, and caused the flow. The comparatively long duration of the flow was duo to the fact that the caretaker of the theatre—the only person acquainted with the' working of the system —was in the dress circle when the accident occurred. It, however, sorved to emphasise the small risk of fire 'malting any headway on the stage, as such a deluge as occurred on Saturday would quickly quench an outbreak of fire.