BAD MANNERS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2675, 21 July 1913, Page 2

BAD MANNERS.

(liy St. John Ervino.)

When -Mr Bernard Shaw lately appealed ii> ills audience not to applau i during the performance or “John Buli’» Other Island,” the hulk of those to whom the appeal was addressed treated it as olio of .Mr Shaw's jokes. 'l'hat appeal, however, was not only made in seriousness, but it was made with reason. There cannot bo any doubt about the tact that playgoers, particularly those who seat themselves in the stalls and dress circle, are a mannerless lot. Why ladies and gentlemen', extremely courteous over tire ordinary usages of life, should become graceless in the theatre is one of those things which arc difficult bo understand ; and it is in the hope that tne readers of this journal will endeavor U; suppress this mannerlessness that i, who visit all the theatres in London, write this article. The lato-comer wo have always with us, and I suppose nothing will induce that indivklanl to amend ins ways; but 1 suggest that the theatre managers might very well make it a rule that those who enter the house after the curtain rises should either be compelled to cool their heels in the corridors until it falls at the end of the particular act or to be requested to stand at the side of the theatre until the interval, i’robably the latter course would be the preferable one to follow, since man" playgoers are made late by their train service. But some such course must be taken if playgoing is to have any attraction at all.

When Mr Forhes-Robertson began his farewell season recently at Drury Lane with the production of “Hamlet,” this nuisance of the Jate-oomer became even more pronounced than usual, for the first scene of the play, in which the air of mystery and tragic destiny is created, was totally ruined by attendants, armed with electric lamps, showing ladies and gentlemen to their seats. How is it possible for one to feel the thrill of the .supernatural at the appearance o: the ghost of Hamlet’s father when a dm railing lady treads on you r toes as she seeks her seat? How can you realise the terror of the sentinels and Horatio at the sight of the spectre when someone is whispering “Sorry !” in you' 1 car as he presses past you? Or feel the eeriness of Elsinore when there s a continual banging of seats all over the theatre? While Mr Grondon Bentley was speaking Mr Shaw’s Prologue to “Caesar and Cleopatra” there was a. regular cannonade of hanged scats, so that much of the finely-phrased speech was lost, and this disturbance continued well into the middle of the first scene. It is obvious that conduct of tins kind is destructive of the atmosphere of illusion which is essential to tme performance of any play, and it is grossly unfair not only to the players, whoso work is being ruined, but also to those members of the audience who have had the common civility to arrive at th ' theatre in time. But the nuisance of the late-oomer is not the only trouble in the theatre. There has lately been an epidemic of distressing coughs among playgoers. A: the first performance of “Open Windows” there was an incessant barking during the whole of the first act and frequently during the remainder of thr performance. At one moment six gentlemen coughed simultaneously, and

io seemed to me that they coughed as loudlly as they could. The ventilation of the theatre is generally faulty, but I am certain that a. great deal of the coughing that goes on in playhouses is unnecessary; at all events, it cannot be essential that the cough should he as noisy as possible I am not aware that the ventilation of an opera-house is any better than the ventilation of a. theatre, but I do know that an audience of music-lovers would not tolerate the coughing that is patiently endured by playgoers. A well-mannered audience will seat itself in the theatre ten minutes before till© curtain rises. By the end of that time it will have become acclimatised to the atmosphere of the theatre and will not waste precious minutes after the rise of the curtain in getting out of the air of the play. There is a distinct dlifferenoo between the two atmospheres, a.nd those who arrive in the theatre a. moment before the play begins or a moment afterwards will find that for an -appreciable time they camrot adjust their thoughts to the illusion that is being created before their eyes. They cannot see three soldiers in the dusk terrified by a spectre; all they can see is four men clothed, in fancy dress, one of whom is pretending to be a. ghost ; and in a vague way they are conscious of the fact that the men are speaking, hut they cannot comprehend what it is the men are saying. In this maimer a disturbing influence is made in the theatre which affects the whole of the audience, and may ruin the play. The well-mamiered audience will not applaud popular players when they make their first entrance. The wellmannered audience will not remember that Sir Herbert Tree is playing the part, of Sir Peter Teazle until the play is over. When Sir Peter appears on the stage it will think of Sir Peter only, and be curious to see what happens. Tt will not applaud at the end of each act: it will wait until the piece is over, a.nd then it will call the players and giro such applause to them as they deserve. Tt will witness the play in silence as far as possible, and when it ,is provoked to laughter it will laugh after the fashion of gentlemen, not after the fashion of costermongers. Fbwillw and most emphatically, if it dislikes a play it will not hoot the author, nor will it shout “"Rotten !” at the manager of the theatre; it will get nn and walk out of the house in a decor* a.nd civil way. Thai is what disappointed audiences do in America, and T would be sorrv to think that English people are less courteous in the theatre than Americans are.