PIONEER "MUMMERS"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1913, Page 3

PIONEER "MUMMERS"

, AND BOISTEROUS "GODS." , -. ' A SOT NIGHT IN '46. „ , In the'early-Wellington" section of yesterday's issue' were extracts' given from Lieutenant M-'Kilfop's "Reminiscences *of twelve months' service in.^NeW Zealand." '|here is.a'rtobher' passage (reprinted in The, Post four ,or. five years ago) well worth another edition. It is a sketch of, a' tempestuous night at a Wellington etttertftinnjeqt in the' year 1846. "Soon. after our arrival," the Calliope lieutenant .wrote, "we. , received, a playbill,' which rather surprised us, havirig been ; given-. to. understand at Auckland that "this place, was^ so inferior a settlement.tothe capital (Mien Auckland) that theatricals seemed .quite out of place. Curiosity, however, induced. many of us to go to see what the.jlace'was like. We went,- accordingly,' and found' the house so ) full l; that, it- was with' considerable difficulty We could get up to our perches -^which, we -were, told, .were the boxes. However, by dint of pulling from above and pushing from below, we managed to get into them/ The "ladder which 'had been .placed' for the accommodation of '.{he audience mounting to these, seats had been[ broken; - Jfrelorejdar arrival by s&fne of the' audience ''during a slightdisturbance.. ' As.'Bopn 4s our eyes > had become, accustomed td the cloudy atmbs-' phere, which 'was strongly impregnated with tohapco smoke,- .We 1 discovered' the stagehand' its' recesses. TBe' piece was just' about to coninience,, the" pit having come *■ to f ah amicable understanding , With •each other, after ' cbnsiderabV"demon'" strations of pulling the bo*es down 1 and annihilating the occupants. ■ ' , . HOW "MACBETH" SANG "THE ' . . ADMI&AL'"- . "The 'first actor who made 1 his -appearance was greeted with such a-'snout, and underwent such an impertinent '«Kjssexa'mination as' to Where- he hadi procured'his'red striped -pantaloons, hoWjhe moustache' was stuck on,- etc.. ihat'lle could not proceed. 'This being highly irregular, the manager . came on' to request that 'order* might be l«ept. Unfortunately for' himself;' he Was known' to the' colonists as a "vocaJistj and, was accordingly called upon' lot a . B ong in sudhan energetic manner thatj to sSVe the > stage from- .being , upiet, . he sung The Admiral,* and being in the' costume of 'Alacbeth* it' had on "the whole a' pleasing effect. He was loudly,'applaud-ed-Wr his, good .nature, which,, however, was further put to the, test by the wilful hearers calling on ' .their first" friend ,of the red striped trousers to- favour- them in a Bimilar w-ay. vfle, however, not being ..prepared* to -perform in this way, was hissed, Off the stage,,, and order was not restored until one of the, actresses came on and sang at least, half-a-dozen songs in succession, which were received' With raptures- of applause. \ ' - BRINGING THE ' HOUSE .DOWN. "The • piece i was > then -commenced and went on smoothly for half*an>hour, when poor Macbeth, happening to be -left alone On ,-.^L e Btag , e to S e " though some long soliloquy. % the wayward audience £nowing him' to be a daacing" master an,d excelling in th© sailor's hornpipe, demanded {t in a manner which would not .bear a ft refusal. The 'fiddlers were accordingly ordered, in a very peremptory . man&ei\ to. strike up, and poor Macbeth "was obliged to .start off. His long sword interfering with his steps, he laid it aside and went to work. in capital style, which brought forth sUch shouts of dehgnt ahd uproarious peals of laughter,' accompanied by such, , stamping: and screams and other symptoms of excessive approbation, that- in, a few* minutes down came ■ the boxes, the , supports ■ ■ having been knocked away from beneath.- , This ■"W^t* l " n° f n|'?pe -tq-.a 'finale, and with it the whole -of the performance. We, who had! shared the downfall bt the boxes, were glad "to .get out into 'the fresh air, havirfg luckily escaped with a fdw bruises^' , _. The lieutenant and ''his friends ' then returned vto r the-ir hotel, -and "witnessed some capital play.on a first-rate, table.'"