IRVING AND THE GALLERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12272, 16 May 1903, Page 6 (Supplement)

IRVING AND THE GALLERY.

The coming of Irving and his Dante" to Drury Laue reminds me of two little stories I have heard of the effect of Sir. Henry's fiknt methods of acting upon the boys of the gallery. In" The Medicine Man" at the Lyceum, a play by Mr. Robert Hichens and the late Mr. H. D. Traill, which had an undeservedly short run, Sir Henry, in the third act, was discovered sitting at his study table, in the dead of night, poring over papers and reflecting upon the exciting events of the departed day. The audience awaited breathlessly for some time the breaking of the deep silence, but Sir Henry sab on and pored and reflected. Seconds on the stage are minutes, and minutes hours ; and it was a minute before the actor turned slowly in his swivel chair and seemed to be about to speak. But it was only to make a few observations with his eyes and the muscles of his face; and so a boy in the gallery politely remarked, "I hope I'm not keeping you up, sir!" In the banquet scene of 'Macbeth" Sir Henry was in the habit at the Lyceum of drawing out the agony of his terror when, in the character of that notorious murderer, he beheld the ghost of Banquo occupying his chair at the festive board. The "staggers" of his fright lasted long after Banquo had vacated the chair and gone about his mysterious business, and one evening, as Sir Henry, despite the departure ot the ghost, was standing down stage still shivering and shaking with " fantastic terrors never felt before," a kindly and sympathetic occupant of the gallery,, whispered down in a soothing voice, " It's all right, guv'nor, he's gone!"