Some anecdotes taken from the Commonplace Book of EHL Reeve in 1881.
Evenings Out
Amateur dramatics
Some
itinerant players visited Hadleigh at one time, and the elite of the
neighbourhood kindly patronized their performances during the few nights of
their sojourn in the town. The pieces
were on the whole well played, but, of course, there were defects observed here
and there; and the close proximity of the stalls to the stage, owing to the
small space covered by the whole caravan, was the means of disclosing to their
occupants many of the asides and whispers of the green room. In one of the scenes the plot required that
snow should descend in considerable quantities; and, after a while, the
perplexed cries of the weather-proprietor became audible to those
assembled. “There is no more white
paper,” he cried. ”I cannot go on with the snow”. “No white paper,” said the ready stage
manager. “Then snow brown”.
At the theatre
Revd.
Thomas Reeve went on one occasion with Sir Thomas Thorogood to the theatre in
Hadleigh. A few moments before the
performance began the orchestra, as their custom is, began to saw away at their
violins to get them to the same key and pitch.
“What are they up to, Revd. Reeve?”, asked the baronet. “Tuning up their instruments, Sir Thomas”,
replied the Rector. “Tune their
instruments”, cried the impatient old gentleman, “why can’t they tune their
instruments before they come?”
At the Ball
Fiske
Harrison would seem to have been a bit of a wag. Tom Wallace would appear in the ball room, as
was the custom in those days, with an opera hat which used to be carried under
the arm. Tom, however, had an
unfortunate habit of carrying his hat with the crown towards the ground, and
Fiske Harrison nearly overstept the bounds of friendship on one occasion by
dropping half-a-crown into it.
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