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From: "tots" <>
Subject: [Cmn-L] Fw: Not everyone knows this..
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 11:19:11 +1000


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gareth" <W/>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday 11 2000 4:53 AM
Subject: Not everyone knows this..


> This one might amuse you, read it all though :-)
> ########
>
> The Portable Theatre in Wales 1843-1914
>
> These random extracts from this fascinating article are intended to bring
> out the flavour of a theatrical life that the participants regarded as the
> then "modern" successor of the "old strolling tradition".
>
> Portable theatres were sometimes tents, sometimes collapsible wooden
booths,
> and sometimes a combination of wooden walls with a tilt or canvas top.
> Their common characteristic was that they could be dismantled easily , and
> carried from place to place on carts or railway wagons.
>
> A property of this kind consisted of more than the usual theatrical
> furnishings, this is made plain in the will of one owner of a portable ;
>
> "I give and bequeath all my Waggons, Theatrical Dresses, Scenery and
Stages,
> Living Van, Pit , Gallery, Coverings, Frontings, Paintings, and the whole
of
> the Articles and Things forming my large building, now known as "Latimer's
> Mammoth Theatre", to my dear wife".
>
> The day of setting up or pulling down was a very busy one requiring strict
> rules and regulations by the owner, such as;
>
> "Any party coming intoxicated to the building , or pulling down, or to
> perform, to be fined his night's salary ; for the second offence, to be
> discharged."
>
> "All ladies to assist in mending the tilt."
>
> Some of the largest portables could hold 2000 spectators, and could put on
> quite as an elaborate spectacle as the smaller permanent theatres.
> Their overheads were low, as was the price of admission.
> They avoided towns where stock companies played and sought audiences in
the
> villages and townships of the new industrial areas.
> They saw themselves as the provincial representatives of the London "
penny
> gaffs" and this name was indeed used for them in the Welsh centres they
> played.
>
> [Based on Cecil Price. The Portable Theatre in Wales 1843-1914. The
National
> Library of Wales Journal, Vol IX/1 1955. Gareth 29 Nov 2000 G/D]
> ###########
> These 'nomadic Thespians' were sometimes accused of 'murdering the Queen's
> English', a charge which had good basis when a troupe was composed of
> Cockneys who could not get work in London.
> This amusing incident demonstrates the point ;
>
> In 1852 the Monmouthshire Merlin describes the appearance at Pontypool
> Magistrates Court of one Henry Mangley, who was charged with assaulting a
> James Attis ' a brother professional'. Under the caption ' The Actors; A
> Small Performance' are details of their pleas;
>
> "Complainant ; Yer verships, the day next Pontypool fair, this 'ere
Caliban
> comes up and hits me sich a precious von hin my hy, that I sees forked
> lightning in no time. I vent down on my marrows, hin course; and hafore I
> can hascend again, vy he ins to precious 'air like a currycomb, and
pitches
> hinto me a rum 'un, and no mistake.
>
> Defendant ; O, I pleads guilty, on my 'onour, but I could a tale unfold,
> whose lightest word would harrow up etc. In short, the spoons. the spoons.
> O, my prophetic soul, my uncle."
>
> Allowing for some exaggeration in the writing, we may conclude that the
> standard of English spoken at this particular booth was not of the
highest.
>
> [Extract true to the original, translations not available, my spellchecker
> just blew up :-) ]
>
> [Based on Cecil Price. The Portable Theatre in Wales 1843-1914. The
National
> Library of Wales Journal, Vol IX/1 1955. Gareth 29 Nov 2000 G/D]
> ########
>
> Gareth
> List Administrator for Dyfed, CGN & PEM.
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>
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