The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 248: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

' BEHIND THE SCENES 231 either department enjoy the privilege of separate dressing- rooms, but the minor performers dress three or four in a chamber, a due regard to the distinction of the sexes being of course maintained. There is an immense concert-room belonging to the building, and which in itself is larger than many of the minor theatres. Then there is the scene-painters’ room, a place of considerable extent and of great height, as may be imagined from the extent of canvas that has to be spread out for the purpose of designing and colouring. There is the room where the theatrical properties are kept, com- prising all the costumes and the various articles which have to be introduced on the stage to suit particular performances. Moreover, immense space is required for the mechanism of which we shall almost immediately have to speak; and thus from this mere fleeting and imperfect glance at the prin- cipal departments and divisions of the establishment some idea may be formed of its magnitude. But at night, when the vast amphitheatre is one blaze of light and crowded with spectators from pit to roof, how few who are then present can form an idea of the mechanical power that is brought to bear upon all those shifting scenes which produce such splendid effects upon the stage. Per- haps it is a beautiful landscape which is thus represented, with trees and fields and water and houses, and with the clouds above, but all the various portions of painted canvas that enter into the formation of that scenery are moved and put into their place by means of countless ropes and numbers oi wheels, levers, and windlasses, so that to the eye of the visitor who is allowed to peep behind those scenes it appears as if he were on board an immense ship and involved amidst the complications of its rigging. What hosts of carpenters and scene-shifters are likewise employed in the management and execution of all those arrangements which are thus unseen, and the extent of which is little suspected by the brillant company sitting in front of the footlights! Under- neath the stage it is apparently one confused and jumbled mass of mechanism, beams, posts, wheels, levers, and all imaginable contrivances for trap-doors, drops, and the numerous other artifices, devices, and ingenious arrangements which often produce such startling effects to the eyes of the audience. | From those dark profundities beneath the stage, high up GoOmiGcnooks (EO)