The Dress Rehearsal—I
IN theory the dress rehearsal is a rehearsal at which everything is supposed to go off as if it were “The Night” itself: with scenery, lights, costumes, grease-paint, noises off, and supers. In practice, however, it is a rehearsal at which none of these things is present in its completeness; at which there is usually only half of the scenery on the stage, while the other half is only just drying, or just being fixed, or otherwise “on the way”: at which trousers are ready but not coats; at which it is discovered that there is not a decent wig in the place; at which it is discovered that the most important “props” are missing; at which the supers cannot put in an appearance because one is a witness in a police-court case, another is in an office, in hospital, or somewhere; at which the flautist
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