as: “I haven’t had a look at the words yet, old man!” and so on. Then the scenery arrives and the technical staff straggles on to the stage. The dramatist feels moved to run and help them; he is looking forward so much to seeing the stage made ready for the play. Sturdy fellows in blue blouses and overalls lug in the side wall of a room: splendid! Then they casually bring in another wall: magnificent! Now for the third wall . . . but the third wall is still in the painting-room. “Just hang up something or other for the time being,” cries the producer. Finally the missing wall is substituted by a forest scene.
At this point the whole proceedings come to a full stop. And all on account of a lath. It begins by two stage hands boring a hole in one of the wings. “What are you doing there?” cries the foreman of the technical staff. “We’ve got to fix a bracket here,” the men answer. The foreman therefore runs to intervene, squats down, and begins working away at the wing in question.
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