When theatres were built, he informed us, they were modelled in the same
shape as the yards of these inns, their arrangement being also the same:
the stage represented the boards on the wagons and the actors dressed
underneath it, the pit corresponded to the inn yard, the gallery to the
platform over the stables, the boxes to the place railed off for the
squire. The actor was not sure about the stalls, and thought these were
instituted at a later period; but we reminded him that stalls were a
necessary adjunct to stables.
[Illustration: STRATFORD-ON-AVON CHURCH.]
He also told us that the actors had a language peculiar to their
profession, which also dated from the time when they acted in the
country inn yards, for even when they travelled by train they were
always "on the road," and when acting in the theatre they were still "on
the boards."
We asked him if he knew about Shakespeare's stealing the deer from
Charlecote Park, Sir Thomas Lucy's property, and he said he did; but the
report was not quite correct, for at that time the park was surrounded
by Common Land, and it was there that Shakespeare shot the deer, which
only went into the park to die.
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