Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1877 — Japanese Audiences. [ARTICLE]

Japanese Audiences.

AU the Year Round gives the follow ing rattling description of the stage and audience business in Japan: Free-and-easiness is the great characteristic of Japanese audiences. During the performance everyone smokes, eats and drinks; criticisms are very audibly expressed, conversation and chaff are very general, people come in and go out as they like; if the weather be hot, superfluous raiment Is laid aside sans ceremonie; coolies enter with their implements ot trade, and reeking with the dust And sweat of the day, much in the same aay that one may observe peasants slouching into continental cathedrals for a few minutes* prayer. On the stage the same nonchalance is apparent. If an actor be not “word perfect” the prompter follows him about without the slightest attempt to disguise; a stage carpenter, wanting a light for his pipe, does not hesitate to crawl in front of one of the actors and take one from the stage candies; men “ who are killed” during the play are allowed to make their exit behind a piece of black cloth, boldly brought and held up by a boy, and no hitch or accident ever justifies the drawing across of the curtains. Applause takes the form of wild shrieks—mos frequently the name of the actor. Dissent and disapprobation are invariably expressed by loud and long-continued chaffing and hooting.