Til EATRE-II y G I ENE. 5 1 5 



For instance, though there is a skeleton iron-work frame, with 

 asbestos cloth curtain — the only fire-proof curtain in Sydney, it is 

 true — there is at present no means adopted for lowering or raising 

 it. On both sides of the proscenium party-wall there are openings 

 to various parts of the edifice. Fireproof doors are absent in the 

 passages and doorways leading from all parts of the house, 

 excepting the amphitlieatre, to bars and saloons. The winding 

 stair from the third gallery is dangerous in case of panic. 

 Lighting arrangements are equally defective, the electric engine 

 being situated in the basement under the dressing rooms with the 

 floors above not rendered fireproof, while the gas meters are 

 located inside the main building, not easy of access, where there 

 is not the slighest ventilation, and where they are dangei'ous in 

 case of fire. The six water-tanks, placed on a grid-floor, are 

 inadequate in that they would only yield one hundred and flfty- 

 nine instead of two hundred and fifty gallons per one hundred 

 people. The dressing rooms, which usually come off" worst, are 

 constructed of three floors, the second and third being reached by 

 a winding wood staircase, with the result that the inmates could 

 not escape if Are or smoke entered the stair. If defects such as 

 these ai'e to be found at Her Majesty's, the so-called premier 

 theatre of Australia, the faults and failings of the remaining 

 structures can be better imagined than described. 



The fact that certain buildings not originally designed or 

 constructed as such, have been subsequently converted into play- 

 houses will account for many deficiencies with regard to site, 

 proscenium, external and j)arty-walls, and the location of scene- 

 dock, workshop, property-room, or store-room within the precincts 

 of the building. Thus, the Gaiety Theatre was originally erected 

 for a Hall for the Society of Guilds, with level floor and no stage ; 

 the Standard for a Royal Foresters' Hall ; the Opera House 

 designed originally as a Music Hall ; the Alhambra ^lusic Hall 

 primarily erected for a Bazaar or Auction Room ; while the 

 Academy of ^lusic (lately the Victoria Hall) was actually built 

 for and used as a billiard room. In addition, owing to want of 

 space and increasing value of building land, the accommodation 

 in all directions has become limited, and many devices resorted to, 

 such as lumbering up the basement under the stage with property 

 sent down through the traps, having portions of the buildings set 

 aside for hotel, shop, or otlier business purposes, placing the 

 orchestra under the stage, the dressing-rooms under the auditorium, 

 and trying otlier expedients alike incompatible with health and 

 safety. In other cases, the licensing anthority is to blame, as in 

 the case of the Theatre Royal, of which building the Colonial 

 Architect says, " no portion of this house is fireproof, and if a 

 fire takes place, a few seconds only can pass before all will be in 

 flames:' ' and in the case of the Criterion where the reconnnenda- 

 tions made by the Commissioners have been totally ignored. 



