Some few days after this memorable meeting of the Gun Club, the manager of an English company announced, at the Baltimore theatre, the production of "Much ado about Nothing." But the populace, seeing in that title an allusion damaging to Barbicane's project, broke into the auditorium, smashed the benches, and compelled the unlucky director to alter his
playbill. Being a sensible man, he bowed to the public will and replaced the offending comedy by "As you like it"; and for many weeks he realized fabulous profits.
"A gloomy wood," according to the one
playbill, was represented by a few shrubs in pots, green baize on the floor, and a cave in the distance.
I took what Joe gave me, and found it to be the crumpled
playbill of a small metropolitan theatre, announcing the first appearance, in that very week, of "the celebrated Provincial Amateur of Roscian renown, whose unique performance in the highest tragic walk of our National Bard has lately occasioned so great a sensation in local dramatic circles."
"Thank you," she said, her little hand in its long glove taking the
playbill Vronsky picked up, and suddenly at that instant her lovely face quivered.
For me was reserved the high honor of discovering among the rubbish of the ruined Coliseum the only
playbill of that establishment now extant.
The place, with its gray sky and withered garlands, its bared spaces and scattered dead leaves, was like a theater after the performance-- all strewn with crumpled
playbills. There were exactly states of the air, conditions of sound and of stillness, unspeakable impressions of the KIND of ministering moment, that brought back to me, long enough to catch it, the feeling of the medium in which, that June evening out of doors, I had had my first sight of Quint, and in which, too, at those other instants, I had, after seeing him through the window, looked for him in vain in the circle of shrubbery.
But the
playbills showed her nothing inviting and she was forced to go away to her work with the money burning her pocket and all manner of wild schemes floating in her head.
I have not time for anybody's affairs but my own and those of my honorable guests; but I make an agreement with the man who pastes up the papers, and he brings them to me as he would the
playbills, that in case any person staying at my hotel should like to witness an execution, he may obtain every requisite information concerning the time and place etc."
Here on the head of an empty barrel stood on end were an ink-bottle, some old stumps of pens, and some dirty
playbills; and against the wall were pasted several large printed alphabets in several plain hands.
One of the highlights of the week's programme will be the unveiling of a giant
playbill, which has been commissioned to celebrate 120 years of Birmingham Hippodrome.
Measuring 10 metres in length, the
playbill will be installed in the main foyer and takes inspiration from the posters that hung outside the theatre a century ago announcing the acts for each week.
The Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) has ordered Airtel to shut down the
playbill numbers of betting firms whose licences it has not renewed.