Fault in the Structure

‘Up you go, sir,’ they said, hoisting him bodily on to the cart which, lacking the wedges for its wheels, wobbled a little but was immediately steadied by the students, one of whom arranged the loop around Lawrence’s neck. It transpired, later, that he had not performed this simple act before, for the students who acted as stage-hands were changed each evening and depended upon the unlucky Ernest Farrow for their orders. He himself left them so that he could appear in front of the curtains where he was joined by the student who was acting as the Player.

Denbigh had cut this scene, as Laura knew, to a minimum. Each actor was to make two speeches only and then the curtain was to rise on Denbigh’s piece de resistance, Macheath on the hangman’s cart and the ‘rabble’, hearing of the reprieve, rushing rejoicingly on to the stage – ‘although, actually,’ Denbigh had once confessed to Laura, ‘I think they’d have been pretty shirty at being done out of the fun of a hanging.’

Before any of this could happen, Laura had gone backstage to wait in the corridor with James Hunty for the curtain-calls – there were to be three, at least, on this the last evening, more if the applause warranted them. The Beggar and the Player were already half-way through their short dialogue in which Macheath’s reprieve was to be announced, but on this occasion the dialogue did not get finished in its original form, but sustained a surprising modern addition. It ended with these words:

Player: But, honest friend, I hope you don’t intend that Macheath shall be really executed?

Beggar: Most certainly, sir. To make the piece perfect, I was for doing strict poetical justice. Macheath is to be hang’d; as for the other—

‘Good God! Look out!’ But he spoke too late. Something hit his companion from behind the curtain and, taken utterly by surprise, the unfortunate Player was precipitated into the orchestra pit where he found himself spreadeagled across the top of the harpsichord.

Behind the scenes there was immediate and utter confusion. The audience did not know whether to laugh at what some regarded as a rehearsed effect, or whether to view the Player’s mishap with concern. Dame Beatrice, among the latter, darted forward to ask whether the Player was hurt. Reassured, she took the route she had seen Laura take and she and her secretary met face to face in the wings. Laura seized her employer’s skinny arm and said:

‘Quick! Lawrence! Do something! He’ll hang himself!’

Together they hastened on stage.

CHAPTER 18

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The anxiety of continual questioning

The inquest was fixed for the following Thursday, but before it could take place there was a police enquiry in which the whole cast, the stage-hands, the electricians and Dame Beatrice herself were involved.

‘What caused you to go straight away behind the scenes, ma’am?’

‘I was sitting in the front row of the auditorium and heard Mr Farrow, who was playing a part which took place in front of the curtain, exclaim: “Good God! Look out!” ’

‘What did you make of that?’

‘I realised that a fairly heavy property, which was behind the curtain and was mounted on wheels, must have got loose. I could hear the sound of it as clearly as could the two actors.’

‘What happened then?’

‘One of the actors had his legs taken from under him by the force of the impact and was precipitated off the front of the stage. I am a qualified medical practitioner, so I went forward to see whether he was hurt.’

‘But then you went backstage.’

‘Yes. I realised that we had been witnessing an unrehearsed effect—’

‘How did you know that?’

‘I had been present at one of the rehearsals. I wanted to find out whether the actor who had been standing on the cart had suffered injury.’

‘And he had, of course.’

‘Yes, indeed. He was dead within moments of my arrival.’

‘Further medical evidence indicates that he died of cerebral suboxia. Would you agree?’

‘Certainly, although I think, in any case, he might have died of shock.’

‘As the doctor first on the scene of the accident, you will be required to give evidence at the inquest.’

The next persons to be questioned were the two students who had been in charge of the cart.

‘Did you not realise the possible danger of slipping a running noose over a pinioned and blindfolded man’s head?’

‘We only did what the stage manager had told us to do. We’d never done the job before. We didn’t know it ought to have been just a loop and not a running noose. Somebody boobed, but it wasn’t us.’

‘You put the white hood over the actor’s head, pinioned his arms behind his back and adjusted the rope around his neck. What else did you do?’

‘We held on to the cart and helped him mount.’