The background was formed by a collapsible screen which was painted to
represent a room; in the foreground on one side was a paper window
painted black and white, and on the other side the cellar door,
metamorphosed into the portal of a Gothic palace. Through this entry the
whole of the _dramatis personae_ came and went, for it was the only one.
The piece acted was, naturally, not "Hernani or Castilian Honour," but
Schiller's "Robbers." Szilard recognized it at the very first three
words. He also noticed that the characters of Karl and Franz Moor were
acted by one and the same person (the manager himself, as he was
informed) with a simple change of voice and mask, and despite the
different disguises employed, it constantly seemed to Szilard as if he
had seen that caricature of a face somewhere else and the voice,
parodied as it now was, nevertheless seemed familiar to him. No less
familiar appeared the violent gestures of the young actor which
frequently endangered the side scenes.
Now as early as Scene 2 the noble public began to be aware of the
unheard of fraud practiced upon it; a murmuring, an agitation, a
whispering and a wagging of heads, and finally an impatient thumping of
sticks began to mingle with the bustle of the drama, till at last a
worthy cobbler, who had lent the _troupe_ three wooden benches and
received in return a free pass every day, suddenly bawled out: "Halloh
there, Mr.
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