Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/48

28 the proscenium, and over the east entrance is a perch hidden by a screen, where the gidayu-singer sits and sings when his services are required. On the second and third stories behind the stage are the dressing rooms where rehearsals also take place. Just behind the pit is a line of compartments of various heights, occupied by those connected with the management, especially the representatives of the capitalist who runs the play; for nearly every theatre is built under special contract by a capitalist, though nominally owned by the registered proprietor; and when a play is

put on the stage, the same or another capitalist provides the money for it and divides the proceeds with the proprietor. Most proprietors of theatres are heavily in debt.

A theatre was formerly open from dawn till close upon midnight. Women usually made preparations over night for going thither and even sat up all night so as not to be caught asleep at dawn when the drum summoned them to the theatre. But in Tokyo the Metropolitan Police Board