Consequently a publican is compelled to
obtain a licence to pursue his trade; and this licence lasts
only a year, and need not be renewed if his house has been
conducted in a disorderly manner in the meantime.
PROSTITUTION AND DRINK IN THEATRES
The theatre presents the same problem as the public-house in
respect to disorder. To begin with, a theatre is actually a place
licensed for the sale of spirits. The bars at a London theatre
can be let without difficulty for 30 pounds a week and upwards.
And though it is clear that nobody will pay from a shilling to
half a guinea for access to a theatre bar when he can obtain
access to an ordinary public-house for nothing, there is no law
to prevent the theatre proprietor from issuing free passes
broadcast and recouping himself by the profit on the sale of
drink. Besides, there may be some other attraction than the sale
of drink. When this attraction is that of the play no objection
need be made. But it happens that the auditorium of a theatre,
with its brilliant lighting and luxurious decorations, makes a
very effective shelter and background for the display of fine
dresses and pretty faces. Consequently theatres have been used
for centuries in England as markets by prostitutes. From the
Restoration to the days of Macready all theatres were made use of
in this way as a matter of course; and to this, far more than to
any prejudice against dramatic art, we owe the Puritan formula
that the theatre door is the gate of hell.
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