2-995-830 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interior of the Soldiers' Theatre at Mourmelon-le-Grand, Chalons Camp, [France] - from a drawing by M. Beaucé, 1860. 'This theatre, built of wood, and in the most unpretending style, at the cost of upwards of £2000, was opened as a private speculation in 1857...The granting or the withholding the permission to go to the theatre was found to exercise such a powerful influence on the conduct of the troops that at length the Emperor...determined upon converting it entirely into a theatre for the camp...The salle accommodates a thousand privates, three hundred sub-officers, and two hundred officers, who are all admitted gratuitously...A simple chandelier, furnished with oil-lamps, lights the salle, the upper parts of which are tastefully decorated with numerous flags...There is a performance every night in the week except Sunday. The piece performed on the night we "assisted" (and we were the only civilian present) was "Don Caesar de Bazan......The trooper looks forward to his periodical visit to the Theatre Imperial du Tivoli with unalloyed pleasure, and regulates his conduct in such a manner as to make his permission sure'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.