cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

young girls could double it, and the company had only four actresses. But what
difference did that make? Just as easily as one struck the four quartet- singers, one could
let little Trine's father meet for the exam instead of her mother, and in that way I got the
opportunity to portray: "Mr. Rar, fruit and wild-flower merchant."
When we had come somewhat farther into the country, and as a corollary farther
away from our homeland, so that it was likely that the personnel did not have the money
to leave the directors and travel back to Denmark, they called a general meeting, in which
they offered a kind of balance sheet of their income and expenses in the foregoing weeks,
which showed that if the attendance did not get better, it would be impossible for them to
meet the stipulated payroll. Therefore they offered us the same conditions that travelling
companies usually had: "to play on shares." Miller would have an extra share before the
reckoning, for directing and keeping the accounts, as would Olsen, who owned the
wardrobe and the repertoire, but the rest of us would fraternally share the balance in equal
parts. At this juncture there was not much point in objecting, since they could not keep to
the contracts. Besides, these had been issued by the old ex-pastor on behalf of the
directors, and both of them explained that they did not regard themselves as bound by the
commitments he had imposed upon them, so there was "nothing written" which assured
us the regular salaries. Besides, what could we do to them? "Where nothing is,..." etc.
In any case this much was known: the manger was empty, and everybody knew
what usually followed from that. ("When the manger is empty the horses bite.") It did
not fail to happen here, either. The words that were exchanged were neither gentle nor
elegant, and when, as they say, one thing led to another, it was not long before it came to
hand-to-hand combat. The large, robust Miller had taken a firm grip on the chest of a
slender young actor with his left hand, and his right was already lifted to strike a blow,
when the actress who for the time being was engaged to the threatened youth suddenly
yanked up one of the windows and with a tearing shriek shouted: "Help! Help!"
That shriek changed the situation instantly. The tumult ceased, and Miller
released his victim in order to yank the noisy lady away from the window. A little pause
set in, and now our tragic second director took the opportunity to present a pathetic
interlude. He stepped forward into the middle of the floor and let his head fall as deeply
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