Serbians at outdoor theatre - Stereograph Card

View from stage of a Serbian army audience in an outdoor theater at the front. Prompter in foreground

The Serbian army had little in the way of recreation; it was too far away and too closely surrounded by enemies to be reached in force by the American welfare agencies such as the У. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, and Salvation Army. It had to depend upon its own resources for such meager entertainment as could be afforded.

Closely beset as it was by an enemy vastly superior in numbers, with a relatively poor commissariat compared with the other Allied armies, it had to be foraging or fighting almost continuously.
There were, however, occasional periods of inaction when the men staged impromptu plays in the open air, the stage a natural theatre formed by hill and valley. The soldiers themselves impersonated the characters in the play, thus deriving double pleasure from its presentation.

As there was not much time for practice the actors frecmently completely forgot their lines and a prompter was always necessary. In the scene before us he sat with his book in a shelter which concealed him from the spectators. The band was stationed in front of the stage, clarionets and a French horn plainly visible.

Further back, mingled with the soldiers in the audience, were a few officers, distinguishable by the white rosettes on their visored hats.

The hilly background of this open air theatre gives a splendid idea of the native hills of these hardy soldiers. They lived by thousands in modest little cottages like those which dot the side of the hill, leading hard and laborious lives with little but the necessities of life as reward for their labor.

• Excerpt from: The World War through the stereoscope a visualized, vitalized history of the greatest conflict of all the ages / / edited by Major Joseph Mills Hanson.
• Published/Created by: Meadville, Pa.; New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; London, England: 
• Keystone View Company, photographed between 1914 and 1918, published 1923
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA