dress the house

Definitions

1. 1

   To position oneself, or others, so as to make the auditorium appear fuller than it really…

   To position oneself, or others, so as to make the auditorium appear fuller than it really is.

   • […] to pay this tax through inviting a certain class of the public, who are always invited, to theatres of standing to dress the house.
   • […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.
   • The box office in a reserved seat house and the ushers in a non-reserved situation are responsible for dressing the house—that is, seating the audience so as to elicit the maximum response, […]

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