The National Register. — London, England, 1816-01-21 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL JAN. 21. DRA ATIC REGISTER. KING'S 111EATI?E. On Saturday the Opera opened, for the present season ; when a new musical drama was produced, called " Grivelda ; or, La Vertu i,i . Cimento," the story of which is highly pleasing. Madame Mains ille Fodor made her first public appearance in this country. Iler voice is tuneful, though not very powerful ; but her scientific attainments are very considerable. She was a great favourite in Parts Signors Begri and Galli, and Sig nora Aarzetti and Madame Ledoni, all new from the Con tinent, also appeared for the first time. Their talents ate very resrctable We were much pleased at the re-appearance of out old favourite Naldi. The Opera was extremely well re ceived thr)ughout. The Divertissement was " Los Petis Bra. owildicrs. The Ballet Mars et l'Amour" followed, in which Messrs Baptiste, Leon, and C.Vestris, Oscar Bryne, and Madamoisclles Milanie and Leon, &c. displayed all their wonted grace and agili ty. The house was extremely well filled, considering the state of fashion in town. We do not observe any alteration in the general decorations of the House, since its grand improvement last season. COVENT•GARDEN. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, SHAKESPEARE'S GENIUS, GAR RICK'S BLUNDERS, SHAKESPEARE AND THE PIGFACEI) LADY. Amongst the many wonders of the Muse of SHAKSPEARE in the Midsummer Night's Dream, which possesses more beauties of lan guage, more power of fancy, and nwre delicacy of versification than Any poem we are acquainted with. It is of this play that it may be said, having exhausted the drama of the actual world, he re velled in the possibilities of a new invention of his own, and crea ted fairies to make a new scene for the exhibitions of his fancy. Whether it was acted with much success in the time of SHAKE SPEARE we know not, As a poem it is exquisite ; as a play, it must have required in those days a great stretch of fancy in the au dience to give effect to the situations where, from the want of ap propriate scene s an d mac hi nery, no actual illusion could be effected in the introductioa of the Fairy characters. But in those days the i. chef in supernatural agency was current with all ranks, and the superstitiwi of the audience supplied perhaps what was refused tq their senses. The attempt to revive this piece is a just tribute to the genius of SHAKE,PEARE and the taste of the nation. It' it could tail we Pl#9ulti condo an not the managers but the audience. We regret not heaig Ole to witness the representation ourselves, but from a trusty friend we are enabled to say, that the success of the repro sentatioii was equal to the utmost of our expectations. CONWAY !mike, well in TheseuJ, the demi-god, and delivered the beautithl passage on the Poetic Genius, beginning " The past's eye in a fine phrensy rolling," with a happiness which he does not t'requently attain. He was accurdingly most loudly and justly applauded. LISTON in the all-attempting Bottom, the Stag e - struck Weaver, was as luminous a s i n an y c h aracter t h at he has lately played. In the scene with the Ass's-head on, he was irresistably comic. Whether this is the actual prototype of the Piglaccd Lady who has lately made so much noise without being seen, w e w ill not venture to say, but it seem s th a t all modes of being have been exhausted by the fancy of NIIAKEAPEARE, Itlla that the wildest Lusus A r afura, if it exist iii recent times, has been anticipated in his imaginary • 1 creation. We are obliged from necessity, our illness still continuing, to have recourse to other reports; but we can assure our readers that the horreriticismin a certain MorningPaper,which represented this revival as a failure, is the mere ill humour of the critic, who must that night have been determined to be displeased with every thing. We shall add a critique by a brother Journalist, which we are in formed, front other sources, is nearer the truth, and which very judiciously points out the probable cause of this play failing under the mintagement of GARRICK, who seems to have fallen into an egregious mistake when he supposed that the most beautiful pas sages of the first of Poets could come mended to the ear by the ilaperfcct lisping of babies or the shrill untunable monotony of halt' grown 1445 . and The revival of the play of the Midsummer Night's Dream creates a sensation of the 40st pleasing kind. An attempt to give personifi cation to beings so deep and fimciful, as the creatures of the Poet's imagination in this play-L-ind to illustrate on the scene the gam hots to which SHAKESPEARE has given such delicacy and charm in the tcxl l naturally excited the most lively int.N . vBt—frula the 0b- TER. }1• vious difficulty of the text, and from the recoHection that aH former efforts of the eind had failed. In 1763 the play was brought out, altered by (sweetest, at Drury-lane, and was performed but one night. '1 he same aiteratioe, with some slight difference, was also nought out at the alaymarket, without success; and at that time Mr. COLMAN, finding it was imputed to him, vindicated himself from the imputation by stating, that he was only the harbinger of the piece to the public ; the alteration having been tiositisely made by (Audis:. The cause of its failure in attraction, as a drama, was probably owing to the Fairies being consigned to clii,- dren, through whom the beautiful dialogue and music could Lot come w ith that delight to the mind, which the reading of the poetry is sure to produce iu the closet—and also because it was nut eui. beilished by spectacle and the elusion of scenery. The present exhibition is of a very different cast from the former attempts, Titania, which we remember to have seen personified by the sweet littie sister of Miss FA RR EN (afterwards Mrs. KNIGHT) is now assigned to Mrs. FAUCIT ; Oberon is Mr. Den user, and Patle is Miss Borrrh, The Fairies by such songstresses Mrs. Lis rosi Miss MATHEWS, Miss BURRELL . , MISS MACALPINE, tVe. 1 here are songs also s e le c t e d or composed for Herm% _a, I c.'ai.P.MS, 9, , eja , in which Miss STEPHENS, Mr. SINCLAIR, auil others display vocal talents; and upon no previous occasion has Miss STEPHES distinguished herself more than in a beautiful Polacca, the coat position of Mr. BISHOP. The decided success of the representation on Wednesday nig%t proves, beyond all question, that the atuy effective way of emend f, lug the conceptions of SHAKESPEARE !Rims delightful piece, upoo the modern stage, is to unite them with all th e attractions of spee tacie. It m a y b e said by some, that SHAKESPEARE is thus, se soma degree, sacrificed ; but enough of his magic is preserved to give a, colour to the whole illusion, anti we recognize his spirit in every scene. Some, perhaps, may also imagine, that by giving ttre fairy parts to men and women, the illusion would be impaired; out tact is, that the great charm ofthe scene arises from these ehara-c tern being welt played. No one, for iustance, could witness, with out being highly delighted, the sprightly actiug and facmating playfulness of Miss BOOTH, iii !'trek, or Robin Goodfellow; none cuulit listen, without high sensations of pleasure, to Ore warbling of the fairies, represented by Mrs. LISTON, Miss MATHEWS, M:Ss Bea, REEL, and Miss MACALPINE. Every one must have feit fully gratified in hearing Mr. DeneseT in Oberon, and witnessiug this performance ofMrs. FAvcrr, in Titania. One great charm of this re. presentation, unquestionably, consisted in su well and so pleasuigly embodying this tally creation, which associates itself without. Ideas in childhood, and leaves behind a pleasurable sensation, that is afterwards easily excited. Another class of characters in this charming drama, consisting of !lotions (the weaver), by Nr. LlsToN; Quince (the carpenter), by Mr. ENs RRYJ Flute (the bello ws-mender), by Mr. :•.fINISIONS Saoat (the tinker), by Mr. BtAxenents; and the others of this description, were most ably represented. :is much of this part of the original was preserved as was, perhaps, con sistent with the plan of the newly-modelled piece, and suthcieut to • preserve the essence of the humour, which is so exquisitely pour trayed. LISTON, in Bottom, was admirable : his appearance with the ass's-head on, and his acting with that appendage, tueethe r with the sudden affection for nun imbibed by Titan:a, had the. most ludicrous effect that can be conceived : time audience were convulsed with laughter. IR the remaining cast of the characters, Theseas(Duke ofA thefts) found a very adequate representative in Mr. Coews.v ; Lysander, • was ably supported by Mr. AtHloT ; and in Demetrius Mr. SINCLAIR displayed, in the airs allotted him, his well-known talons to the greatest advantage. Miss STEPHENS delighted the audience in the . character of lierinia; and Miss Foote, as ticiena ; and Miss Loe.ve, 4 as Hippolila, ably supported the parts assigned them. So much of the strength of the House was cast into this piece, and it was so judiciously distributed, that a failure was se acely possible. To insure, however, complete success, other requisites • were necessary, which were to be found iu scenery and spec Upon these the Managers have largely drawn, and they certaiiilx have combined magnificence and taste in a very superiur degree.—.- The last scene, with a procession descriptive ot, and combining emblems of, the triumphs of Theseos, was particumany grand and 'striking. There were sonic other heautifin scenes; and the greatest pains appeared to have been taken to get up the i. ieee in a good style. The Managers, we have no doubt, will he amply re- - paid for the expence which they must have incurred. Some of the admirers of SHAKESPEARE may perhaps regret that more of our immortal Bard is not preserved in this, which is one of his produc tions calculated; in the rgading of it, to i nsp i re so much delight; but most of these w h o have watched the public taste, and obsei ved the opinions of modern audiences, wild probably think that the .