The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

i4t prama.

TIIE OLYMPIC.—The Red Vial, a drama in three
acts, by Mr. Wilkie Collins, was produced for the
first time in this house on Monday. The dramatic
efforts of the author had hitherto been confined to
two pieces, The Lighthouse, and The Frozen Deep,
both designed for private representation, although
the latter was subsequently submitted to the more
trying ordeal of public criticism. When, however,
it became known that Mr. Wilkie Collins had pur-
posely written for public representation a piece, ro-
mantic in plot, and highly dramatic in its treatment,
curiosity was sufficiently evoked to render the
first night's performance an attraction to a large
and distinguished audience. But, independently
of the high hopes entertained of the merits of
the new work, clothed in forcible language, and
abounding iu striking situations, expectation was
further excited when it was said that the writer had
in the principal part created a character admirably
suited to the peculiar genius and the superior intel-
lectual faculties of Mr. Robson. The whole aim of the
author of The Red Vial is to portray the influence
of love, in all its intensity, operating on two persons
different in sex, in mind, in education, in position,
and influencing their actions, the one for good, the
other for evil. We speak not of the passion
in
usual and romantic acceptation, but of love in its
noblest and purest, because the most unselfish form—
the love which a mother bears her child. But,
powerful as is the sentiment in the mother, it scar. eel,'
surpasses the feeling which, springing from gratitude,
consumes the heart of the idiot on whose unex-
ampled devotion to his master the whole plot of the

v mainly hinges. And now for the plot itself.
Ts laid at Frankfort, and the curtain rises
play
action i
on the interior of the house of Isaac Rodenherg, a
Jewish merchant of that city. Seated at a table in
this apartment are his partner, Max Keller, and the
Widow Bergmann—the latter having on :he death of
her husband, a celebrated physician, been compelled
by the vicissitudes of fortune to accept the situation of
housekeeper to the wealthy bourgeois. The subject
of this fete-a.ietc was the union of Max Keller's son
Karl with the widow's fair daughter, Ninna. Max
Keller is neither an ambitious nor an avaricious man,
but ho has a certain degree of pride in his composi-
tion. With him mercantile honour holds a high
place in the list of virtues, and in the wife whom his
son has selected he must see the representative of a
family which he can respect even in its fallen for-
tunes, but which must be sans reproche in his mind
—untainted by debt. Keller is satisfied that this
his sole condition is complied with, and the marriage
is fixed to take place on the 3rd of June, six months
from the date of the conversation. It is at this
stage of the drama that we are introduced to Hans
Grimm, who had been in his youth reduced to a
state of idiocy, and had been thrown into a mad-
house, from which he had been rescued by the
humane Rodenberg, in whose service he now was.
Holding little communion with those amongst whom
be dwelt, he ever becomes eloquent on one theme.
He loved to dwell on his master and his master's
goodness, and in the barren waste of his once strong
mind but one idea was paramount—the thought that
even he might repay the deep debt of gratitild
which he owed to his protector. That was the
mission of Hans Grimm,and the strength of his deep-
seated gratitude is disclosed in language which
certainly forms the best portions of the drama. Such
was the part written for Mr. Robson, and which he
portrayed with a fine conception of the leading trait
in the character of the man reduced almost to the
level of a brute, and with all a brute's fidelity. His
description of his cell, of the agony which he en-
dured in his dark solitude, and of his release, and his
sensations when the light of day again shone upon him,
were given with great ower, as occasional gleams of
intelligence played through his clouded mind, and
rescued from oblivion the dark passages of his life.
Between him thus stricken and impotent, and be-
tween a woman strong in purpose and willing to run
every hazard in a career of crime to which she was
impelled by devotion for her child, the battle was
waged from the outset. The Widow Bergmann,
dreading exposure, when threatened by her late hus-
band's creditors, had robbed her kind and generous
protector of 5,000 francs. Rodenberg has discovered
the loss, and, to shield herself, the widow points out
the probable thief in Hans Grimm. His master
taxes him with the crime, and he is hurried from
his presence. protesting his innocence, and still
blessing him by whom he was wronged.
Bat unjust suspicion did not long rest on the
poor servant. Rodenberg was taken ill, and Ninna
on being sent by her mother for a restorative brought
the wrong bottle. The label told its own tale, and
betrayed the widow's secret. It was a preparation
for removing ink--the preparation which had been
used by his housekeeper to erase the figures in the
ledger, so that the entry might tally with the amount
left in his strong-box. He accuses her of the robbery,
and she implores pardon that detection may not ruin
the brilliant prospects of her child. It is granted on
one condition, that the money shall be restored within
a stated period, and the day named is the 4th of June,
one day later than that fixed for the wedding of
Karl Keller and Ninna Bergmann. The wretched
woman rises triumphant from her agony—she is
"saved by a day," and the curtain falls on the first
act. So far the drama plays well, and holds out
good promise for the future. In the second act we
have a view of two rooms. In the one the Jew
merchant is stretched on a bed of sickness, and the
other is the apartment of his housekeeper. A death has
caused the postponement of the marriage, and on the
next day the money is to be repaid, or the revelation
which is to consign her daughter to shame and
misery is to be made. Again does she seek a respite,
and is refused. The merchant feels he may die, and
a sense of justice towards his partner overcomes his
pity for the innocent victim of her mother's crime. As
in life, so in this drama, easy is the descent in
from its first steps to its lowest depths.
The Widow Bergmann resolves that the discovery
never shall be made, and that can alone be averted
by the merchant's death. From the medicine chest
of her late husband she selects the instrument— a
deadly poison contained in The Red Vial. Her
actions have been _ watched, unseen, by the faithful
Hans Grimm, and from the same chest ho takes the
antidote. Uncertain whether his master has drank
the poison, artfully placed so that it si!ould be
friom thehis
takeniisterunsuspecting hand lhe still Lad-
m
remedy. The Widow Bergmanr. dis-
covers in her room a handkerchief which Bans
Grimm has dropped. She calls him to her presence,
and he stands before her the avowed witness of
premeditated
that her safet y .111 d et.
The modern Brinvilliers feels
in jeopardy, and she presses on the