The Press.
London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

`P".e. pantomime at this theatre has had a complete
and success. The introductory bur-
lesque, which is well written, "tc...ds a series of very
effective comic illustrations of Shakspeare's " Sevon
Ages," the " characters" acting aid reacting upea
one another in such a manner as almost to entitle
the vellele to the name of drama. The hero of the
story is our old friend the lazy schoolboy, who, like
many another dunce, in complete contradiction t
Mr. a Beckett's maxim, that " Ass in preeienti"
never makes " wise man in futuro," turns out a very
useful and effective member of society. The first
action worthy of record which he does is to fall in
love, and with a pretty ward of the capon-eating jus-
tice ; being ejected by that personage (whose abdo-
minal peculiarities are very fully exhibited) in favour
of a suitor with " good prospects," and the most
frightful mouth we have ever seen in a pantomine,
he proceeds to the village forge, where, after sitting
down in his despair on a red-hot horseshoe, he meets
with a recruiting-sergeant and enlists. Having
gained all sorts of distinction abroad at " the wars,"
he returns, and insinuates himself into the house of
the justiee, concealed in a hamper, just in time to
carry off his charmer, "nothing loth," by main
force. The tale here becomes somewhat obscure.
The lovers arrive at a ruined roadside cottage, tired
and hungry, and we are just permitted a glimpse of
lean and slippered pantaloon, shivering over a miser-
able fire, when the chilly scene is obscured, the
leva-s disappear, and the whole changes to the
" Realms of Perpetual Summer," a dazzling melange
of sunshine, palm-trees, bright pilasters, rich flowers
of all hues, glittering groups of fairies in silver,
of fairies in gold, bare arms, bright eyes, short petti-
coats, and most unexceptionable feet and ankles,
lit up, of course, by that inevitable blue and red fire,
without which no audience can be coaxed to enthu-
siasm. This scene is certainly deserving of all the
praise which has been bestowed on it ; it is a mag-
nificent specimen of theatrical fairyland, and, with
the beautifully painted "Abode of Love" which pre-
cedes it, fairly entitles Mr. Smith to the nightly call
with which he is always honoured. Sufficient time
having been allowed to elapse for the due amount of
admiration front the audience, for Mr. Smith's bow
of general gratitude, and for the entire subsidence
of those horribly shrill whistles by which the perfect
satisfaction of the gallery always vents itself, the
usual transformations take place, the Pantomime
Proper begins, and of course the function of the
" theatrical noticer " immediately terminates. We
have not the heart to write a word against the
novelty of some of the tricks which, though old, yet
shake all of us with laughter as hearty and inex-
tinguishable as that of the little people for whose
sole and especial delectation pantomimes are erro-
neously supposed to be always got up. It will be
enough to say, that Clowns, Pantaloons, Harlequins,
and Sprites do their fooling admirably ; that the
jumping, tumbling, slapping, kicking, shouting, ge-
neral scrambling, and utter confusion create im-
mense amusement; that the warming-pan is applied
to the Pantaloon's extremities with considerable
frequency, and the most satisfactory results ; that
the butter-slides are a most fertile source of
laughter, and that everybody in the audience
(everybody, that is, who is anybody) is as honestly
and heartily pleased with this scene of riot and ab-
surdity as everybody (who is anybody) always has
been, and always will be, until (quod ab sit) the in-
stinctive love of noise and nonsense shall cease to be
part and parcel of human nature itself.

PRINCESS'S.
T►tr Christmas piece here, as elsewhere, partakes
of the double nature of burlesque and pantomime.
The burlesque is founded on La Gazza Ladra, and
is remarkable for nothing but the excellence of the
rustic masks—that of the beadle (who here takes
the place of the magistrate in the opera) is a wonder
of wooden stupidity. The scenery is pretty, especially
that of the first scene, laid in the Court of the Queen
of the Birds ; and there is one trick in the pantomime
which surpasses in design and execution any that
has been presented to the public during the panto-
mime season of 1855-6. We allude to the decapita-
tion of the Clown, whose head is cut of by being
jammed into a doorway. The Pantaloon, after
carefully placing the head on a dish on the ground,
where it displays more decided signs of animation
than the head of Epistemon, Charlotte Corday, or
Marie Antoinette, carefully glues it on to the head-
less trunk, which has been performing its own
independent antics in the absence of its partner.
The I ead and body then—their connection not being
firm—jump through a shop window, and, in less
time than it takes to write this, reappear on the stage
as Clown, apparently in perfect health and spirits.

19

ST. MARTIN'S-HALL.
Miss Emma Stanley's entertainment, " The Seven
Ages of Woman," continues to attract tolerably
numerous audiences. Though far from according
to Miss Stanley the excessive amount of praise
lavished upon her by our contemporaries, we still
think that, all due reductions made, she displays an
amount of observation and imitative power sufficient
to place her far above the level of her predecessors
in the species of performance which she has selected.
The "literature" of the parts which the actress
successively assumes has been very tolerably "done;"
it is characteristic, and avoids very carefully all pre-
tension to " fun ;" very fortunately, too, as it appears
from the style of jocularity introduced into the
descriptions, that the average vapid inevitable puns,
superannuated allusions, all the " old do'" of the
" funny " lecturer, have been pressed into the
service.

The most successful of the presentations appeared
to us to be " The Monthly Nurse," though here there
was a little too much of stage convention. Miss
Stanley's way of sliding, with a connecting whine,
from one sentence to the next, is evidently bor-
rowed from Mrs. Grump (theatrical). Our own ex-
perience of monthly nurses does not enable us to
confirm the truth of the imitation in this particular,
which, however, to the majority of the audience
seemed to form the chief fun of the character. The
professed flirt, that most interesting of all varieties
of .the femme de society, is very cleverly touched
off. The way in which she raises the holies
of her admirer by all'ecting jealousy, draws out a
declaration by shamming sentiment, suddenly
crushes the poor victim by sincerely laughing at
his ardour, and leaves him at last in a perfect torture
of-doubt and indecision, gracefully kissing the tips of
her pretty fingers at him as she quits the room, was
true to the life; and in all but the tones of the
voice, which were a little too loud for our taste,
" Grandmother Grey" is perhaps the most finished
specimen of Miss Stanley's art.. The make-up of
the actress is perfect, and the part is very well
written. The feeble plaintiveness of the good old
lady's reminiscences of her own youth anti beauty
is very toncning. It was a pity almost to mar the
sentimental eflect of the picture by the intrusion of
a fit of coughing; fur though it made the distinction
between good acting and good mimicry very obvious
to all present, it combined, or rather confused, two
different views of old age ;—the one, dwelling on its
tender regret for dead hopes, affections, faith, and
innocence, which Mr. Thackeray is never tired of
I describing, and which move our love and pity ; the
other, like Juvenal's, coarsely cataloguing the bodily
ailments which disgust our senses and shock our
delicacy, and impressed one much as a beautiful
head by Itatfaelle,

EXETER-HA LL—The performance of The Messiah
on Monday evening, in which Jenny Lind, for the
first time in London, sung the principal soprano
part, was without exception oue of the finest render•
jugs ever heard of Handel's sublime oratorio. The
brilliant execution, the artistic finish of style, and
the surpassing excellence of Jenny Liod's singing,
were displayed from beginning to end. In "Come
unto him all ye that labour," and in " I know that
my Redeemer lived)," her exquisite purity of voice
and intense fervour of expression exc►ted the
audience to the most enthusiastic applause. In
"If God be with us," and " Rejoice greatly;'
were remarkable for a happy combination of
distinct articulation, just accent, and exquisite
tone, though the florid passages in the latter
were perhaps scarcely rendered with sufficient
spirit. Vet ►n the performance of I:er part in
The Messiah none will deny that Jenny Lind
has added another leaf to the laurel of her successes,
and proved betaelf, of all oratorio singers, the
greatest, as well as the most correct, interpreter of
the text. The contralto part was undertaken by
Miss Dolby, and the tenor divided between Mr.
Lockey and Herr Reichardt, with the bass by Mr.
Thomas, all of whom unexceptionably performed
their several parts. The chorusses were exellent,
and the orchestra under the baton of M. Benedict as
perfect as could be wished. Altogether, the concert
was admirable in every respect, and showing a
marked improvement over the previous performances.

MADA3IE GOLDSCHMIDT will sing in Mendelssolan's
Elijah at Exeter-hall, on Monday, the 21st inst.,
the first Miscellaneous Concert, under the direction
of Mr. Mitchell, taking place at the Hanover-square
Rooms, on Thursday, the 10th inst.

4

THE PANOPTICON must not be forgotten among the
attractive places of amusement at present open. 1
New dioramic views, and the beautiful chromatic
fountain, besides the magnificent organ per•
formances, alone render it worthy of a visit, without
mentioning the varied and interesting experiments
in chemistry, magic, and other subjects.