The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S.

THE play of Faust hag travelled from Weimar to
the Princess's Theatre vid Paris ; and of course has
"suffered a French change" in the transit. All the
poetry, all the philosophy, all the satire and cynicism
have been left out of Gothe's unactable drama. On
the other hand, a little sentiment, and a good many
stage opportunities for dress, scenery, and " situation,"
have been put in. Mephistophiles, in this new ver-
sion, talks infinitely less than in the original, and
moralises not at all. But he ma►ntains his char acter
as a cool, contemptuous, sarcastic fiend ; while his
sneers, which are just us abundant as ever, are
directed against lawyers, doctors, old women, and
other objects that have figured time out of mind as
standing theatrical jests. Ou the whole the part
was very effective, nor did it lose its effect in the
hands of M r.O harles Kean, who certainly plays the devi
better than we ever saw him play anything else. His
"make-up," limp, and tone were capital throughout.
With Margaret the adapter has evidently taken much
not ill-bestowed pains. The character has been
wrought into a beautiful picture of innocence, love,
and remorse, and was excellently delineated by
Miss Leclercq. Faust, with all his attributes omitted
as &student and vision ary,becurnes a very commonplace
individual, certainly not worth tempting by any devil
who knew the value of time. Siebel, Margaret's true
lover, is made a mere stage fool, whose idiocy and
cowardice raise a few barren laughs; and Martha
into au odious old crone. There is a scene in which
she plays off amorous wiles upon Mephistophiles,
designed for no other purpose but. to lead up to a
climax at which the fiend wonders "What is to become
of the old woman when she dies ? I am sure I won't
have her !" The " point" brought down a roar, but
the scene was absolutely nauseous. As an acting play
Faust hovers disagreeably between the burlesque
and the serious drama. It is much too grave for the
former; and yet introduces personages and appeals
to sources of interest or of fun which, in England at
all events, have not hitherto been considered endur-
able in a seriously-intentioned drama. The demon
of an Easter piece may be as harmless as he is amus-
ing ; nor are we shocked at seeing the heroine borne
away by winged sprites to the " Realms of Bliss " in
the last scene of a pantomime. But the case
becomes different when the devil is evoked as the
Christian Satan, and derives all the force and
interest he may possess from the reality of his appear-
ance, or where Margaret, after a scene in which the
most sacred ideal of penitence and intercession is
unscrupulously mimicked, is supposed to be carried
off by angels to heaven. However, the audience at
the Princess's seem to look upon the scene merely as
a picture ; and, being very prettily grouped and
lighted up, it brings down the curtain amid thunders
of applause. Several of the earlier scenes are also
exceedingly picturesque, the costumes and sumo of
the tableaux being cleverly copied from Retech's
wonderful etchings.

ADELPHI.
THE prevalent tastes of the day—dislike of plots--
love of show—Turkey—Russia—and Overland pano-
ramas—have all conspired to bring up Lord Bate-
man. His adventures with the fair Sophia in proud
Turkee, his plume, and his proud young porter,
have left the dirty windows of Rag Fair, where they
were dear at a halfpenny, to be transmogrified into
one of the handsomest spectacles which the Adelpbi
has shown for a long time. Its merit, however, is
almost entirely in the scenery. The dialogue turned
chiefly on Russo-Turk allusions. Its good things
were very good, but there were very few of them.
As for the acting, it was quite up to the level of the
opportunities. Mr. Selby, as Cesar, made up into a
striking resemblance to the Czar Nicholas; and
Mrs. Keeley converted the "proud young porter" into
a dashing tiger of the modern school. Many of the
scenes were on a grand scale, causing wonder how
such throngs and extensive effects could be exhibited
upon the narrow Adelphi stage. Their purport was
from time to time explained by Mr. Rogers, in a lec-
turing monologue which certainly might have been
smarter. -