The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-27 00:00:00

Zbe IDcama.

AnEcent.—Another Mrs. Gump has appeared in
the person of Mr. Wright ;—a farce having been produced at
this theatre last evening, called " Mrs. (}amps Tea and
Turn-out : a Borzian sketch." The thing in itself is the
merest trifle, got up entirely for the sake of Mr. Wright's
display ; and he certainly made the most of the opportunity,
for his whole performance was a piece of the most outrageous
buffoonery. He was well " made up" for the part; and
when he came on, shawled and bonnetted, with a basket on
his arm, as from market, he looked the veritable Mrs. Gamp.
But, as soon as he opened his mouth (as is always the case
with him) he was Mr. Wright—talking, and grimacing, and
carrying on a bye-play of nods, and winks, and interjections,
addressed to the audience, as he does in everything he plays.
The dramatist has made Mrs. Gamp prose dreadfully, and
has interlarded her talk with constant allusions to Mrs. Ilarris,
and such peculiarities of pronunciation as Sairey, squeedge,
excuce, de. ; but these are all the " Bozzian" features of
the character that we could discover. Next to Mr. Wright,
came Mr. Munyard, as Betsey Prig. None of the other cha-
racters, and acne of the incidents, such as they were, had
any relation to Boa's work. There is a roue in low life, an
Irish tailor and his gay wife, a ballet dancer at Drury Lane,
a retired chandler, and several other personages, who are
Mrs. Gamp's guests at the tea party—a prodigiously dull
affair; enlivened, however, by a song from the hero, or
heroine, of the evening, and a dance in which of course, he,
or she, was the principal figurante. But the piece, such as
it was, seemed to suit the taste of the Adtlphi audience ; for
they laughed consumedly and applauded vociferously during
the whole performance.

OLYMPIC.—Sir John Vanbrngh's " Relapse " is, if
we do not mistake, the comedy which induced the amiable
commentator on his " Provoked Wife " to express a virtuous
hope that he might find pardon hereafter for having written it,
in consideration of his mare moral productions. Had Mrs.
nchbald lived now,shewouid probablyhave I ookedwi th a more
charitable eye on the minor blemishes in this admirable
picture of society, and have consented, for the sake of the
wit, no leas than for that of the truth and force of character
which pervade it, to have given it a place in her edition of the
" British Theatre." Its revival, last evening, at the Olympic
Theatre afforded us an opportunity of comparing the scale
of dramatic propriety a century and a half ago, with that
by which this very variable quality is now measured, and,
certainly, with hero and there a hitch, occasioned more by
by want of tact in the prompter than by the in-
herent or incurable fault of the comedy, it went
as smoothly and acted as naturally as though it bad been one
of a more rigid dramatist's most sanctified produc-
tions. The cast was more felicitous as far as the females
were concerned than as regarded the men. The charming
Amanda—whose character alone would more than atone for
all the questionable matter which the comedy contains—was
very agreeably represented by Mrs. R. Gordon. The
naivetk of her gayer scenes, no less than the grave and vir-
tuous indignation which animates her in the aericus parts of
the drama, were extremely well supported. Miss Charles
undertook to represent the dangerous intriguante Berinthia
—a part extremely well suited to her particular qualifica-
tions ; whilst Mrs. C. Jones and Mrs. W. Lacy respec-
tively filled the characters of Hoyden and her Nurse. Mrs.
Jones played admirably, and there was cleverness in Mr.
Wilkinson's Sir Tunbelly and Mr. Romer's Doctor Syringe.
The scene in which Syringe appears, and coolly makes a
property of Lord Foppington, was very effective.