The Express.
London, England, 1867-06-25 00:00:00

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.

People who can remember the time when French
plays at St. James's Theatre were a regular phenomenon
of the London season, and when the names of Rachel, of
Regnier, of Latent, and of Ravel were almost as familiar
here as in Paris, may almost be classed among old play-
goers. Such amusements can of course never be attractive
to the multitude, and their provider, cannot hope to
i draw together many persons from that great floating popu•
lotion of country visitors which form the staple of the
patrons of the British dram►—or perhaps we ought
to my, of the French drama in its British guise.
Nevertheless, the custom of importing troupes of French
actors of high renown, thanks to the enterprise of Mr.
Mitchell, was long maintained, and was not relinquished
without . hard struggle. M. Ravel reminds us that it was
in 1852.3 that his performances were given here, and they
had 'NUMMI which, perhaps, might have been greater if
the writers of the light Basis Royal pieces in which he
performed had not relied too much upon the breaking of
crockery, the hiding in cupboards, and the secreting of
warming pans under the back of the principal comedian's
dress coat. Anyway, we are glad to welcome another
attempt to establish French plays among us as • summer en-
tertainment,and if we are to judge from the audience at the
St. James's Theatre last night, and from the reception with
which M. Ravel met, we may pronounce it successful.
The performances are under the direction of M. Raphael
Felix (brother of the l►te Mdlle. Rachel), Mr. Mitchell,
however, being again, we believe, the entrepreneur ; and
they are announced to be continued every evening for one
month only.
The pieces performed last night before a numerous and
fashionable audience were Les Ressourees de Jonathas, Le
Serment d'Horuce, and Monsieur et Madame Bigot°.
They all belong to that class of pieces in which M. Ravel
has so long sustained the chief parts at the little
theatre in the Palais Royal—those light comic vaudevilles
which are so peculiarly French that the most daring of
our adapters and improver, from the French has never
ventured to reproduce them without destroying their
eaudeville character. English ballad operas, in which the
principal characters occasionally broke out in • song was
once tolerated in this country ; but of late years it has
come to be • recognised fact that performers on the Eng-
lish stage must either talk or sing, but must not do both.
The'absurdity of characters in •farce suddenly bursting forth
with songs and concerted pieces, not merely introduced but
actually carrying on the dialogue of the piece, seems in-
deed to be too great for any but audiences of Frenchmen,
or for those who, like the audienoeof last night, have suffi-
cient knowledge of French and sympathy with French
taste, to enjoy them.

The Remounts de JonatAas shows to advantage the pe-
culiar powers of M. Ravers acting. In the part of the
servant, who, like the landlady who lets her room to two
lodgers in Box and Cox, hires his services to two masters,
he is perfectly ►t home, and knows how to keep his audi-
ence in a continual roar. His fun in such parts is not the
roaring drollery of Mr. Buckstone, nor the clever charac-
ter acting of Mr. Toole, nor the dry humour of Mr.
Compton, but a mixture of rustic simplicity and low-class
shrewdness whichie hardly known on the English stage. In
the Sermeni d'Horaee—familiar to our public in Mr. C. S.
Cheltnam's adaptation entitled Slototop's Engagements,
produced at the Olympic Theatre—M. Ravel was equally
successful in rousing the house to genuine bursts of
laughter. In the little operetta of Monsieur et Madame
Bigot°, in which there is an amusing and original comic
chorus th►t cannot fail to be purloined by our burlesque
writers, he performs the part of • French peasant of the
comic farcical type, but with • considerable amount of
tenth. Of the actresses and actors who supported him we
may have to 'perk on • future coession.

The programme embraces as fares published a complete
change of performsnoes every other night—si frequency of
ohmage which is, we suppose, rendered necessary by the
feet that the audience is Deesseerily in pest degree the
same ens? evaniag. On Wednesday and Tluusday next