The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-10 00:00:00

[STAMPED, ld. ADDITIONAL.]

Drama.
SURREY.
The attempts made by theatrical managers to
find that valuable rarity, a good acting drama, by offering
• " prise " for its prodaction, have not been very en-
couraging. When Mr. Webster held the Haymarket
Theatre he asked the living dramatists of England to com-
pete for 5001., and all he got in exchange for his money
was a very bad comedy by Mrs. Gore, called Quid pro Quo,
which never realised the soft of mounting. He never
again tried the same mode of supplying himself with
acting material ; but from that time has simply bought
his dramas, or has obtained them by offering & fair division
of profits.
The property left by the late T. P. Cooke to stimulate
the manufacture of nautical dramas can hardly be said at
present to have done more good than Mr. Webster's
money. The very moderate prize which the executors of
the late sailor-actor were able to offer in the hope of draw.
ing out another Mack-Eyed Susan or a Poll and My
Partner Joe, has only procured a very dull and undramatic
play by Mr. Sims, which was performed at the Surrey
Theatre for the first time on Saturday night, under the
E title of True to ths Core. Mr. Mous has very unwisely
selected • very remote period of history to work upon—the
attempted conquest of England by the Spanish Armada.
His story is weak and confused, and carried on by a mul-
tiplicity of somewhat colourless characters. His sailors,
dressed in the unfamiliar costume of the sixteenth °eatery,
look men like supernumeraries in the Regulate at the
Italian Opera, than the Jack-tat who has always delighted
a Surrey audience. The Rule Britannia senti-
ments, what few they are, are as fiat as the
patriotism of the Abyssinians. There is no broad-sword
combat, no hornpipe, no " hoisting of slacks," no " shiver-
ing of timbers," no allusions to quids—in fact, none of the
usual ingredients of • nautical drama. This freedom from
certain stage conventionalities is not accompanied by any
partied': strength of dialogue or incident. The drama, if
sat conventional in one way, is very conventional in
another. It gives prominenee to the everlasting stage
gipsy—the dark-eyed bounding creature of the
Miami type—who is saved from insult by the hero
of the story, and is consumed by a hopeless passion for
her preserver. The Huguenot Captain, now performing at
the Princess's Theatre, hes a character of this other, and
so hare a hundred dramas whose authors are deficient in
invention. There are other characters in True to the Core,
who are as mysterious as My Lord Burleigh in the Crate
and their Elizabethan dresses are not the only things which
are toosuggutive of Sheridan's celebrated burlesque. There
iano strong central interest in the drama. The plot is simple
in idea, but is made complex by the number of agents em.
ployed to work it out. A Plymouth pilot and his wife, on
their wedding day, are forcibly carried on board the chief
vessel of the Spanish squadron, and the pilot te forced to
steer the ship into Plymouth Harbour. He runs her par
palely on the Eddystone rocks; then saves the remnant of
the crew, by swimming and boating, to deliver them as
prisoners, and is rewarded handsomely by Queen Elizabeth
in person.
This drama has been placed upon the Surrey stage with
great scenic completeness. A view of Plymouth Hoe, a
moving ship, and the wreck on the Eddystone rocks are
the principal scenes, and they are all painted in
a good bold style by Mr. Gates. The fine stage
is shown to advantage in the last scene. There
is • somewhat drowsy incidental ballet, and the
execution of the music might be improved, the orchestra
being far too weak for such a large and liberally appointed
theatre. The acting was as good as could be expected,
for the actors had all a little to say and do, but nothing
et very striking importance. Mr. Creervick (who has
joined Mr. Shepherd in the management), Mr. Henry
Marston, Mr. Shepherd, Miss Rate Saville, and Miss
Pauncefort were all in the cast, and were all honoured
with a noisy and hearty welcome.