The National Register.
London, England, 1812-08-09 00:00:00

THE NATIONAT, REGISTER..

4

DRAMATIC REGISTER.

. HAYMARKET THEATRE.

On Mondav the Bold Stroke for a Wifi, :was performed.
Mathews. undei took the part of Feic,,,-!ri..e/!, and went through
it a manner generally sathlactory to the audience. lie,
however, did not give us any thing like a pet fek:t delinea-
tion of the charak-ter. In some parts it wa• an incorrect and
miserably meagre sketch, in others an accurate and
finished picture. The canvas was bad, hut sonic of the
figures were entitled to warm admit ation. In the characters
lYhich the Colonel is made to assun e, MA Timws wtts gene-
rally at home ; in the old steward and the quaker he was
excellent, but when be appeared as the hero of the piece
and as the lover, it was ditEcutt to refrain from law.thing,
not at the humour and vivacity which he displayed, but
at the groesque figure he exhibited, and at the odd effect
given to love and sentiment by his rough glatint,; voice.
\Vhenever Feignwell was to appear as 11;111,dt*, the (+a-
lai:AT was as completely burlesqued, as if it had had the
benefit of the acting of Mr. CoAT ES. In the parts to which
lye have before alluded he was etnintut!v successful, but,
altogether he CCt taint v is not compelent to act the chatacter
as it ought to he pei formed, •to satisfy those who have seen
BAN is VER in it. We arc, neverthele-s, certain that if be
gives it proper attention he will succeed in it much better
thaw fie did on Monday.
_ _

On Wednesday a Mr. TA I.Brrr made his appearance on
this stage as RanrYcr in Tie Stivicious Ibt,band. This Gen-
tleman performed at Di urv-lane some twelve years. ago (if
we mistake not, about the time of the SbakesTGrianfw,tcr”.
We do not recollect his merits as an actor at that time, so
as to compare what he is with what he was, but certainly if
he has Much improved since that 17eriod, to become what he
is at the present dav, be must have been very bad

them His performance on Wednesday, instead of affording
pleasure, was in many parts disgusting and tiresome to the
last degree. It had extravagance without vivacity, affecta
tion without elegance, and almost all the absurdities of a
down in a pantomime without one spark of true humour.
An actor is sometimes placed in a situation in which it
is impossible (however g eat his merit) for his exertions in
that particular lint., to gain him that applause which
natural talents might be expected to insure. Such is the
case of Mr. MAT II EWS, 111 Coidnet re/ant/ell; and, on such an
occasion, the candid critic will feel disposed to blame nature,
and not the man. The lash ofcriticism ought not to be severely
applied to a person thus situated ; but when a man offends,
i)y the affectation and presumption with which he conies
forward, the critic has a very different duty to perform. He
is not then to comment on the defects in the exertions of

genius labouring under natural disadvantages, but to be-
stow the chastisement due to impertinence and folly.
In saying this we do not wish to be unde!'stood to accuse
Mr. TALBOT with having, by his want of taste and judg-
ment, made extraordinary natural powers of no avail. We
readily (lo him the justice to acknowledge that his good
sense appears equal to his .talents, and ft eely admit that
throughout his pet forniance we have no reason to mourn
• that false taste and affectation, in any instance, obscured or
detracted from tho splendour of original genius. Ilappily
• no such regrets prevented our enjoyisag the play, for really
we could not discover that Mr. Tatawr possessed any thing
from nature that was likely to suffer from art or from time
unless, indeed, we except his confidence which public scorn
may have the art to put out of countenance, and time prove
useless.


ALT
-T. ;7.
...____

Extravagant action and ridiculous contortions of counte-
nance ate the leNling characteristics of Mr. TALBOT. The
fnriner he cart ied to such an excess that we could almost
conceive he was ambitious of imitating Mr. PACK, the postale
master, and his partiality for the latter was so great, that Lid „e
only seen his face, without knowing, what character he pretend.
eel to sustain, we should have thought, either that he was pre-
paying to pin through a hare-collar at a country fair, or
that he w.s rehearsing " .The liltlr,fi rthing Rushlied."
Mr. T.'s figure is not had.; but the unseemly attitudes into
which he is constantly throwing, himself, make it imot,,ibie
for us to say one word in praise of his elel;ance. Ills face,
even if it were not uniformly distorted Sy a g' in, would
not make very much in his favour ; and his voice,
even it he could get rid of his brogue, would not make ei
forget his other defects. From the little we have seen of
him we areirndly prepared to say what range of characters
lie ought .to sustz:n, but if he is not disposed to part with
his Po-H&J graces (grimaces), we would recommend him to
take the Cirimpin :cc line in London.
Upon the whole we feel it to be our painful duty to say,
that to us Mr. TALBOT does not appear at all qualified to
take the leading, business in comedy. To pronounce se»•
tence on him altogether t'rom one of his performances might
perl:aps he premature. Our present strictires apply only to
his Rawrer. If hereafter in that or in any other character he
Atould acquit himself in a more creditable mintier it wi:i
our pi hie as it w iii be our duty to make a more favuulable
report than we can possibly give of him at present.