The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-13 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

The Easter novelty at this theatre is the joint. pro-
duction, as we learn from the bill, of " two members
of the Amalgamated Society of Dramatic Engineers."
Ir bears the title of 0, Gemini; or, the Brothers al
Co(u)rse, and is a burlesque on the melodrama of the
Corsican Brothers, now playing with great success
at the Princess's and other theatres. There is but one
step, we are told, from the sublime to the ridiculous,
and in this instance, though the distance be a five
minutes' walk from Oxford-street to the Haymarket,
we certainly think that a more complete transition
from one extreme to the other has seldom been wit-
nessed. The plot and personages of the melodrama
have been preserved, but the travestier have so skill-
fully brought down the harrowing incidents and
spectral situations of the original into an every- day,
not to say burlesque, interest, that M. Dumas himself
would be puzzled to recognise his own , progeny.
The weight of the piece falls on Mr. Buckstone, the
representative of the two "De Franchi's," who, we
need scarcely say, made the most of the points en-
trusted to him. In the first act, or 'rather the act
which is played first, we find him as the Corsican
country gentleman, using the " influence of his posi-
tion" to put an end to. a Corsican vendetta, which
has existed between two families for the last .500
years, the original cause of which appears to have
been the laying of an egg. at a neighbour's door by a
vagrant hen, and the subsequent strangling of the
progeny in the dispute as to its ownership. In the
execution of this amiable office, he utters so many
vile pun., that even the litigants are compelled to
groan with horror. Next we see him, as in the ori-
ginal, under the influence of the sympathetic cord
which binds the brothers ; but in place of the vague,
undefined feelings of fear and foreboding, Mr. Buck-
stone is only affected by se violent fit of sneezing, from
which be infers that his brother Louis,. at Paris, has
caught the prevailing epidemic, and directly after a
violent pain between the eyes, convinces him that his
brother has got into some row and received one for
his nob, ala modette boxe. Then be sits down to in
a letter to his brother, and we have the ghost
scene, in which an illuminated turnip lantern and a
sheet are substituted for the spectre of the murdered, and
the scene opening out displays the Parisian just floored
in a street row outside the Grand Opera, and not able
to come up to time. In the next scene we are carried
off to Paris, and find Mr. Backstone, as Fabian, in
the broad-breeched, narrow-waisted, and large-hatted
Frenchman of the Boulevards' in love with a pretty
modeste, Emile (Miss Collins), of the Rue St An-
toine, from whom, by way of striking up an acquain-
tance, he has purchased twenty " cheap summer
straws." The Chateau Renaud of the original is en-
acted by Mr.. L. S. Buckingham, who displays the
Parisian roue and dandy to the life, and by him Emile
is decoyed to the bat masque at the Grand Opera, where
we have Louis in an outrageous Roman toga, helmet,
and nose; and then follows the encounter, where in-
stead of being run through, he meets with the
more satisfactory, though less dignified, misfortune
of being • polished off with a " black eye."
In the next scene Fabian arrives in Paris, " regard-
less of expense," by an express train, seeking revenge
for the said " black eye," of which 'we have seen him -
informed by the mysterious electric telegraph. The
duel then follows, first with single sticks and then
with fists, when Chateau Renaud being vanquished
and polished off in his turn, the family honour is
avenged, and we are carried off to the Grand Opera,
where, still as the representative of the two brothers,
Mr. Buckstone exhibits, to us a solution of the " two
single gentlemen rolled into one" problem, and after
singing a song in front as the Corsican, jumps round,
and discovers the Parisian brother fastened on be-
hind. The subject is a difficult one to burlesque, at
least while following the original so closely as has
been done in this instance, and we are bound to say;
that however creditably and cleverly the travestie
has been carried out, the piece of itself pos-
sesses too few points of wit and humour
to have succeeded on its own merits..
The dialogue is extremely flat in parts, and we looked
in vain for any of the smart hits which we had ex-
pected from the opportunities which the piece itself
affords, and which the acknowledged talents of the •
authors could have well supplied. We might almost
fancy that the censorship had been busy' at work, for
with one exception there is not a political allusion in
the whole piece, and the only. fun attempted in the
dialogue was a series of plays upon words, such as we
bad fancied had been long ago consigned to the tomb
of all the Millers. Mr. Buckstone 's vivacity, how-
ever, made the most of what there was, and his skilful
imitations of Mr. Charles Kean, the original repre-
sentative of the Brothers in this country, and the
admirable manner in which he seized- upon and
burlesqued the little peculiarities of that
gentleman's acting in the part, were a real
treat, 'and contributed very much to the
success of the piece. Mr. James Bleed had also a
double part to play, and :acted with his usual spirit.
The piece throughout is admirably put upon the stage,
the scenery is excellent, and the scenic effects ex-
ceedingly well managed. The bat masque scenes
were given with great fidelity, and so real did the
racket,almost
sht
ahvee glitter,
masqueraders on the stage appear, that we could
fancied ourselves spectators at the Grand
Eh,Opens.aevvepi
id.see(inee
butTyot habnet dresses,ioheinetnsnt ex 'expense
e were
hasbeen
ny
spared `tasteful;` f u
t, and
place i t
the
the stage with full effect. On the whole,
though
tebaenastrteh,ewbeebstavbeurnlbesqduoeubwthtichhat eso'e,
Gemini will,
with a pretty fair share of success.

At this pop PELPHI THEATRE.of
menu entertainment the amuse-
li:w drama called the Queen of
ments opened Nvi h a
irt place . •
,:ile bill as full of" Adelphi
the Market, describpd
ustedattotraction that the prin-'
effects," with the addition
atrAelrs. Keeley, being
which Is French through
cipal character was intrusted
her first appearance at this the
Out The
plot of the
II tiurn.ay be briefly
Ptoielde.e' Maurice Durand (Air,
known parentage, marries in early lifoi!0"), of um-
Keeley), daughter of Leonard 13rionne, Syndic of
his
position,
thete
St. Domingo,
u Paris.ig
oi: ow
hbetter
pwraotceerecdasr rti:r
ss
for five
Count de Salnalle her par4cts.
years,
During his absence the.
killed
leaving his wife and child ewriethlnaius
, 7 a wealthy
the fall of a
nobleman (Mr. Worrell),
beam from a burning hous-, leaving a will in which he
is by
bequeaths his title and fortune .
oily.
hisfa The nature of
istence was wholly unknown CO .
to an only son, whose ex-
i, and,
(Mr. 0. Smith), he contrives to purloin
this will becoming known to a villain named Lorrain
cricking his way to St. Domingo, lotuses into
mind of Maurice Durand the belief that he is the son
and heir of the deceased Count, and ultimately suc-
ceeds in puttinz him in possession of the inheritance,
under the promise of a munificent reward. To effect
this the usual amount of forgeries and villanies of
every kind are practised by him, and in due time the
new Count enters Paris in grand styk, but is seen
and recognized by his wife, who, by industry and
perseverance, has gained the position of fruit and
flower merchant to the Ring, and is recognized as
" Queen of the Market." The usurping Count,
though innocent of the forgeries that have been
committed, finds himself so mixed up with the pro-
ceedings of his agent, Lorrain, that he becomes
the virtual slave of the latter, who, to serve his
own pecuniary purposes, insists upon his renouncing
his wife, the humble flower woman, and marrying a