The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-01 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

Last night was the opening of the winter season at the
Lyceum, and the occasion drew thither as large an audi-
ence as the house is capable of containing. During the
recess the pit has been enlarged, and the number of pri-
vate boxes augmented ; but with one important excep-
tion, there is no material change in the company, and
the management still rests with Mr. Charles Mathews
and Madame Vestris. The performances began with A
Curious Case, a piece familiar to the frequenters of the
Lyceum, and the success of which rests entirely with
Mr. Mathews. It afforded, however, an opportunity
for two new faces to make their appearance—Mr. Fre-
derick Robinson and Mr. Gladstone—the one of whom
as an injured husband, and the other as a sentimental
pawnbroker, showed a very good acquaintance with the
stage, and both in their humble parts cut a very respect-
able figure. The piece de circonstance of the evening,
however, was a kind of double farce with this somewhat
elongated title, The Commencement of a Bad Farce,
Which, however (it is hoped), will turn out to be Wright
at Last. It is designed for the introduction of Mr.
Wright, the quondam hero of the Adelphi, and latterly
the "shelved" comedian of the Princess's, to familiar ac-
quaintance with the Lyceum audience ; but though not
without some merit, and though giving some scope for
the display of the broad humour of our old favourite, it
became duller as it progressed, and the curtain closed
upon it with exclamations which were anything but
favourable. The scene is laid upon the stage of a
country theatre, and Augustus (Mr. Robert Roxby),
dressed just as a country actor playing a lover dresses,
applies to Mrs. Dolloday (Mrs. Frank Matthews) for the
band of her lovely Lucy (Miss Martindale.) The acting
of this scene is capitally overstrained, and when Augustus,
by advice of the mamma, applies to the Doctor (Mr.
Frank Matthews), who is made up in the style of fifty
years ago, one of the obvious malentendus as to mutual
intentions, common in the old farces, takes place, and is
•uly put an end to by Mr. Frank Matthews being un-
able to remember his part, except by the loud interposi-
tion of the prompter, and by the carpenters running on a
couple of scenes— one representing an interior, the other
a landscape. At this the hisses, which have been gra-
dually increasing, rise to such a pitch, that Mr. Charles
Mathews, as manager, has to rush upon the stage and
_appeal, with admirably-personated indignation, for
the support of the respectable part cf the audience,
hinting that the disapprobation comes from the paid
emissaries of a rival house. He could name the indivi-
dual if he chose. The audience are puzzled to know
whether the anger of the lessee is real or assumed, and
they, almost to a man, cry " Name, name." He points
to Wright, who gets up in the pit and repels the accu-
sation. Here the people become aware of the joke, and
their laughter and applause are vehement. The col-
loquy went on with vivacity, and a good deal of
humour ; Wright's quaint way of turning round every
now and then, and addressing the audience, raising roars
of laughter. He bestowed smart hits on some of
the theatres and their managers, not excepting the
Lyceum itself. Mr. Mathews insisting that he was Mr.
Wright of the Princess's, he denied that he was, and
said that had Mr. Mathews not spent so much of his
time in translating French books and writing French
pamphlets, he would not have forgotten his own lan-
guage so much as not to know that of the Princess's and
rom the Princess's were different things. "At the
Princess's" he said, "I was engaged to play all the
great tragic parts ; but I played only one, and that was
the Stranger." At length Mr. Mathews began to talk
of making up matters, and proposed that Wright should
engage with him. After some more jokes on
this subject, Wright scrawled upon the stage where
he was warmly welcomed by the performers. The
actual farce then begins, and Wright gives the
house a taste of his quality as—himself, at Chelmsford,
where he has been detained three days at the Spotted
Dog, awaiting the arrival of a post-office order, without
which he cannot prosecute a journey to Billericay, where
he has an eye upon a buxom widow, who has hitherto
eluded his pursuit. All this, however, went off heavily,
notwithstanding the great exertions of Mr. Wright, who
did his utmost to insure a successful result, and if his
efforts failed, it was owing to the badness of the piece,
and not to any fault of his own. We hope he may be
more successful on the next occasion.
The performances terminated with Little Toddlekins.
The National Anthem was played by the orchestra in
the course of the evening.

ROME COUNTIES AND METROPOLITAN
FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY.