The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-23 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

Les Rifles do Marbre, a five-act drama, produced some
time ago by the French company at the Soho Theatre,
Dean-street, has furnished Mr. Charles Selby with
subject for translation, or adaptation, which, under the
title of The Marble Heart, was produced last night, with
the most unequivocal success, at the Adelphi Theatre.
It is true tale of the heart, a domestic tragedy of deep
and powerful interest, enlivened by comic persons and
incidents. Mr. Charles Selby has accomplished his
translation too righteously, adhering as close), as pos-
sible to the original drama, which is a pity, since Les
Rifles de Marbre is diffuse to a fault, and from five acts
might with propriety be cut down to three. With a
liberal use of the pruning knife, we have no doubt that
The Marble heart will become as great an attrac-
tion
story,
any piece produced at the Adelphi for years.
The
though spun out to an interminable length in
the drama, is exceedingly plain and simple. A
and to
to
ag des excite
young
painter falls in love with a ladenac noure
who at first, through a spirit of coquetry of wealth
the rivalry of some of her female frinds,
addresses, and afterwards rejects him. The artist is a
highly sensitive persons, and dies from the effects of the
lady's cruelty. The first act is a dream of the artist,
in which he fancies himself Phidias, the celebrated
Grecian sculptor, and falls in love with his three statues
Aspasia, Lais, and Phryne. The second act takes
place in a wood at Fontainebleau, near Paris, when the
artist, Raphael (Mr. Leigh Murray), meets and be-
comes fascinated with Mademoiselle Marco, the Marble
Heart (Madame Celeste). In the third act we have the
artist in his study with his mother and Marie (Miss
Woolgar), an orphan who has been thrown upon their pro.
tection. Marie loves Raphael, and the mother wishes for
her union with her son. But Raphael's heart is ab-
sorbed by Marco. Act the Fourth takes us to the man-
sion of Mademoiselle Marco, where the young artist has
been spending some weeks on a visit. The lady, whose
whole aim in life has been to get well married, accepts
the offer of a rich suitor and dismisses Raphael with
contempt. In the fifth act Raphael returns home die-
tracted, and finds that his mother has died in his absence
from grief of his desertion ; and he himself expires
in the arms of Marie and his friend Volaga (Mr.
Benjamin Webster), from conflicting and overwhelming
emotions. Mademoiselle Marco, true to her character
of the Marble Heart, comes in to win a bet that she
would recall him back to her, and beholds Raphael dead
on the ground, with Marie lying senseless over his
body. The acting was excellent. Mr. Leigh.
Murray had a most difficult part to play, but
accomplished it with great power and finish. Madame
Celeste carried out the intention of the author
of Les Pines de Marbre with admirable art. Her cool-
ness was finely assumed, and her occasional displays of
womanly feeling—which proved that her heart was
only hardened, not marble—exquisitely managed. Mr.
Benjamin Webster made as much of the hearty friend
and counsellor of Raphael as could possibly be made ;
and Mr. Charles Selby's Parisian exquisite was very
striking if not natural. Miss Woolgar had not much to
do in Marie • what she did was most graceful and touch-
ing. Mr. Paul Bedford's eccentricities as a French
count appeared to be relished by the audience ; and the
subordinate parts by Messrs. Parselle, Miss Emma
Harding, Miss Fanny Markell, &c., were very re-
spectable. The scenery, dresses, and appointments were
splendid and appropriate, and the drawing room in the
house of Mdlle. Marco magnificent and gorgeous. AU
the artists were re-called after the fall of the curtain,
and received with the greatest enthusiasm.