The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

MR. G. V. BROOKE

Last night Drury-lane Theatre was opened by the
lessee, Mr. E. T. Smith, for a short dramatic season of
25 nights, the great attraction being the engagement
for a period of Mr. G. V. Brooke, the tragedian, who
the public is informed is shortly about to emigrate to
the El .Dorado of the Western Hemisphere. This gen-
tleman, who for a considerable time past has been an
" immense" favourite in the provinces, made his first
appearance in London, at the Olympic Theatre, two or
three years ago, in the character of Othello, the part
selected last night for his debut before an " Old Drury"
audience, and on that occasion created quite a sensa-
tion by the originality and undoubted superiority of his
acting. He subsequently went through the list of the
principal Shaksperian characters, and in each sus-
tained much of the reputation he had acquired by
his delineation of the jealous Moor; but on the whole
his metropolitan career was not brilliant, chiefly owing
to an awkward misunderstanding with the manager of
the Haymarket, which had the effect of preventing the
display of his abilities in a wider and more favourable
region. Last night the house was crowded to excess,
and, not only was Mr. Brooke web received, but his
performance throughout created the greatest enthusiasm
among the audience. But if his Othello was not a perfect
rendering of the Moor, it was at least as good as any we
can boast of by other actors now on the stage, and in many
respects he is infinitely superior to any of his contempo-
raries. In point of figure and stature, there is nothing to
be desired ; his action is easy and graceful, while his voice
is of large compass, and capable of giving full expres-
sion to the different emotions which animate the human
breast. The principle fault we find with him is, that
he occasionally degenerates into bombast, and alternates
too rapidly between sepulchre, the fierce, and the fami-
liar inflexions of his voice—a trick, seemingly, with the
view of drawing down the applause of the gallery.
Mr. Davenport was the la.go, and a very picturesque-
looking, intelligent, and effective lago he made, taking
care to steer judiciously clear of the usual mistake of let-
ting the "villany" be transparent even to his dupes. Des-
demona was played by Miss Anderton, who was feminine,
interesting, and expressive, and very neat besides, while
at the proper occasions she was quite as powerful as so
" gentle" a lady ought to be. Of the rest of the charac-
ters, with the exception of the very effective rendering
of the little part of Brabantio by Mr. George Bennett,
there is nothing to be said. A. burlesque called the
Fountain of Beauty followed the tragedy. The doggrel
dialogue—which has been written in demonstration cf
the loves of King Pretty for the Princess Emerald, his
trials to remove a hump from his back, and the adverse
views of the evil one, Knotagooddun--has been illus-
trated by a variety of gay dresses and tinselled scenes,
nd the extravaganza (rather, by the way, more political
than usual in its allusions) does not sink below the or-
dinary level of such things. The vocal parodies which
are sprinkled over the piece are sung by Miss Feather
stone and her coadjutors with spirit. The burlesque is
written by a Mr. Kingdom, who, with the usual liber-
ality of the burlesque writers, has confined some of his
best jests to the bill. The piece, however, is far too
long. The first act, last night, did not terminate till
after midnight.
We subjoin the opinion of some of the morning papers
upon Mr. Brooke's performance : •