The Sun.
London, England, 1825-08-19 00:00:00

THE THEATRE.

liArbf ARKET.—That admirable drarnAtie sia•
tire, The Critic, or a Tragedy Rehearsed, was re-
presented last night at this Theatre. It is hardly
necessary to observe that this humorous F,lrce
was founded upon the Duke of Bucturion-Ara's
Rehearsal, written to expose the bombastic ;;ty to
of the Tragedies in vogue at the time when it
was first produced, 1672. The first hero of the
piece was Sir ROBERT HOWARD, but the Duke
afterwards made DRYDEN the object of his ridi-
cule, who in return said that " the Duke was the
Bayes of his own Rehearsal." HENRY FIELD,
ING afterwards adopted the same plan in his
drama entitled Pasquin, but, not contented with
ridiculing bad plays, he directed his satire
against the Ministry of the time, when
RT WALPOLE Sir Ro-
BE was at the head, in consequence
of which an Act was passed for limiting the num-
ber of Playhouses and restraining the liberty of
dramatic writers. The next imitation of this
species of dramatic satire was Mr. GA a-
.RICK'S Farce, A Peep behind the Curtain,
or The New Rehearsal. Mr. SHERIDAN then
followed with the Piece represented last night ,
the first Act of which, in point of wit, humour,
and character, is equal, if not indeed superior, to
all the preceding Pieces of the same description.
The same, however, cannot be said of the second
Act, in which Puff, who was so shrewd, so
satirical, and humorous in the first, proves a vain,
silly, and contemptible Author. it is difficult to
account for this inconsistency of character, unless
upon the supposition that Mr. SHERIDAN intended
a sly attack upon the Diurnal Critics of thohne,
and to insinuate that though they were severe in
their comments as Critics, they were wholly d
titute of the qualifications necessary for good
dramatic Authors. However this may be, it is
certain that the ingenious Puff of the first Act is
not the same Puff in the second. But to the
performance of last night—if the Actors did not
equal the original representatives of the Piece,
it should be remembered the latter had all the
advantage of novelty, and that the popularity of
the Farce, and the consequent frequency of its
repetition since, render it itnpos:ible for it to
have the same raciness of impression. The
Piece, however, went off last night with v ry
great success, and afforded so much diversion to
a very numerous audience, that it will probably
be very attractive through the season: HAtit.tx
was very lively and entertaining in Puff; FABREN
was not less characteristic and diverting in Sir
Fretful, and Mrs. Gums particularly succes4ul
in Tilburina ; nor should WEST and WILLIASiS
pass without commendatory notice in Whisker -
andos and the Governor. On the whole, the
piece is revived with strong effect, and the acting
in general deserved the applause which it univer-
sally excited.
ENGLItH OPERA HOUSE.—The fine music of
SALIERI, in the new Opera of Tarrare, is e-i-
-dently ruing very high in pubic favour. In
justice, however, to the Performers, it must he
acknowledged that they render 'it ample justice
throughout. BRAHAM never appeared to m ire
advantage than in this Opera, and it has given
him an opportunity of displaying coasiderable
merit as an Actor. Miss PATON, last night, bai
several encores. Her acting and singing are ex-
cellent. Pnir,LiPs also was encored. We have
unjustly overlooked Mr. PERKINS in illtaniore,
which he renders prominent in the Piecr, arsd
exhibits also promising talents a singer. J. 0.
ATKlNs'has also had an opportunity of coming
forward as a singer, and the whole is really a fine
musical and theatrical treat.