The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-01 00:00:00

It is because if a greater number of theatres oF
..maller dimensions were established in proper parts
of this immense town, the drama would revive, that
men qualified to contribute to it would eagerly devote
their energies to that purpose; and that if they did
not, the stores of acting pleys, old and modern, in
which our dramatic literature is abundantly rich,
would be relished by the public if those plays were
presented in theatres where they could be heard
tad understood, and the actors who would per-
form them could be seen, that we insist the case
against a monopoly of the two overgrown theatres
is most clearly made out. The ingenuity of the
people connected with the theatres has been
stretched to the utmost to invent some feasible rea-
sons for the falling off in the numbers of persons
who resort thither. The feet of such a falling off is
extremely questionable. Persons are found to resort
notwithstanding all that is aid,: about late and
he taste for the lighter productions of literature, and
for music, to the dictates, we have before a:luded to,
and in sufficient—more than sufficient—nui»bers,
their merits being considered, to the larger theatres.
But if these reasons be allowed all their weight,
they are not sufficient to account for that of which
they are supposed to be the camsea. If people wish
to go to the- theatre, they will dine earlier; no per-
son—that is, no rational person—Hor any decent
family, H an's to go to the theatre every night. If
the public have truly such a taste for light literature
and music as is ascribed to them, that is the taste of
ell others which will lead them to the theatres ; and
as the degree of talent necessary to produce an
Agreeable romance would bring fortha tolerable
drama, all that remains is to open a channel for the
exercise of such talent, and who can doubt that it
will flow in the direction of the theatres ? If, in-
deed, a competent author about to write shall dc-
bae with himself whether his work is to be a play
or a novel, the balance will probably incline in fa-
vour of the latter; but why ? Because, if when his
novel is finished, he takes it to a publisher, who
finds it to possess sufficient merit, they agree upon
the terms, and the author commits his wok to the
press, and the affair is finished. If he takes his -
play to the manager, he must make interest, have
friends in the party behind the ,cures,—above all,
he must have no enemies among the ingenious people
who live by adapting and translating trumpery
pieces from the French, and who are called, par ex-
cellence, the dramatists of the day, and who are
usually entrusted to read the pieces offered for re-
presentation, a manager not being supposed capable
of pronouncieg upon such a point himself. If his
play be accepted, the author utmost render himself
acceptable to the ladies and gentlemen actors and
actresses, bend to their wishes, alter according to
their caprice, and, if it he an opera, the matter is by
so much the worse, that your singers, male and
female, have nmre whims, and less intellect, than any
other actors, and he has the composer to satisfy
into the bargain. If it be at length played, and do
not succeed, he has a great deal of trouble, in addi-
tion to that of having composed his work, and of a
degrading and revolting kind, to no purpose. If it
do succeed, the remuneration for a play, even at the
highest rate, is not near so much as that which a
successful nova l would command. If its utnount
depend upon the run of the piece, the manager may
stop that just when he pleaies; and if it be for a
sum fixed, he may or may not obtain payment, the
present state of the vrical matters making that by
no means so certain us the receipt of the money at
the doors ; while,T if he prints it, it may be pirat,d
with impunity in every theatre from Linden to the
Land's End ; and, whatever may be the profits of
the representation, he is sure not to be a dolt the
richer. Can it be wondered, then, that no man
will write for the stage who can write any thing
else fit to be read ?

If, however, there were a greater number of
theatres and of less extent, this evil would probably
be remedied, and when dramatic anthers were
placed upon a footing with other authors, the drama
would, no doubt, have as many contributors as
those branches of writing which are at present so in-
dustriously cultivated. But at all events the public
would be better served. For operas, ballets, and
spectacles, the two patent theatres are well enough
suited; but it cannot be denied that they are wholly
inadequate for any other dramatic purpose. All
that is most valuable in acting is destroyed by them.
That tone of level speaking which is essentially ne-
cessary in comedy, and a departure from which is
an unpardonable fault in the actor, would be a
whisper on the boards of Drnry-lane and Covent-
garden. Some of the most be.iutiful and effective
passages in tragedy are those where the thought
should be uttered in a low tone—the soft echo of a
passion which is felt too deeply to be pronounced
aloud; some of the most ,triking sta:;e effects are
produced by the variety and power of expvessUin
in the actor's features ; —all these it is vain to ex-
pect in large theatres, and yet these minute strokes
of art are those which distinguish good act-
ing from that of which we have too great
an abundance. To see tire perfection of art
which might be displayed in a small theatre,
to hear the tine touches of poetry and wit,
and satire, of which our Creme is full, and
the like of which may again be produced, who can
doubt that the intellectual public (tt body numerous
enough to fill twenty proper sized theatres) would
resort ? To sec the vicious exaggeration, to hear
the turbulence and noise which an actor, to be bear(i
ut all, must employ in the patent theatres, and which,
is tte favourable to bad as it is mischievous to etiod
acting, who can wander that the same descriptieu
of persons go less frequently ? With the help of
a good glass it may be possible, in the centre of
either circle of the boxes, or at the back of the pit,
to see the faces of tire actors; but to watch the
changes of expression,—to catch the varying tones
of the voice,—to seize the true spirit of the scene,
. quite impossible, even at that distance. The
fortunate few who occupy the front rows of the pit
and the front rows of the boxes nearest to the stage
are those only who can be said to see the play; but
the price they pay for this advantage is, that they
must be exposed, in a greater degree than the rest
of the audience, to it close observation of all the ex-
aggeration and falsehood of the representation, and
all the faults which are occasioned by the violent
and unnatural style of acting to which the present
size of the theatres give rise.
AD.:ether inconvenience resulting from the size of
the theatres is, that the snore decent part of the
audieuce,—thuse who, as the/ go only to see the
performances, ought to have every possible accom-
modaticm,—have much to complain of. The dress
boxes, as they are called (probably because gentle-
men in rough great coats redolent of tobacco-smoke
come in and out of theist at all times), are so large
that few private parties can occupy one entirely,
and they are exposed theeetOre to the inconvenience
of being mixed up with persons whour they do not
know, or whom they, and every body else, do
know, and who are its either case very objectionable
companions even in a play-house. Above stairs the
matter is a wee,: deal worse ; the beck rows of the
second .;role of boxes are commonly filled with
woenee, whose dress arid manners plainly indicate
their calling, and who, by theineelyee or their
friends, take cure to remove all doubt upon the eub-
jeet if any could exist. The lobby behind these
:i°gxevs., iis literally
tuecrlat lymfilled
a nattl
trai
edi
t:eciisitomept mothers
,triost
g.(1:10i
' lobby and these boxer alone the wives,
averattr
ol' tiro
olly
f
:end through,
toht:ot 11; ‘; el:at;
anti sisters,
persons who would choose to go
rt
iectis
rrie't
aust'seac,ki elseailtyhbel)ti,or itllilvrieaeyg2
ars
versatioin of such persons ie. their passage throueh
so polluted an atmosphere. To go stiil hiener
impossible 21,e scene there is nifinitely weesse; and
so notorious, that ulthoui:h it is not necessary tie
describe it, it nosy be chat ectrriz,ed as a dice al to
the police, and to the Chief Magistrate of She Ol.s-
trict under whose yeti souse it exists.
It is true no one is oblged to go so higl!rrve ien "S
pay fur
f • nd —a regulation made by ne.bod,
the places be we Id
and which effectualiy ea
know whose authority, the
box
efn,.;s t
thatcisclie; ttion (Ley°, itytti,luaymtus;te /yet?:
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