The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-04 00:00:00

SADLER'S WELLS.

The success of the Pickwickians last year at the Strand
Theatre is, if we may judge from the number of competi-
tors coming forward for a share of the profits, to be sur-
passed by Oliver Twist this season. Hammond stood alone
in his glory ; not so Davidge, for fourteen days have barely
elapsed since the commencement of Oliver Twist at the
Surrey, yet we have Honner, the lessee of the Sadler's
Wells, starting in opposition—like the managers of Drury-
lane and Ccvent-garden with Joan of Arc, &c.—with a
dramatic piece, composed, of course in a condensed form,
of the leading incidents in the touchingly written tale of
the parish boy. If the popularity of Boz's writings is to
be judged of by the eagerness with which they are univer-
sally read, or the peals of applause with which the theatre-
going community greet those portions of them which have
been dramatised, we should should say that he stands first
among the foremost, of the present day at least, who have
successfully sought public approval, and, we might add,
public cash.
The piece at the Sadler's Well, performed for the first
time last night, comprises Oliver's progress at the " Farm"
—his removal to, sand udden elopement from, the under-
takers—his meeting with the Artful Dodger, and introduction
to the Jew—his arrest—trial and acquittal for pocket-pick-
ing—his subsequent recovery by the Jew, and first expe-
dition as a cracksman—and his ultimte good fortune.
Mrs. R. limner, as Oliver Twist, elicited, and highly me-
rited, the most unqualified applause. Her performance
was generally mildly melancholy, sometimes tenderly ,
touching, but never insipidly sombre or violent, except
indeed when Oliver is wrought up to fury by the slander
of the lubberly charity boy of a parent dead ; but whose
memory was dearly cherished. Her countenance, which
but a moment before was overcast with sweet but sad
repose, became suddenly flushed, and as quickly pale ; and
then o'crspread with crimson, and then again losing its
colour—undergoing a succession of changes as the varied
passions within rose and fell ; and her eye, in which but
now youtful buoyancy seemed expiring in the glassy gaze
of withering sorrow, was in an instant lighted up, and
darted forth the fiery glare of passions roused to madness :
a moment she stood thus, and in the next she pounced
upon the calumniator of a mother's honoured name ; and
we must do her the justice to say she mauled him well—
we had almost said scientifically—and received for thanks
the loudest thunders of the Gods. Mr. R. limner rea-
lized our idea of Boz's pen to our entire:satisfaction. The
avaricious, cunning, and time-serving Jew was exposed
in his naked loathsomeness and deformity of mind,
without one single reclaiming virtue to mollify our hate
or to move our sympathy. His malicious chuckling,
when his detestable purposes were gained—his unscru
pulosity of the means by which they were accomplished—
and his servile and artful flattery, or awful threatenings, as
the case required., to those whom he selected as the means,
were well and powerfully pourtrayed. If we would select
any one part of Mr. Honner's acting, as that in which
he was most powerful, we should say in the scene laid in
the condemned cell in Newgate, where the old Jew is exhi-
bited communing with himself upon the past, present, and
future ; but to whose self-addressed sentences we listen
in vain for one word of sincere regret for the life of crime
he had led ; on the contrary, every better thought keeps
distant from him then, as they did through life, and all his
soul is fixed on release from confinement, to act anew the
part he had before sustained. Pardon, he knows, he
cannot obtain, and the thought goads him and rouses him to
frenzy, and in his desperation he summons all the strength
and energy left in his enfeebled faculties to effect his es-
cape by force, but he summons them in vain, and with the
effort he falls exhausted. The actor understood and fol-
lowed the author closely in this awfully impressive scene, in
which the wretched Jew could neither look with satisfaction
on the past, nor view with hope the future, but stood giddy
on the outermost verge of a precipice, in a moment to fall in
the dread abyss below, and saw not a hand outstretched
to help, and knew that no heart would pity him. Miss
Richardson did ample justice to the character of Nancy,
and was very effective in her acting, when she gave vent to
those touches of better feeling by which she was now and
then moved. The brutal, desperate, and feelingless Sikes,
without a thought or feeling, but which belonged to fierce
villainy, was well personated by Mr. J. Lee, as was the
Artful Dodger, by Alr. J. W. Collier. Mr. Conquest, as
Air. Bumble, the Parish Beadle, excited roars of laughter,
in which he was for a time assisted by the Parish Under-
taker (Mr. Harwood) and his wife (Miss Pitt). On the
whole we unhesitatingly say, that we have not seen for a
long time a dramatic piece of this description—and of
course making some allowance for its necessarily condensed
form -a more faithfully representing the original, or one in
which the characters are more appropriately filled up and
more faithfully realised ; and we most cordially concede our
meed of praise to the dramatist, the manager, and the
whole company, without exception. Mrs. Honner, who
was loudly called for when the curtain fell, came
forward and announced its repetition to-night and during
the week, amidst deafening applause. After which Mr.
Honner, who was shouted for, made his appearance, and
returned the audience his best thanks. The farce of the
the Lottery Ticket followed, and the drama of the School
Fellows concluded the evening's amusements.