The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-15 00:00:00

CHIT-CHAT ON LONDO.V THEATRES.

Since the return, last 'Thursday, of the Prince
and Princess of \Vales from Gunton, they have
honoured the following theatres by their presence :
Drury Lane, on Friday ; the Globe, on Saturday ;
and the St. James's, on Monday. We are glad to
know that three great favourites will soon be
restored to the public. Miss Neilson, of the Gaiety,
liming sufficiently recovered from the effects of her
late accident, is to reassume the part of Mary
Belton, in " Uncle Dick's Darling." Mr. Sothern
has so far progressed towards convalescence, since
the serious accident he met with while out hunting
with Baron Rothschild's staghounds, as to allow of
the management advertising his reappearance in a
character which he has made his own, viz., that of
Lord Dundreary, in " Our American Cousin."
The date named is Monday, 14th ; the place, need
we say, is the Haymarket Theatr,,. Mr. Blondiu
is announced to reapper.r at the Agricultural Ilall
New
Men and Old Acres," at the Haymarket, is
by Messrs., Tom Taylor and Augustus Dubouig,
authors also of " A Sister's Penance." The piece
is well cast, the scenery excellent, especially in
Act II.—" The Croquet Lawn iu the Ruins of
Cleve Abbey," by Mr. O'Connor—and is, above
all, uncommonly well acted. Miss 'Madge Robert-
son, as Lilian Vavasour, is very pleasing, from her
unaffected grace ai.d earnestnesi. We believe this
talented young lady is the sister of Mr. 'l'. W.
Robertson, the well-known dramatic author.
" New Men and Old Acres" will, however, Lave
to be withdrawn, to make way for the inimitable
Lord Dundreary. For the benefit of those of our
readers to whom the word " scenarium " may
unfamiliar, we learn from the statement of the
learned counsel in an action brought the other day,
that it means the rough plot of a piece, or, as he
better described it, the " skeleton," left to be
endowed with vitality by the baud of some master
in the art of dramatic literature. It would appear
that sometimes differences of opinion will arise
between the "scenarist "—if we may be allowed
the expression—and the author, to whom the filling
up of the plot, or the creation of the piece in is
proper form for dramatic representation, a
entrusted. In this particular instance, the scene
intended to be the most telling one in the piece
was so altered by the dramatist—the counsel said,
mangled—that, instead of the heroine, when shown
a certain portrait of a man who was supposed to
have been murdered, on being given into custody
(because, on recognising it, she had screamed and
fainted, and this, too, in a crowded ball-room) the
counsel said that even the sci earn had been
omitted, and that the nobleman's mother came in
with a couple of detectives, and she was given
into custody with no more fuss than " if she had
prigged a spoon or stolen a pocket-handkerchief."
We bear that a new theatre, somewhere iu the
Strand, between the Adelphi and Lyceum, near,
if not actually on, the site of the old Glow-
worm office, will be opened in the spring, under the
management of Mr. H. J. Montague ; certainly
theatres have been springing up in London with
unusual rapidity within the last few years. Novelty
seems the order of the day now in theatrical enter-
prize. All honour to those managers who attempt
it. Messrs. Mansell, who by the way, we believe,
are Americans (of course, we are open to correction),
at the Lyceum, have found their venture a decided
success ; and their attempt to establish the regular
French Opera Bouffe has met with great approval.
Everybodyshould see " Chilperic" and M. Hervd, the
composer, and M. Marius, not forgetting the ballet.
The old comedy, by George Colman, the younger,
called the " Heir-at-Law" has been produced at
the Strand Theatre, under the direction, we be-
lieve, of Mr. J. S. Clark, the celebrated American
comedian, who has made some alterations in the
piece, reducing its length considerably. This is
another novelty, as we have not been accustomed
to find pieces of this kind in the Strand "Bill of ,
Fare' for our evenings' amusement, at that pretty
and favourite little theatre. Under these circum-
stances the company are to be congratulated on
the success they attained the other evening. Mr.
J. S. Clark, as Doctor Pangloss, was excellent, and
Mr. D. James, one of our most favourite burlesque
actors, developed a new, and by many unsuspected,
talent in his performance of Zekiel Homespun. Mr.
J. M. Bellew, so well known as an elocutionist,
gave his first " Illustrated Reading from 'Hamlet,' "
at St. George's Hall, in Langham-place, the other
evening. here again we have something new, for
although Mr. Bellew still appears in ordinary even-
ing dress, and uses the traditional reading desk, yet
the audienca have the advantage of seeing present e I
to them the very scenes and persons, so eloquently
and graphically described by the lecturer, brought
before them by means of beautiful scenery and pic-
turesque tableaux. The proverbial " first night's"
delays prolonged the reading until a late hour,
which will no doubt be altered for the better. As
an evening's amusement it was most enjoyable, and
the evident gratification of th,/ large audience leaves
no doubt as to the success of the undertaking.
A a glo- incricau