The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-31 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

Last night, the long-expected dramatic version
of Mr. Dickens's story, "A Tale of Two Cities,"

was produced at this theatre, and on the occasion
every available seat in the house was filled long
before the rising of the curtain. From the an-

nouncement of the piece we had some doubts
whether " A Tale of Two Cities." though in itself

pre-eminently dramatic, might not present difficul-
ties almost insuperable to its being very effectively
dramatised ; and the production has confirmed us
in that belief, although everything that Mr.

Tom Taylor could do has been done to render
it successful. Of course, the story of the plot
is so well known to most of our readers that

it would really be waste of time to give a de-
tailed description of it. It will be sufficient,
therefore, on the present occasion if we notice some
of the alterations necessarily required in a story
extending over so long a space of time.
First and foremost, all that part of the tale relating
to London has been entirely omitted, therefore,
properly speaking, the drama ought to have been
called " A Tale of a City," as the whole of the ac-

tion is laid in Paris. Then the character of Miss
Pross, a very important personage in the book, has
been altogether omitted, and the death of Madame
Defarge so summarily managed, that many of the
audience were not at all pleased with " the effect."
The play commences with a sort of prologue,
which takes place in an old house outside Paris
(this incident we get nearly at the conclusion of the
book), in one of the rooms of which two heartless
aristocrats—the Marquis St. Evremond and his
younger brother—are coldly awaiting the death of
one of their betrayed and ♦iolated victims (Colette),

for whom the professional services of Dr. Mannette

have been secured. On death releasing the poor girl
from her sufferings, the Marquis proposes to pur-

chase the silence of the doctor, who, however, re-
fuses to pledge himself to secrecy, and the Marquis
having a blank lettre de cachet, silently fills up the
document with the name of Dr. Mannette, who,
instead of being taken home, is secretly conveyed
to the Bastille.

A lapse of 20 years is supposed to occur previous
to the second act, which opens in one of the splen-
did salons of the Marquis St. Evremond, to whom
the rescue of Dr. Mannette is related. Then fol-

low some of the most striking incidents in the
original story, viz., the breaking of the wipe
cask in the Faubourg St. Antoine, the in-
terview between the rescued prisoner Man-

nette and his daughter, the revolutionary
dance of the Carmagnole, the trial of Charles
Darney, and the conveyance of Sidney Carton to
the guillotine, which concludes the drama.
The part of the Marquise of St. Evremond was
sustained by Mr. Walter Lacy, but his conception
of the part appears to us to be altogether a mistake.
Mr. Lacy makes the marquis a conventional stage
fop, whereas in the work he is minutely described
as a man of implacable feeling, cold as marble, in
short, the beau ideal of a nobleman of the ancien
regime. If we cannot say he acted the part cor-
rectly, we can, with truth, say he looked the part
completely. Mr. Villiers (Sidney Carton) was very
much better. He evidently had taken pains with
his part, and richly merited the applause he elicited.
The portrayal of Dr. Mannette fell ,to Mr.
James Vining, and with all respect to him as
a careful actor, we must say that he did
not realise the character drawn by Dickens. His
acting was exceedingly, not to say painfully slow,
and the scene from which we had expected so much,
vie., the interview between him and his daughter,
was entirely spoiled, owing to the length of time
he took in over-elaborating his return to conscious.
ness. Mr. T. Lyon's Jasper Lorry was highly ar-
tistic, and pleased us greatly. The part, however,
which secured the honour of the evening among the
male characters was Jerry Cruncher, by Mr. Rouse.
His make-up as the reformed body-snatcher was
admirable, and his acting quite equal to it. Alias
Kate Saville, as Lucy Marinette, acted with a sweet
womanly feeling but rarely now-a-days witnessed
on the stage, as the style and her exertions were
rewarded with very great applause. To Madame
Celestel the
the
this
adaptorgreatadmirable
m
weight of the piece been con-
fided, has not over-estimated the
nt s
irable artiste. Her acting—
both as the dying girl Colette and the woman of
the revolution, Madame Defarge—was intense.
This lady's talent was universally acknowledged to
be great in the dramas of " Janet Pride" and "The
Green Bushes," but her embodiment of the parts
allotted to her in this drama far outrivals all her
past efforts—great as they have been.
Having spoken of the acting of the play, we
now pass to what is technically termed " the
getting up." From first to last the master hand
of.the talented directress is present—witness the
admirable manner in which the first scene is ar-
ranged. Then, again, the wild, disorderly manner
in which the infuriated mob fill the stage, and
afterwards go through the revolutionary dance,
"The Carmagnole," in the wine shop of Defarge.
Nothing could possibly convey a better idea of the
scenes enacted during the Reign of Terror than this
and the scene, the trial of Charles
Darney. succeeding
sluleeddrielag dresses, properties, and effects are
splendid; and, when the piece is compressed within
proper limits (the three acts last night consuming
three hours and forty minutes), a long and success-
ful run may be safely reckoned upon.
Amidst much applause, Madame Celeste an-
nounced the piece for repetition every evening
until further notice.