The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-15 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

On Saturday a domestic drama, in four acts,
entitled " Ethel, or Only a Life," was produced at
this theatre, the play being written, we presume,
for the purpose of giving Miss Kate Terry a nellr
part. The story is that of an orphan girl, NW'
left friendless and penniless in the world, endure°
unheard-of trials and temptations. Her career 0.
one of hopeless misery. Not a ray of sunshine
falls upon her path. First, the son of a retired
linendraper, at whose house she has been giving'
music lessons, plots her ruin, veiling his purpose,
under a promise of marriage. Then a medical
makes honourable overtures, but Ethel, thong'
she loves him, rejects him for the other; where'
upon Galen sails for Bombay, and is not seen agaill
in England until the closing scene. On discover
the infamous design of her first lover, Ethel throW°
him over and retires to a poor lodging in Chelsea''
where she ekes out a wretched existence by combin-
ing the incongruous duties of dressmaker and morn'
ing governess. One of her friends urges her to marrYt
a small tradesman in the nighbourhood,whose higher"
title to her regard is that he is old and well-to-d°'
Ethel, being on the verge of starvation, seems for t‘i,
time disposed to admit the validity of this claim; 1311 v
ou receiving an anonymous letter threatening her
with vengeance in case she should marry in that haul-
ble quarter, she abandons her third suitor and re'
signs herself to her miserable fate. So things
ti
mains until towards the close of the last act, wile:
she is engaged to play the piano at an evening Pr%
in a house at South Kensington. She enters tP
drawing-room, and the first man she meets is 'lir
old friend, the Doctor, who is now married to
linendraper's daughter. Ethel is overwhelmed wild
emotion, for she had hoped that the physician w°ll
renew his addresses to herself. A passionate inter'
view ensues, but all is over ; Ethel takes her ar,
pointed seat, and begins to play a set of quadrillesci
but has not got beyond a bar or two when herb g3a
droops lifelessly upon the keys, and she falls deg'
at the piano ! oa,
The drama has been taken from the French/ ~o
individually speaking, it would, in our opinion/ b%O
been quite as well if it had been left alone, bee3lla,
it is dull, dismal, twaddling, and intenselY diejjg
greeable. It is true that Miss Kate Terry's acting
of the part of Ethel is marked by all that charclt;
simplicity and perfect reality that so oninerlito
distinguishes her impersonations, and to all it , r,
evident she was doing her utmost for her 0°,4
whose materials were perfectly unworthy tPerg
great ability. With respect to other char° 00
they seemed ill to fit the company at ot
Adelphi ; Mrc. Mellon had the part of an licl/..,c1
Yorkshire girl, which she did with much spirit,tll
Miss Furtado that of a rich widow, but our sprieuer
little actress in this instance was entirely out 0t..;e0
element. Mr. Billington, as the son of a retired 11 the
draper, had a most disagreeable part ; in fact' It
drama must be pronounced altogether a mist3l°.c,or,
is badly constructed, devoid of either wit or 11111;00
and altogether a piece we would much rather not
else.seen at the Adelphi Theatre or indeedanywhere the
of
It lasted for four mortal hours, and at the fa; Oh
curtain there was a great deal of dissent 'pixel' post
the applause. If the piece is to 44 go "at all it ties'
be cut down fully one-half, and then it is verY
ttr tict
as
tionable whether the remaining half will a 3
audience such as is usually to be found at the P
ter- I lar Adelphi theatre.
'll

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SIN
SIR, —I trust that in common justice to Myself 5:1°0'11:01_4%
allow the following statement to appear in your Pit'
The lines in my piece of "Ethel; or, Only a l'ile';og to
duced last Saturday evening at the Adelphi, referftudit
in the
riots in Hyde-park, and which caused such tt t,tl,
the house, I beg to say were none of mine's
te'
been spoken at tho rehearsal—and were beard -.0.
the first time ia common with the rest of the alicitelit'a the
ill-feeling
No play—good, bad, or indifferent—could witlastau.oioa
Meeling the words created, and, at the time, Ilel d t°
the satisfaction of knowing to a certainty what
_..,s,%'tic)tif
expect at the conclusion of the drama. The ihteit:it
was entirely due to the lady who filled tits r
Judith, who, having a heavy character to sustain, tin.°
amfit to lighten it by putting a match to a powder"b3r;ti°ll
sure she regretted it, although that is poor cuss; 1,1,0
for me. However, as Englishmen do not znalcs .ts;t110 oa°
women, and can afford to forgive a foolish set '„r°,,00069;
who is too young in years to consider the cousen
so far, she is safe. As Englishmen also love fair 13 '3'l'llll°
trust that if this explanation meets the eyes °I tr(3l
i So
tried so earnestly to assist at my defeat, theY ,t; to
repent themselves that their exertions were turhe-
ill a purpos
TuEe.
AUTHOR OF "ETHEL; OR, 01'35
Oct. 14, 1866, 2, Hare- court, Inner Temple'