The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-05 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

Last evening a new petite comedy, entitled
" Doctor Davey," was produced here and meet with
the most genuine success. No preparatory parade
had been made relative to its being in preparation,
or had any great outlay been incurred in placing
it on the stage, so the highly favourable result Was
achieved solely by the intrinsic merit of the work
and the great talent of the artists engaged in its
representation. " Doctor Davy "is taken from a
one act French piece, entitled " Le Docteur Robin,'
but it has been so much altered, reconstructed, and
entirely rewritten, that it is fully entitled to be
called an original work. The plot is simple yet
compact and briefly related is as follows
The daughter of one Ebenezer Moleseye,
one of the flock of a dissenting shepherd, and 3
feather dealer to boot, has, without the knowledge
of the said Ebenezer, been in company with her
aunt to Drury Lane Theatre to see Mr. Garrick
perform Romeo, and such is fascination of the per-
formance that Mary Moleseye conceives a romantic
attachment for the actor. The lady after having
visited the theatre thinks of nothing but the melt-
ing tenderness of Romeo as exemplified by Garrick,
and her accepted lover, Arthur Quillet, is almost
forgotten. The father discovering the secret, is
greatly annoyed that his daughter, above all people
in the world, should fall in love with an actor-man'
and, as a natural consequence, reviles the theatre
and actors, who he looks upon as idle, ill-disposed
and worthless personages. Arthur Quillet, n°t
knowing the cause of Mary's melancholy, obtains 3
ticket to take her to the playhouse, and informs the
father of the fact. The dissenting Ebenezer tells
the young man that the theatre is the cause of all
his daughter's unhappiness, which Arthur doubts.
He defends the stage and actors, Mr. Garrick espe-
cially. The father, in order to test the character
which Garrick has received from Arthur, writes to
him, telling him his daughter's state of mind, little
expecting that such a backslider as the actor must
be will take notice of his communication. Garrick,
however, visits Moleseye's house, and finding the
prejudice of the father as deeply rooted as ignorance
can make it, sets about putting things in order.
He first works upon the feelings of Moleseye'
by vividly describing the feelings of a mother Iv°
sees her child in a position of imminent danger'
Moleseye is so overcome with the story that ha
stoutly refuses to believe it to be but acting, 313
fearing that a man who can so command the tears
and smiles of human nature may in his turn fan in
love with Mary, refuses to allow him to see his
his daughter. Garrick, however, animated with the
i
kindest feeling determines to cure the romantic Or'
of her passion, and he accordingly obtains an inter-
view with her disguised as Doctor Davy. Admirably
made up as an antiquated gossipping old man? 0
converses with the maiden, telling her how rediell;
bons all the stuff she has heard upon tlll,
stage is. That Romeo, after he has sW3
lowed the poison for the love of Juliet, always
goes home to enjoy his supper, that the Ghost 1::
Hamlet" had better have gone straight at once ti
his son and told him all about his troubles witlicti
bothering other people with them ; and that Macbethp.
:
could not have seen daggers in the air without all
this taken too much whisky. Mary listens to
this in silence, but finally gives vent to her admirile';
tion of the divine inspirations of Shakspere, and t
result is Garrick, in his delight, throws off the w*
and coat of Doctor Davy, when she at once recog-
nises him as the great actor. Garrick, to prevent 3
failure of his plan, again resorts to acting, and see'
ing the brandy bottle of the godly Ebenezer on the
table, begins to pay his devotion to it, ill;
stead of, as Mary imagined, breathing
sages of clove into her but too impatient ea131:0
The difference between Garrick in his cups off t ,
stage, and Garrick as Romeo on the stage, is eti„e
that Mary soon thinks of the coldness with which
''
she has treated her lover Arthur. He arrives ru°s,
opportunely to hear Mary make a warm declarative
in his favour, but all is nearly spoiled by molesef,
expressing his surprise at the whole matter, este
o
cially as the bottle was empty. The cure, however'd 30
been complete. Mary's love returns to Arthur, ancied
thanks for the happy termination are being awarer.
to Dr. Davy, the curtain descends. To Mr.
I, the
mann Vezin, who sustained the part of Garrick/
most unqualified praise is justly due. /le ct,erf
pletely took the audience by surprise, as but b' eel)
few present imagined that the actor who had
Hot
hitherto cast for somewhat small and unimPer"-
parts at this theatre was possessed of such great 300
undoubted genius. His first triumph sos (1 to
describing the perilous position of the little 0-Ih'l the
Moleseye. The feather-dealer's eye was 13°t by
only one by a great many that was moistened oot
the deep pathos and feeling with which the in oe
was related by Mr. Vezin. When the climax ca
itS
and the flower, the child is supposed to hay° ,„/ 001
little hand, is the only thing that dropped from 3'1.0r,
the entire audience seemed to rejoice with Eben',l4
and gave vent to their admiration of the great °IO'
of the actor by the loudest applause. Then, agaii3'6so,
disguise for Doctor Davy, was most complete; .00
voice, walk, and manner, all were successfully 131 and
from the audience, as well as Mary MoleseYea's an
finally the assumed intoxication of the actor aped
effort on thepart of Mr. Vezin, which at once sta rads
him as an artiste of the first ability. Miss gell
Pr`
acted very prettily as Mary, and Mr. D. , o
made a capital Moleseye. At the terminativear
the piece the applause was universal, and on 61e
were
tain again rising the whole of the performers were
discovered on the stage ; but the audience
l •
not thus to be contented, and it was not tints 10
Vezin had singly acknowledged the applellsc
acting had elicited that silence was restore grcat
We heartily congratulate Mr. Vezin on 00 at
success ; he has bided his time, but it has c°
last.