The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 9, 1844.

THE THEATRES. ± fail to convey an accurate or adequate idea of the re- so, therefore, do we) grasps a rifle that some " spirit of
DRURY-LANE. ality; and the.audience applauded the wonderful tableaux health or goblin damn'd" had benevolently left on a
successively presented with the utmost heartiness of hedge hard by, and at once lodges a bullet in the thorax
M. Dupree has obtained.an additional conge of a week
from the Academie Royale de Musique, and, conse- manner. As we do not think it desirable to enter into of his son-in law that was to have been, who, of course,
quently, during the Easter week he will continue at the plot, it is, perhaps, best not to make any lengthened drops from the crag into the shades below. De-
remarks on the performance of the actors in tie stirring rothea, the heroine of the revolt (and very well
Drury lane. He appeared last night as Arnold in
Guillaume Tell, and' Will appear: on Wednesday and scenes. William, Duke of Normandy, was very ably- that heriaine was- personated by Miss L. Melville)
Friday. Siretton, who-was the Tell, was suffering so ! sustained by Mr. Henry Howard, the Saxon King by now fires the signal, and the revolt takes place,—that is,
severely from lameness, the 'consequence of an accident, Mr. J. Danville, whilst Algitha, the wire of Harold, we suppose it does, for less of row or riot we never yet
was pees by Mrs. Short. Great amusement was saw or read of at a revolt. The "dying patriot" blesses
that, before thecommencement of the opera, Cooper came ert
forward, and bespoke the consideration of the audience eau: Si by the acting of Mr. Hudspeth, as Magnus, his now liberated country, and having given his daughter
on his behalf. - The accident, however, as Mr. Cooper in which character be joins the invading in marriage to anather young gentleman in military
most truly stated, had "not affected Mr. Stretton's vocal force, anc , accompanied by a young lady who shares his attire, who was luckily near at hand, gasps out bis latest
powers," for we never heard him in better voice. The adventures, lands with the Norman troops. His per- sigh, and so brings all to a close. The character of
old drama of the Tale of Mystery, which was very well formance elicited roars of laughter. The character of Rftf.envelt was very fairly played by Mr. Laws, from the
acted, followed the opera. The management judging, Sweeno, a Saxon, surnamed Sweeno of the Flail, was Brighton theatre, a first appearance on these boards, and,
and-judging rightly, that the attraction of Dupree would cleverly taken by Mr. T. Barry. The Norman Conquest by the applause of the house, we may fairly prophesy
be sufficient to fill the house, without the addition of the was succeeded by Monsieur plege's evolutions on the ivery far from a last one. In addition to the plot we
usual Easter spectacle, the house was crowded. tight rope ; and greater dexterity could not possibly be have thus sketched, there was an under-plot (if we
exhibited than was displayed, on this occasion; by this may so term it), of low comedy, in the persons of Sam
clever performer. Signor Germani, Monsieur Ziesback, Nubbles, a London lozenge manufacturer on his travels
and :Monsieur Massotta, successively astonished the (Mr. G. Wild), and Rummy Tights, an extemporaneous
audience by their wonderful feats of equestrianism ; and tiger following the fortunes and misfortunes of nibbles
these were followed by a very pleasing and elegant per- I (Mr. Rogers). ;Both these characters, redolent of low
formance of the same description, by Monsieur Tour- comedy in speech and action, were admirably acted, and
naire and Mdlle. Annette. A farce called My Next drew forth repeated plaudits and bursts of laughtei•
Door Neighbour, wound up the amusements of the even- The piece, of is kind, is a very creditable one, and we
ing, which throughout appeared to afford the greatest I have no doubt will draw money. There are seine
satisfaction to a numerous and highly respectable sprightly snatches of song in it, which were well giver,
company. especially by Miss Lebatt, who, in the after part of
the evening, sang, "Tell me my heart," with excellent
taste and judgment. The scenery in this drama of The
Signal, especially the mountain portion of it, deserves
praise, and we therefore state that Mr. Beverley is the
artist. The other new piece was a burlesque extra-
vaganza, called Cinderella, or the Great Fairy
and the Little Gliss Slipper, and really it has
been most truthfully christened in the bills. A better
hit at Italian opera and French dancing we have never
seen, and, while full of fun, it is alike free from ill-
nature or low vulgarity.. Cinderella, by Mademoiselle
Georgiana Wild, is one of the most amusing pieces of act-
ing we have ever seen. We can conclude as we have
begun, by repeating, that the manager has catered hap- '
pily for the season, and that those who wish to " drive
dull care away" cannot more effectually do it than by
going to the Olympic theatre.

RAYMARKET.

Plana* the indefatigable, has provided the Easter
piece for this theatre, in the shape of a new original, oc-
casional, and local extravagania, entitled, The Drama at
Rome; or, an Evening with Puff This, like all Planeligs
burlesques, is replete with wit, full of excellent hits at
the follies of the day, and abounding with puns that
might make Hood himself jealous. In the first scene
we find the Drama (Mrs. Glover) in extremis. The scene
represents the ancient temple of' the Drama, with a
miserable prospect and a dissolving view of the company.
Puff (Mr: C. Mathews) appearS in a critical moment,
and straightway proposes various plans for the re-
storation of Drama to her former supremacy.
It was a dangerous experiment to reproduce
Puff on the stage, but it was completely successful.
Planche's Puff is the lineal descendant of Sheridan's
Puff, and he is worthy of his lineage. Some of his
schemes. are admirable. He proposes to turn Covent-
Garden into a grand National Hydropathic Establish-
ment—cold water for the million—and to reproduce the
farce of Animal. Magnetism, under its new name Mes-
merism, by mesmerising the whole of the audience, and
making them applaud in the proper places, so as to
ensure the success of any piece that may be produced.
The Drama is thrown into a mesmeric state, and Drury-
lane and Coient-garden Theatres appear before her in
a vision. The latter is under a cloud, to wit, behind one
of Jullien's immense bills. The actors, too, have
left the temples of the drama. Ariel (Miss P. Horton)
is engaged to lecture at the Adelaide Gallery and the
Polytechnic ; Othello is boarded by Warren, and is a
walking advertisement for jet-blacking ; while Macbeth,
who is up to snuff, takes up his position as the High-
lander at the shop-door of a tobacconist. The Drama'
driven from the patent theatre, takes refuge in the Hay-
market, which, for the first time; appears on its ()an
stage (by the kind perniission of Benjamin Webster,
Esq., lessee). Having thus found a refuge, Mr. Puff
presents the Minor Theatres on the occ ision of their late
emancipation, and the piece concludes with a grand ano-
malous procession of the London exhibitions, including
the Ojibbeway Indians and Tom Thumb. The piece
was admirably got up, and was completely successful. At
the conclusion, Mrs. Glover, Mr. C. Mathews, Miss P.
Horton, and Mr. J. Bland, who acted Punch, were called
for and received with loud applause. The extraordi-
nary and classical performance of Professor Risley and
his son followed, to the great delight' and amusement of
a crowded house.

SURREY

The principal Easter piece at this theatre—for there
wire two others—was an adaptation from .Mr. Towns-
end's " Whitefriars," under the direction of Mr. R.
Honner, to whose skill and judgment it does consider-
able credit. The scene is laid in a period of our history
in which the worst passions of the vilest men were let
loose, and it is one, too, which is not without its interest
and moral for the times we live in. The main point in
the plot is not unlike that upon which the interest of
Richard Savage, not long since produced here, was
founded. Mervyn (Mr. E. F. Saville) is the son of Lady
Howard (Mrs. H. Vining), by whom he is disowned,
and whom he does not know to be hts mother. Under
the guidance of Titus Oates (Mr. Eleslop) and Colonel
Blood (Mr. H. Hughes), a formerlover of Lady Howard's,
he is unintentionally made a party in the murder of Sir
E. B. Godfrey (Mr. Hawkins.) After his return from
the war in Scotland, whither he is forced to fly, and
where he is made a captain in King Charles's
service, he falls in love with Aurora Sydney (Mrs. R.
Honner), of whose charms, Charles (Mr. Johnson) also
becomes enamoured, and whose honour he tempts by a
casket of jewels, sent by Mervyn. The offer, of course,
is indignantly rejected, but the Merry Monarch, bent
on accomplishing his object, effects a meeting with
Aurora Sydney, and endeavours to force her compli-
ance, but Mervyn rushes in, and an encounter ensues,
the King being assisted by Blood, and Mervyn by Claude
Duval (Mr. N. T. Hicks). Blood and Mervyn being
wounded are taken to the laboratory of Elkanah, a Jew
poisoner (Mr. R. Milner), to whom Lady Howard offers
a considerable sum of money, upon his undertaking to
poison both. Mervyn refuses his remedies,
.but the
Colonel imbibes the poison through his wound. After
it begins to act, he calls upon Elkanah, who informs
him that Lady Howard instigated him to infuse the
poison. Before his death he procures a meeting with
Lady Howard, and just as he gets her to acknowledge
that Mervyn is her son, he calls in the latter, who is con-
cealed in an adjoining room, upon which his mother swoons
and dies in despair. The Colonel also dieS from the
poison, and the curtain drops. The piece possesseg,some
good scenes, and was very well received. The charac-
ters are very creditably sustained. Mrs. Vining and
Mrs. Honner performed their respectis4 parts with
taste and ability; and Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hughes, and
Mr., Saville, were very effective in theirs. A little
comedy, called the Scapegrace of Paris, and a short
piece, called Barak Johnson, adapted from a tale in the
New Monthly Magazine, followed, and went off very
well. The theatre was very well attended, and the
pieces were announced for repetition amidst loud ap
plause.

SIRAND THEATRE.

This snug little theatre, was opened for the summer
season last evening, when, among other sources of at-
traction provided for the audience, they were gratified
by the first appearance of a juvenile actress (according
to the bills only eiglit years o. d), Miss Heron, from the
Theatre Royal, Dublin, who made her bow to a London
audience in the character of Terry O'Rourke, alias Dr.
O'Toole, in the Irish Tutor. While the memory of poor
Power is still fresh upon us, it is no trifling matter for
another to please in any one of those characters which
he made so peculiarity his own ; and in none was he
more laughter-exciting than that of Dr. O'Toole. It
must, therefore, be no slight merit that drew down such
repeated plaudits as greeted the young aspirant to fain
from all Parts of the house. In fact, she made a decided
hit. Her acting was marked by extraordinary tact,
cleverness, and just perception of the part She had to play;
and if there was any one matter in which correction
might be suggested, it was in her taking too much pains
to mark the brogue. This, perhaps, she thought re-
quisite to suit an English audience. The manner in
which she danced an Irish jig was admirable, and drew
forth an encore. The entertainments concluded with a,
mythological burletta, entitled Venus and Mars; or, the
Golden Net, founded on the not very delicate subject
of The loves of those deities. It is a very du'l piece, with
moderateiy..good scenery, and was little more than re-
deemed from failure by the clever acting and singing
of Miss Louisa Lyons as Mars, and Miss Fitzjames as
Venus. The dialogue was totally devoid of point, and
the sentiments were anything but delicate. It did not
deserve to succeed.

SADLER'S WELLS.
The performances of yesterday evening at this theatre
were of a somewhat novel character, inasmuch as an ex-
hibition of wrestling, of single-stick, and of sparring
with the gloves, was included in the bill of fare. The
qaulity of the materiel scented, however, too recherché
for the tastes of the worthy public of St. John's, and a
very poor house was the necessary cynsequence. The
first piece of the evening was a drama of Mr. Planche's,
entitled Ivan Dana& or the Sledge Driver, founded, we
believe, on an incident in the reign of the madly ca-
pricious Paul of Russia. The principal personages are
the redeubted Ivan himself, and Catherine, the heroine,
to whom lie is ultimately married, personated by Mr.
H. Marston and Miss Caroline Rankley, with their se-
costumed excellence, and happy appreciation of charac-
ter. This was succeeded by the amusing farce of
Raising the Wind, in which Mr. Marmon enacted Jeremy
Dicldler. Then followed (we copy from the play-bill)
" for the first time in London (pray Heaven it be the
last), a new ball*. called Finsbury Fiddv, or Good Old
English Games." The games we have already mentioned.
and the artistes were, in the wrestling, Dyer and Snell,
Truscott and Kemp (the latter a Guardsman, noted at
Chalk Farm. Stacey and Davis exhibited their skill in
a bout at single-stick ; and Mason, alias the Bull-dog,
and Johnny Walker ; Bill Jones and Tom Maley, asto-
nished the lieges with the gloves, which amusements
may be useful in propagating a taste for manly and
honest modes of self-defence; but surely the stage of a
theatre is not the fitting place, and delicate females not
exactly the proper individuals to witness them.
The evening concluded with a revival of the comic pin-
tomime of Baron Munchausen, or the Genii of the En-
chanted Isle. The tricks and situations, if not entirely
original, were certainly striking, and created much fun
by their rather broad drollery. 'The brothers Boleno,
as Harlequin and Clown, exhibited astonishing agility,
and Miss M. R. Fairbrother made a most graceful Co
lumbine. Great credit is due to the manager, Mr.
Greenwood, for the manner in which the pantomime was
got up; and we have no doubt it will yet draw more
crowded houses than on this, the first night of its repre-
sentation.

ADELPHI.
At this theatre, the more than celebrated, the re-
nowned " Wizard of the North," appeared last evening,
re-ascending his mystic throne," to astonish and amuse
the public a fourth London season. An entertainment
that has commanded so continued a popularity must
have great intrinsic merit: and we were glad to see that
a crowded attendance last night bore testimony to the
great skill of the " modern Faustus," for to fill a theatre
may, in these days, be almost accounted a supernatural
feat. In this the Wizard succeeded to his desire, and
the applause that attended his deeds—it were un-
seemly familiarity to call them mere tricks—gave
good promise that their attractive power will
endure. His apparatus is most magnificent, and
arranged with an eye to effect; while he, the won-
der-worker himself, waves his wand with the air of a
perfect master of arts—we say not of what colour. But,
as variety is pleasing to a holiday-making public, the
Wizard, though in himself a host, does not trust entirely
to his own efforts. Like Prospero in his island, he calls
in music to aid his magic, and relieves the eyes of the
assembly, which vainly attempt to follow his sleights,
by furnishing gratification to their ears. After the first
hour of the evening has been rendered pleasingly
brief by his necromancy, the Wizard retires, and Mr.
Malone Raymond, favourably known as a successful
representative of Irish characters, commences an
entertainment called An Hour in Ireland ; it con-
sists of tales, stories, and jokes— some new, but
antiquity—mingled with snatches
many of venerable
of song, comic and sentimental, liberal use being
made of the melodies of Moore. He is as-
sisted by Mrs. Raymond and Miss Linley, and the trio,
during their " hour upon the stage," gave some favou-
rite airs, harmonised for three voices, in a very effective
manner. Mr, Raymond was himself encored in the
" Groves of Blarney." Altogether the " Hour in Ire-
land," threw a pleasing variety over the evening, which
concluded with the second part of the Wizard's per-
formances in the " Mystic Temple." Of his separate
feats of dexterity we do not speak ; there are some
things beyond the powers of description, and these, as
the poet says, " are of them." But for a combination
of cleverness, neatness, brilliancy, and effect, to say
nothing of the total absence of anything painful or ob-
jectionable, they cannot be surpassed.