New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-10-23
WALLACK'S THEATER.
VI 4 RRIAGE IOrrrpr

L 4.
This Is the nsme Of Few fierce Just produced 8.
Mr. Waacks establishment It's called :. eon,..,,,.
in the bills and perhaps ought not to vruuhla :.
ibis. II would have been perfectly easy for NJ
Charles Dance, who is the author, to have he.,s,
whatever gold there may be in his work into iva
acts lie entitled TO our thanks for his sobearaDcs
Bur whether we Ike comedy or Arce-whe,hsr W.
pine Tor those exquisite deuneatiors OF character wb;,
make the works OF the drama,.sts Of by.soOs tina
still fascinating, and give to the bsdinage Of Ola Io,.
don drawing-rcoms and the repartee Of old Iopso,
streets an abiding interestwhether we ask for IA
srecch Of the hour or the chatter Of faded dovays
L IS only ius, to say that Mr. Dance las no, pru,aJ
what in any true sense may be called comeiy. Mi,
work it, indeed, nearer approach to the highest aud
best comic than we are accustomed 10 meet with. The
,yro in music sgrs and sputcEs himself into tone and
tine and accent. The tyro in drawing smOOches
himself into proportion and perspective. The
tyro in dramatic writing may also have
tricks less definitely known 10 Us. Mr.. Dances
play makes no pretension as comedy save what IS
forced upon II By the playbs II is not gres, work,
but great dramatic works are getting exceedingly
scarce. For most modern comic pieces one man or
one woman or one chambermaii viii do Just as wei as
even in ENGLAND they must b. pretty well exhausted.
The conventional walking gentleman, chambermaid,
fine lady, funny valet, and intriguing mamma, arc
about worn out and il is refreshing proof OF the
human claims aud interest Of the drama, that after {
Las grown thus worn and hollow and thin and thread
bare. the enthusiasm of audiences, excited by Little
stage trick and costume, viii bear any amount OF
arachronsm and conventional peculiarly. But We
are writing OF Mr. Dances play, and not Of the drama
in general. and therefore "reurn TO our muitors'
With rapidly as graceful as possible.
In Wharfage A Lottery there Is Mr. WifI
Waverly Mr.. Lester, rich bachelor, who wants
wife, He has been set upon by Mr.. Pointer Mrs.
Venom who wants him for her stepdaughter, Harriet
Pointer Mrs. Floyd. He succumbs to the influence
of Ms. Pointer far as to make some advances 70
Mss Harriet and of course gets hmselfinto scrape.
He really loves Miss Charlotte Manifest Mrs. Sloanl.
while Herbert Manifest Mr. Floyd loves Miss Pointer,
Tie fun Of the piece turns upon the ndecsion Of Way'
erly. who thinks for while that he must marry "a
Mrs.. Pointer directs, and she directs him most de.
cidedly to mary Harriet. Wavery decides to whta
two letters one accepting and one rejecting
Miss Harriet, bis heart being devoted to Charlotte
Manifest The letters are sent to the right and LETT
IN the wrong tii't' u tno NN'h ""N
to pay between Mr.. Wayerly and Mrs. Pointer. lhs
gives rise to funny scenes and odd COLLISIONS
The fun is heightened by the oddities Of Grimsby mr..
Soan who is like all English servants at present upoe
the English stage, retired soldier. Mr.. Wayehy,
after undergoing incredible distress Of mind, during
which he is distressingly funny, marres Charlotte
Manifest. Harriet Pointer gets the man Of her choice
The old soldier gets the Of his choice who it, Of
course ohambermad. Everybody is made happy
except the dowager who is made miserable just before
the close Of the play and perfectly serene before tho
curtain falls.
SO much for this trhe. It was beautifully played,
and that is the best which be said of II. Mrs.
Vernon rendered the part OF the old soldier temae)
Delightfully."-, and Mr.. Sloan was equally good AZ the
other old soldier male. Mr. Lester played Waverley
with his accustomed vivacity. The audience seemed
to be perfectly satisfedi and so, we suppose, they
would have been had the play been stupid, which is
certainly was not.
Wethnk that the success ofplays Ike this, brought
across the Atlantic, and embodying foreign manners'
should induce our clever to try, at least, to 90
much for our own pesularites and characteristics Ins
task does not seem to to be an insurmountabe one