The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-20
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

GLENN,S THEATRE.-It rained furi-
ously. and the streets of the good city
We're flooded, and the night was dark
as Erebus, with a dim lamp shedding
here and there its glimmering, hazy light
to guide the pedestrian into cutters and
man-traps, and when the hour for
opening the theatre arrived, there was
no cessation in the storm, consequently
the audience present when the curtain
rose was much more select than hume
rous. The players were nothing daunt-
ed, however, ar d we have rarely wit
messed better acting to a full and over
flowing house, than that of the entire
company OF Wednesday evening. 1t
was not merely a rehearsal. The play
was "Ambition,p and is founded upon
the fate of the youthful and beautiful,
but ambitious and unfortunate Gather
inc Howard, who, through her intense
desire for power and greatness, crimi-
nally espoused King Henry the Eighth,
of England, only TO follow his other
Queens to the scaflold. Mr.. Proctor has
a very difficult and IL very unnatural
part to play-unnatural, we say, because
it is not in nature for any man, even
from the most sacred motives of revenge,
to use a W0man-nO matter how false
h may have been-as the Earl of Der
by and a peer of the realm is represented
by the romance to have treated this
poor, tickle and forlorn girl. Mr.. Proc
tor, however, did some magnificent act
ing, and as he has a fine figure, and
lowered over all others upon the stage
like a giant among pigmies, so intellec-
tual does he exalt his head among the ac-
tors of the present day. Mrs. Fred Meek
was enchanting as the poor unknown
Catherine Howard; beautiful as the ac-
knowledged wife of the Earl, but most
Wretched and unhappy, though still in
teresting, as England's Queen. Misera-
BILE they who aspire! Ambition is an
ignes ,tdtaus that leads us into the dis
NAL regions Of despair. TO be happy
we must avoid its glittering but decep-
tive allurements, and be content with
little. The feelings of disgust with
which we turn from the woman that
could thus basely betray her husband,
and seek the armsOf a corrupt and loath.
some monarch, merely to satisfy the am
bilious cravings of her aspiring heart,
are changed to deep sympathy and pity
for the unfortunate woman stripped of
her meritricious honors, driven from the
throne, condemned to death, and led
h'Itu W SiIleI OIL tlIc sCttllOlu. rev W.
anen could have rendered this character
better than did Mrs. Meek. She was
beautiful in every phase of it. MIR. Fer
ris, as King Henry, had a very correct
conception, and perfectly historical, as
we conceive it, of that most fouland COR
rupt monarch-the prototype of Blue
Beard-the wife murderer. The other
characters We're very well sustained-and
Miss Peterson, as Margaret, though too
declamatory, was not at all bad. We
cannot notice it any further at length,
but as it is an excellent and very ettec-
tive play, we trust that it will b. repeat-
ed on some other occasion, when Il larg-
er, if not not a better or more apprecia-
tive, audience is present.
This evening, the beautiful classic play
of Virginins, or the Roman Father, will
be played, with Mr.. Proctor and Mrs.
Fred Meek in the leading characters. 1t
will, of course, attract a crowded and
fashionable house.