Covent-Garden Theatre.
The Times, 1824-12-04T00:00:00

A new tragedy, called Ravenfa, takeln from Schjleri"g Getriar"ilay of Catal and Love, was performed tor7 the first time last ni ht at Covent-garden Theatre. 'Tlie author of' this piece, Air. J. B. Clarke, informed the public some time since, by letter, that in his play he had followed Schiller so lIosely, that he might, in fact, claim to be theproducerof an.oilginal work; a wias the Germatx tragedy is very popular,. and asSEhWlIer; moreover, seldom did any thting which bad not the highlewthneit, we have not the least hesitation in believijtg that Ravena;:d v'veiry 3ittle to it indeed. To tell the nlot of this piecc.ln detailj di'; be-i long job; and we fairly confess that we should.not vet9 wel.i knw howto go about it: but the scene lies at dMilan; andIth'eteWiNfeature is the passion of Cesasio, the son of the Me'fqar iRei'c hi6a, for Giana, thefair and only daughter of a poor gentuema d mcedSorano. Connt Cesario has a rival in hislove. one S:gnor BartXceio,who is secretary to the Marqttisde lHavcntu,and knows a s~rcrt which 'touches his master's life. This same secret, which is also in the possession Qf Cesazio himnielf; is used as a bugbear sometimes to bring the Marquis to reason, though the audience can make neither rhlie nor reason of it, for it is never de- veloped in the coarse pf.ihlay; butt, Out of BartuecioC' machina-I tions to obtan'the hand of Glana, and out of Ravenna's court in- trigues, for some purpose which no olie can comprehend, arise an inmmense seqnuene . of orroro, and lconplicatiopesh and coma mon places, whicil go on increasing, through tour acts in depth and mysteriousness, to end, in the fifth, by the death of all the. principal parties, The Afarqps ie Ravenna, in the open- ing of-the play, spurms the alliance of Si nor Sorano, and wishes hig son to marry a lady named Carni?g-but only for " form's akte'--she being actuallv to remain the "' mistress of the Duke." Cesario, waiting upon this lady, not to marry but to reproach her withli er ill life; finds that there is a wheel in tie case within a wheel, and that ;j tD i'Duke" who is to have the benefit of the "' form" _she, Ca,n lila, beingre~'aUy~In16 with him, Cecatio, and pur. posing, a soon ns sbe 'matries him, t give up the "Duke" alto- gether. Here the second title of the play, Jteltan Love, comes into operation; and moat italjasi (we siflpose) iti~s-no.hiag hut dag- gers, and oathls, and plots, a'nd conspiracies, up to the very falling of the curtain! Caesr{o, declining the honour iitended him by Ca- mltle, that lady becomes so rancorous,that we expect nothing but the worst consequences to ensue; and Sorano and his daughter are taken Rp and confined in a citadel by an abuse even of the privileges of poetical tyranny on the part ofthe Marquis de Ravetntna. Theobject then is to wean Ccsarid from his love for Giana, and this is accen- plished y niaking her write (under fear for the life 'of her father) a letter otpassionate,assIgnatWen to a Man whom shWe'harl nover'seen. The letter is thrown, of course, into the 'hands of Cce'srio who carries it directly to his mistress ; but she, having (as usual3 been sworn to gecreey, refuses to assert her innocence. Cesario then poi- sons both her and himself; when, finding lerself 4ving, olie makes the ffisclosure, which sbe nmigbt as well have made iive tninutes be- fore. Having made this confession she falls; the Coutn1t kills Bar- tuccjo, who has been the agent of the plot against him; and then dies, by the side of his mistress, in the presence of both the fathers, Sorano and Ravenna. Now the plot of a tragedy becomes, perhaps, a second cpnsideration, wlhere poetry or strong dramnatic situation .c e brdught ttq eke it tt but the agthors of paenuae (for it is said that two gentlemen ,&vc. heiC employed uponi it) give 'nothing atall of fhe firstdes;idertatuin, -anctlvery little of the iecond. The language of the play (thToughout) is very flowery and feeble.; it deals much in simile and misplaced sentiment; and the last cf four ilne seHlences frequently contradlicts the sense of the preceding three. For the Incidents, there Is no anovelty in them : and. what is itill a greater fault, very little reasonableness-we arc to take every thing upon the pleasure of the author-not because it is right or probable, but because hc will have it so. Amoiig the characters, that played by Mr. Cooper-Barltccio, the vil- lain-is perhaps the best; but the fury or ambition of the Mar- gii.r di Raevcina amounLi to absurdity orinsanity ; and for theLady CamilZa, she ist no business whatever in the piece; and feeling tliat, (in the fourth act), she actually discharges tier servants on the stage and quits Mlilan (2nd the audience) together. Mir. Younz played the part of Cesario; but hieloocked too old for it,and had little oppor- tunity to display his powers. Mliss F. helly acted in her usual incomprchensible matner ; generally destroying the seriousness of the scene by her strange management of her voice, and still inore strange deportnient; but now and' then giving little points, with an apparent good sense, which lie euld wvsh schooling would improve. Miis Lacy had a most unpleasant character to deal with, L'ut she played it forcibly; and obtained a great deal of applause. lUr. Cooper spoke the prologue,wvhich gave some terrible smart cuts to the diminished attraction of the " horses :" the lattei, however, lihad their revenge in the performance of the piece. The epilogue, wvhich was spoken by AIr. Yates, contained some allusions to the criticisms of the newspapers, an(l described the mode in wlicli; the play would be spoken of by the audience, and certainly it woulil be impossible to wish the author greater good fortune than that his own views, as to its success, should be realized. Upon the whole, looking at Ravenna as a first at- tempt, we are afraid the writer is more likely to abuse " procession" pieces, than to wean us from goinz to see them. There was consi- derable disapprobation when the pIece was given out; but the num- bers were in favour of its repetition. COVZJ-'GA7DkJ :THBRTRE&