The Warwickshire Herald. — 1896-02-06 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

DENNY'S RECITALS.  A Reciter new to Erdington, was intmduzed to the Institute la,t Monday, in the perton of Mr. Ernest Denny. Although young, Mr. Denny engpyit a great rept tation in his profession. With all the attributes necessary for a successful reciter— musical soice, good presence, and with undoubted natural talent, admirably trained, esery class of recital he touched, grave or gay, tradegy or comedy, he Wll.l successful in. 'lle nudience nes one of the largest this session, and was entmly under the spell of the reciter, frequently interrupting him ith its applause. Mr. Denny (penes] his programme with " A chat on being idle,- from Jerome K. Jerome's well known "Idle thoughts for an Idle fellow." In recitals of this class of pieze, the reciter Irts to make his own opportunities. The humour is of a delicate nature, .snd to sustain the interest of an audience for some oonsiderable time, with a piece without the slightest definite aim, is an accomplishment few people can attain to. Yet Mr. Denny did so, and chewed himself a masterly exponent of a most difficult branch of his art. Later on in the evening he gave a selection of a similar nature. Mr. AnsteyS description of "A. society wedding." In this selection he brought before the audience all the typical characters to be met with at • society wedding. In all of them he showed marvellous versitality and humour. Part 11. consisted entirely of a condensed version of Shakespeare's " Macbeth." In this Mr. Denny essayed the formidable task of keeping the interest awake, by reciting all the principal acts of the play—the wanes which form the skeleton of the plot—and at the same time ke.epinF up a running commentary of the whole play. 'I he acts recited were:—Act 1., seems 1 and 2. (The witches and their prediction), scenes 5 and 7 (Lady Macbeth's instigation of Macbeth to commit the crime), act 11, scene 2 (The murder and Macbeth's remorse), act 4, (The witches at the "Pit of Acheron"), act 5, secens 3, 5 and 7, (Macbeth's retribution and death). Mr. Denny succeeded in what be attempted at, bringing the whole play vividly before the audience The change from character to character, the deveolpment of the play, and the unfolding of the plot; the ambition which lead to the murder, and the deep but unscrupulous retribution which followed, was managed by him with exceeding skill. In • play displaying all the types of character to be found in "Macbeth," it was too much to expect uniform success. Mr. Denny was naturally more at home in some parts than in others. In the witches he was very clever, and in the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Throughout the whole part be was frequently interrupted by the spontaneous applause of his hearers. The two pieces remaining to be mentioned were ' The enchanted shut" (Colonel Hay), and the hackneyed Rubenstein's Piano." In both these Mr. Denny introduced ecene new touches, and gave evidence of his powers of originality and freshness. The only fault to be found with Mr. Denny is one or two mannerisms which have not quite disappeared yet. With added experience the smallest traces of these will no doubt be effaced. We are, we are sure only echoing the wishes of the subscribers in expressing the hope that the Council will give another engagement next year to the most successful reciter the Institute has seen for a long time. Mr. Denny depended upon no external aid, he relied upon himself only, and the criticism we can give is to echo that given to him by the "London Times " that in all his pieces Mr. Denny showed a "remarkable aptitude."