Year: 1866

are several reasons 1Or speaking OF tnem mere anu
NOW. This is the season of indoor recreation.
Dramatic speculations involve an enormous ont.
lay. and thereturns are proportonate. New-York
ia perhaps, the only city in the world in which the
,hester, unsubsidzed and dependent solely upon
IFS proper receipts. actually make. money for
the managers. 1t has not only large resident
population addicted to play going, including
the foreign element, which must have musical
sight.seers from all parts Of the country. An
enterprising man has only to put ont red Ian
tern in Broadway, and announce that some
thing is TO be seen within, and he is sure of
long procession Of perfectly goodnatured
visitors, extremely willing to be entertained and
Incapable of Kissing the most enormous absurd
ity. One consequence Of this is that there is
no such thing as salutary criticism inside the
theater The pit once had rights, and did not
silently acquiesce in their infringement the
worst that an oyer-bored audience now does is to
20 quietly and contemptuOusly ont, with full
resolution not to be so bored again. But this
makes small difference. No manager thinks of
witbdrawing play because it is disliked. Why
should he? He is sure Of a perfectly fresh
audience on the next evening, and the dissatisfied
people have all gone home to the pastoral dis
trcts, or will try their luck at rival establish
ment. Thus there is hardly any stupidity which
may not, by the aid of illuminated posters and
little audacious fibbing, be nursed through
bo1o ic hat
plays foreign in atmosphere in dialogue, in
character and in incident, having no perceptible
relation to our own social phases, and no moral
galue whatever to an American congregation
are continually produced, and as complacently
received as if they gave real and hearty salts
faction. The pit has been schooled to a
diseredtable Indifference 1t has no likes and
no dislikes; it takes what it can get without
grumbling; if it cannot have sense on the stage.
it is content with scenery; and it does not higgle
about the conversation, if the costume of the
comedy be sufficiently variegated. The result
Of this is that, when we inquire for the American
drama, we find that there is no such thing.
The plays by American authors, during the
last twenty years, We can almost count upon our
fingers; and even of these, it is grievous TO say,
the plots and personages are mostly Outlandish.
1t is no wonder, then, that the pit is silent and
noodily acquiescent. Ii does not comprehend
ssyllable of what is so fluently uttered. The
text is stuffed with illusions which are all
Greek TO its ears; and the fine people who strut
up and down the boards in the costume Of the
Middle Ages are not at all Ike the fine people
who promenade over our modern pavemeDts.
The weary listeners would hiss if they dared;
bnt they are conscious Of possessing no stand
ard of independent and self-rehant criticism,
and keep silence lest, perchance, they may hiss
something really excellent. If they would but
muster little courage-if they would but fall
back upon their old-iashioned prerogatiye-h
they would do as their Tandiathers did at
Coyent Garden, Drury Lane and the Hay
market and pass Judgment upon what is theo-
yetically submitted to their Judgment, and no
longer seem satisfied when they are thoroughly
dissatisfied we should soon have a crop of
capital plays pleasantly Indigenous, and plenty
Of Tom Taylors of our own. A drama which





bosoms, to exhibit those passions and fOibles
with which we are familiar, and to portray the
actual social life about us, would be sponta-
neOnsly applauded if it were true and
dexterous, and just as spontaneously
Kissed if it were otherwise. We have here
In New-York no end Of dramatic ma
terial--the vulgar, the would-be-fashionable
the newly-rich, the hard, unscrupulOus money
maker the sly and intriguing politician, the
eccentric, the foolish, and the fanatic We
have all that bristophanes had; but, alas we
have no Aristophanes. Those of us who have
the eye and the hand for cotemporary por-
trature-and much of our literature in other
departments shows that there is no lack of
snch-are scared by the traditional stage from
essaying anything like dramatic originality and
freshness. Yet there is no limit TO the relish
Of the public for what is approximately genu-
Inc, homely and familiar 1t tolerates Yankee
isms barely tolerable; it goes for one hundred
nights to see "SOlon Shnge;" it is inexpres-
ably relieved by one touch Of nature; it liked
"Uncle Tom;" it still likes the Black artists Of
the bones and the tambourine il takes very
kindly TO any local play with bit of local seem
cry; and generally is pitifully thankful for any


thing which relieves it from English noblemen,
French courtesans and Italian sssassins. Plays
really American fill the whole theater with a
new vitality. The emancipated audience con-