THEATRE ROYAL.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1350, 12 June 1878, Page 3

THEATRE ROYAL.

A new drama entitled "Forsaken," described in the playbills as "an every day story," was produced last evening, under the patronage of His Excellency the Governor. There was a fair attendance. The drama was of a sensational description, the sersations being of various kinds. Of these priority must be claimed for the mechanical effect, which, in the opinion of the audience, was the feature of the piece, but, being of an unpleasant murderous nature—the sawing in two of an insensible lad —can scarcely be regarded as an every-day incident in real life. The scenic effects, notably that of the wintry churchyard, with the snow lying thickly on the ground, were the next most noticeable feature of the play, and reflected great credit on Mr Williams, the scenic artist, who was honored by a unanimous call from the audience. Lastly, in the order of merit, the piece claims notice. The plot is of simple construction, and is developed in corresponding language. There is an unrelenting, but subsequently repentant father, who turns his only daughter into the streets to starve, and is remorseful ever afterwards. The daughter dies in the streets, notwithstanding the exertions of numerous sympathising friends of the lower order, who place her child within the sheltering walls of the foundling hospital, where it grows up until wanted by the author to figure ui the mechanical sensation scene in the sawmill. A bad nephew of the unforgiving father uses his influence from interested motives to keep the foundling protege from his grandfather's arms and fortune, but is frustrated by a combination of the humble friends who were prominent in their exertions to place the child of misfortune in the foundling hospital, aided by the treachery of the active agent of the attempted murder. A dens ex machina entitled the Waif, who is represented aa a benevolent idiot, constantly appears at the critical moment to succour the oppressed orphan, in which he is assisted by the humble connections already mentioned. These last absolutely revel in virtue, which continually finds vent in the most lofty moral platitudes, which received their due meed of applause. The moral tendency of the piece is unexceptionable, the effect being to leave the spectator lost in astonishment that so much virtue should be spread over the lower stratum of society, while there is at the same time such a lamentable deficiency of good principle amongst the aristocratic portion of the dramatis persona. The Waif found a capable representative in Mr W. C. Dillon, who seemed to be happy in the delineation of the half-witted vagabond. Miss Tilly Andrews enacted the part of Mabel, the daughter in the first act, and played with much force and pathos, making one regret that she had not more to do, and of a better quality. Miss Pender looked like a pretty boy, and succeeded in enlisting the sympathies of the audience. Mr Stark, as Goldfinch Granger, the unforgiving Banker, played fairly well in the first act, but was less successful in portraying senility. His makeup was far more venerable than his acting. Mr Graham played a Joseph Surface kind df villain, with a latent vein of comedy, Which was ' probably Mr Graham's conception rather than the author's intention, but it partly redeemed the contemptible rascality of the part, and excited the merriment of the audience. Mr Burton was thoroughly at home as the plebeian foil to the patrician'scoundrel of Mr Graham. Mr Burton seems to be at home in parts of this description, and it appeared to him the most natural thing in the world to employ his dinner hour in remunerative homicide. Mr Wilkinson gave an emphatic rendering of a model British Workman of the advanced moral type, and Mr Walter Hill, as his comic colleague, was thoroughly at home, and diverted the audience exceedingly by his humorous acting. Mr Alf Burton performed a shadowy part in the first act, whose principal characteristic was a consumptive cough, which he did so naturally as to cause the audience to cough sympathetically. Miss Daley and Miss Wilton performed respectively the parts of Susy Williams and Polly Bright, apparently to the satisfaction of the audience. The performance' terminated with tihq burlesque of " Ye Honeymoon," in which Miss Tilly Andrews, and Messrs J. P. Hydes and W. Hill sustained the leading characters, and succeeded in thoroughly pleasing the audience. The same bill will be repeated to-night.