THEATRE ROYAL.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1357, 20 June 1878, Page 3

THEATRE ROYAL.

The play of "Ingomar," rendered from the German by Mrs Lovell, was performed at the Theatre Royal last night. produced in London, almost simultaneously at Drury Lane and Sadler's Well?, it furnished a special part for James Anderson and Phelps. The former actor made it a speciality, and his rendering of the character of the generous Barbarian has not only since never been equalled, but has served as a standard by which to judge all subsequent exponents of the part. "Ingomar "is more than a poetic drama —it is an idyll—and exacts from the actor who undertakes the leading character an abnegation of conventional trick and Btago business, and a capability of reproducing in dramatic reality the sentiment which is the leading idea of the play. The gradual dawning of love for a pure and noble girl in the breast of- the son of the wilderness, culminating in generous indignation at the base proposal of the Timarch of Massilia for the betrayal of his former companions, forms a noble theme for a true artist, and rarely has an actor been found sufficiently capable of doing justice to the requirements df the role. It would be unfair to say that Mr Dillon, as Ingomar, fell utterly short of the task|demanded of him. His conception was a just one, but he just fell short of its realisation from the force of the personal peculiarities which we have already pointed out. Occasionally there was satisfactory promise, and as quickly was the hope of fruition dissipated. His impulse would carry the audience with him, but there

was no sustained equality that would justify an unqualified approbation of his acting. In short ho was Mr Dillon. Miss Edith Pender made a favorable impre?qion as Parthenia, a natural unaffected style of acting being the chief attraction of her performance. Mr Hill was yery successful as the mercenary vindictive Polydor; and Mr Stark, though occasionally verging too much on low comedy, gave a fair portrait of the captive Myron. Mr Alf. Burton appeared to advantage as the Timarch, and Mr Graham gave a spirited rendering of the smull part of Alastor. The remainder of the characters call for no special mention. To-night "The Duke's Motto" will be repeated.