THEATRE ROYAL.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1360, 24 June 1878, Page 3

THEATRE ROYAL.

The tragedy of “ Ouicilo” was selected by Mr W. C, Dillon in which to make his final appearance before a Christchurch There are many points in Mr Dillon’s style ot acting which lead to the belief that his assumption of the jealous Moor would have been one of his successes, or at least would have borne favorable contrast with any other character he has appeared in. Up to the end of the second act the verdict of the audience was a favorable one, the address to the Senate and Othello’s welcome of Desdemona to Cyprus being fine specimens of elocution. Why Mr Dillon should have considered it necessary from this point to the termination of the tragedy to have given free rein to an apparently irresistible passion for ranting it is impossible to say, but nevertheless it was a fact that he did so, and considerably to the disappointment of those who had expected better things. The grand scene with lago in the third act, in which Othello s jealousy is first aroused, affords, it is true, great temptation for over acting. Nevertheless, and it is said in kindness, Mr Dillon would do well to bear in mind Hamlet’s advice to the players, especially that part in which he recommends them not to overstep the modesty of nature. With advantages personal and acquired, Mr Dillon should occupy a high position in public favoi if he would only learn to curb the excessive zeal which continually leads him to the commission of extravagancies that, we pay him the compliment of believing, upon reflection his own judgment would condemn. A Northern contemporary bestowed unqualified praise on Mr J. Graham’s impersonation of lago ; this verdict we cannot endorse, not yet. The performance was very far from being devoid of merit, but it was the immature effort of a student rather than the finished portrait of a master. Mr Graham’s conception was good, his elocution scholarly, but there was a jorkineas, both in hi? action and delivery, and a too evident desire needlessly to impress upon the audience that he was a’villain of the first water, to render his assumption of lago anything else than a commendable attempt to fulfil a task as yet too great for his powers. In his own interest Mr Graham would have done well to have changed characters with Mr Hoskins. The latter gentlemen gave a fine representation of Michael Cassino, but his lago would have been a real treat, and would have greatly contributed to the success of the piece. Miss Pender was a winning, graceful Desdemona, and Miss Tilly Andrews, in the character of Emilia, succeeded in eliciting the usual applause that waits upon the delivery of the fine speeches in the fifth act. Mr J. Stark was not in his element as Eoderigo, but may be credited with the merit of doing justice to the language of Shakspeare, which is more than can be said of many of the other performers, It would be well, by the way, if actors generally, and in one case particularly, were to devote more time and trouble to the committal to memory of the words of their parts, rather than to invent fresh and meaningless readings. “ More matter with less art ” is a golden maxim. The performance was under the patronage of the Mayor and City Council. Tonight Lalla Eookh, for which great preparations have been made, will be placed upon the stage.