STAGE COSTUME.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 525, 29 May 1869, Page 3

STAGE COSTUME.

(From Bdxjravia.) Have theatrical entertainments become thus distasteful to me, 1 wonder, because I have grown fat, and am past foi'ty ; because I am brutal, intolerant, and selfish ; because I envy and hate those of my fellow-creatures who have yet some kindly sympathies and some digestive powers left '] It may be so. There are people who seem never tired of going to the play. The visits of our exemplary young Princes to the theatre form a standing addendum to the Court Circular. I hope they like it. For myself I can candidly and conscientiously say that, for twenty years, I have never seen the theatrical curtain rise without reluctance, or watched it fall without exultation ; and if there be one theatrical "entertainment" more repugnant to me than another, it is the insufferably coarse, dull, and senseless performance known as " burlesque extravaganza. " I recognise in these deplorable tomfooleries neither the sparkling wit and classical elegance of Planche, nor the happy fancies and caustic satire of Robert Brough, the broad farce and strong common sense of Albert Smith, the infinite waggery of a'Beckett, the boisterous yet kindly fun of poor dear Frank Talfourd. I only see the production of some ignorant and conceited blockhead, who, on the strength of stealing jokes from the back numbers of Punchy or torturing the words from a dictionary into bad puna, sets up for a wit ; who ekes out the miserable poverty of his invention by blackguard nigger-songs and semi-obscene dances, and whose wearisome and idiotic piece would fall dead the first night, but for the services of a horde of jigging hussies, who exhibit themselves more than half-naked before the "haw-haw" men of the period in the stalls. There .is no need to attend the theatres often to be convinced that the Chamberlain had some show of reason on his side when he remonstrated with the managers — he should not have remonstrated with all of them — as the existing improprieties of stage costume. Look into the windows of the photographic shops. See the swarms of all but nude " Nellies," "Katies," "Lizzies," "Fannies," and " Lotties," cheek-by-jowl with the respectable effigies of the Rev Mr Spurgeon, Sor Patrocinio, Miss Nightingale, Professor Owen, Father Ignatius, and the Right Hon Benjamin Disraeli. And when you do go to the theatre you will be constrained to own that nine out of ten of these wretched little figurantes and cornparses — their legs are not even real, but are obviously padded — can neither dance, nor sing, nor act, nor do anything, in fact, save show their legs. They are engaged specially to show their legs ; and — what a prodigious amount of humbug there is about ! — the theatres of London were never so numerous, or so continually crowded as they now are ; and in '36 and '41, my bygone standpoints, there was generally a beggarly show of empty boxes, and managers were ruined by the score. Did Veatris, did Mathews, did Bunn, did Macready, did Phelps, did Charles Kemble, did Jullien, make fortunes by their theatrical enterprises? Moralise with a modern theatrical manager of the Legations, and lie will lay his finger by the side of his

nose, and tell you that " there is nothing like leg." How ia this plague of leg to bo stopped ? Will it ever be stopped 1 It cannot, I should say, extend much f iirther, for we are rapidly approaching the figloafstage ; but when that moderate velarium is removed, will reaction come, and shall we be emboldened to try a little decency by way of a change ? It is impossible, I take it, to enact any definite code of sumptuary laws with reference to stage costume. If the Chamberlain, growing rabid from excess of virtue, should venture to deprive some manager, inordinately addicted to legs, of his license, there might ensue a rebellion in the theatrical world, which might sweep away the stage-censor-ship of the Cliunibrrlain altogether. The reform, I trust, will be due to different means. The good taste and con) mon sense of the public will some of those days hoot the legatrices and the " breakdown" dancers from the boards. Give the jades rope enough and they will hang themselves at last. Already signs of the coming renaissance of common decency are visible. The genuine triumph of such dramas as "School," as "Home," and as "Cyril's Success," may be regarded as eminently hopeful tokens. Somehow or another the admirably-chosen company at the Prince of Wales's, somehoworanotherMrSothern at the Haymavket, contrive to rise in public favor without the support of stilts formed of ballet-girls' legs. A revulsion of patronage seems to be promised for the comedy of manners and dialogue, of wit and repartee, of character and idiosyncrasy. We must live in hope.