THEATRE ROYAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4435, 7 June 1875, Page 5

THEATRE ROYAL.

On Saturday evening the “Lancashire Lass 1 * was played to a good house. The drama itself is so well known that it would be rather difficult to say anything new about it. It cannot be said to stand very high as a literary production, or that it is calculated to. “ assuage or excite emotion,” nor does it contain any “ magical power of raising fantastic terror or wild anxiety.” But still it is a play of a popular class ; there is in it a good deal of - farce, with a modicum of pathetic melodrama, and the most touching incidents of this latter are so mixed up with the grotesque that they fail to produce any effect upon the sensibilities; and the result of the whole is that the audience is highly amused, remembering a great deal more of the exploits of the farcical characters than of any of the troubles of the hero or heroine. But this is what the gentle public apparently prefers. People seem, as a rule, not to go to a theatre to study human nature. The audience doesnot consider what the characters in a piece are doing or suffering ; it only wishes to know what they have to say, and if the say be funny it is the more acceptable; and, therefore, theatrical managers, looking to the main chance, take the hint and suit their patrons’ tastes by choosing dramas of the class now in vogue, rather than those containing just sentiments or elegant language, or representing natural affections and the motives which regulate life and conduct. We do not wish to unduly disparage the drama under notice ; for although, as we indicated before, there is nothing very striking or brilliant in it, on the other hand, it is free from dulness, and there are many redeeming features in the shape of good characters. Our remarks are rather directed against the class of dramatic literature of which it is a representative, and which seems entirely to have taken the place of Shakspeanan and other standard plays. - The piece takes its title from a Lancashire girl, Puth, who, led

away by vanity, coquets with a man above her station, discarding 1 her humble though worthy lover. Before, however, it is too late she sees her error, and the affair terminates. That is the leading plot, but there are several others of a subsidiary nature working concurrently, the unexpected result of which tend to. the satisfactory consummation of the main plot. The character of Ruth, the heroine, fell into the hands of IMiss Colville, and with dramatic power she played it thoroughly well, her personal appearance, which stands her in such good service, being all in her

favor in tills instance. Sir. Hoskins took A Party by the Name of Johnson, and made a capital character of it. From his first appearance he was thoroughly cn rapport with the audience, and by the freedom with which he treated the part, introducing such comicality of facial expression and amusing by-play, he kept his audience on a broad grin. Mr. Hydes’ Spotty, also a laughable character, was well played. Mrs. Hill gave a very good account, of herself as Kate, but on several owing to the necessary stage business, ijhe effect of her best acting was nullified by the vagaries ..of-A Party by the Name of Johnson, at which the audience laughed when they should have been bathed in tears at Kate's remorse. Fanny found a very fair exponent in Hiss Marion Moore. In the opening scenes of her appearance this lady played with a naivete peculiarly happy to the part, and at the unmasking of the character of TV An villa she pourtrayed the emotion of the disgraced daughter very naturally. Mr. Hesford's D’Anville was a good representation, and Mr. Booth’s Ned Clayton above mediocrity. Mr. Burford in the first two acts was very weak, but as the character of the rascal be represented developed it became more within Mr. Burford's range. One of the minor characters, Jellxck, was made really interesting by Mr. Stark, who played the part in a manner that would not have disgraced an actor accustomed to see his name figured in large letters in bills.