AMUSEMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4536, 4 October 1875, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

(From the New Zealand Mail.) A. crown’s worth of good

In order that a dramatic performance may be interesting to an audience it is not absolutely necessary that any of or all the performers should he brilliant or talented. There are so many gocd plays to pick and choose from, which may he satisfactorily performed by people of average ability who care to give time and attention to study and rehearsal, that » it is quite possible for such a mediocre company as those now playing at the Theatre Koyal to appear to considerable advantage, even whilst the audience has a memory of the very clever and capable company who almost immediately preceded the present one. By the choice of “Married Life” for an opening piece, the managers of- the Theatre Koyal Company recognised the truth of the facta I have stated, and by their performance of that piece the actors and actresses showed what attention to study and rehearsal will effect when a company is not one of “ all the talents/ “ Mar- ' *■ ried Life ” was performed most satisfactorily, and was in consequence received that constant simmering of approbation which is ' far more pleasant from an audience than an occasional boil-over of applause at a particular point or speech, followed by a long period of monotony. “ Married Life ” introduced to us a Mr. Oily Leering, who, I am informed, has yet i bis reputation to make in his profession, but of whose ability to make that reputation I do not think there can he any reasonable doubt. He is evidently careful and painstaking, has much . 1 natural sense of humor, and can excite humor in ’ others without being coarse or overstrained. Mr. Burford in the part he played put a useful check upon an exuberance that has before now spoiled 7 him in such parts; and Miss Jessie Kaymond, - without whom the company would be very weak indeed, proved that without being either a star or a great actress she can be the most useful member of a company. Miss Jennie Nye, whose forte does not lie in drama, would have made a much better impression had she paid the same attention to her make-up as did Miss Ashton. This latter lady played and looked a soured melancholy dame so well, that the audience gave her uumistakeable recognition of the trouble she had been at to cause herself to look her part, by approbation that was neither stinted nor infrequent. On the other hand, Mias Nye, by an inatteu- > tion to the details which Miss Ashton had _ not thought it unworthy to study, contrived to make the character she represented look exactly the opposite of that which was intended. Miss Hettie Howard, whose progress in the art of acting it gave me pleasure to notice some months ago, confirmed the good opinions previously formed of her; and Mr. Sam Howard was as a matter of course funny, though X am not certain that the part of the ex-hutler which he played could not have been made more of by one less accustomed to depend upon the stock resources of low comedians.

Having made a success in “ Married Life,” it was a°pity that the company did not stay at the point where they found their goal, and confine themselves to such pieces. Unfortunately for their reputations, they followed up with a burlesque. Probably they were induced to this course by a conclusion that the Hoskins-Colville season had proved the ■*’ dislike of Wellington people to Shakspere, Sheridan, and Lytton. It seems to me that they must have thought that Wellington dramatic taste was like that of the Viscount in “ Martin Chuzzlewit,” who told the theatrical manager that Shakspere was an infernal humbug, and no good ; that he (the Viscount) never read Shakspere, and did not know what the devil it was all about. It was true there were a lot of feet in Shakspere’s verse, but no legs worth mentioning. Juliet, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, and all the rest of them might as well have had no legs at all for anything the audience knew about them. “What,” the Viscount asked, “ is the legitimate object of the drama? Human nature. What are legs t Human nature. Then let us have plenty of leg pieces,” said the Viscount, “ and I’ll stand by you.” I fancy that some such notion as this must have induced the rnanage- ' mcnt to put up burlesque at the Royal. If it were, they should have remembered that

burlesque, to make it go, wants more than the pourtrayal of human nature through the simple medium of legs. No one can enjoy one of the good old-fashioned burlesques, such as “ Aladdin,” “ Era Diavolo,” and the like, more than I can; but then they must be well played. I will not say how “Fra Diavolo” should be played, by instancing the original cast as I saw it many years ago, for it would be at once said that such would be an unfair comparison, but I will mention how I have seen it given in this colony, at a theatre and in a locality much less pretentious than that of Wellington. Mrs. J. L. Hall played Fra Diavolo, Mr. J. L. Hall Beppo, Mr. Morris Giacomo, and Mr. C. Herberte Lorenzo, for the first of these, in addition to sinring and dancing admirably, she could act? and had in her that peculiar quality which I can in no way describe so well as by calling it “ go,” and which is essential to a burlesque actress. For the second and third, they had precisely similar qualifications, and in their burlesque of acting there was real acting of itself. For the fourth, Mr. C. Herberte made quite a part of Lorenzo, dressing it, as he did, like a policeman, and making it most whimsically comical throughout. Now, it was reasons precisely opposite to those which made the success I have mentioned that produced the very significant failure of “ Fra Diavolo ” here. Miss Nye has a very nice voice, indeed in some respects too good for mere burlesque, and she dances as few ladies are able to dance, but she has not got the essentialquality for burlesque without which these are useless. At least she has not got it yet. Ido not desire to he mistaken. I have no intention to convey the meaning that a good burlesque actress should be hold, forward, or impudent. Quite the contrary. A more gentle, modest, lady than Mrs. Hall, for instance, it would be impossible to meet. What Miss Nye wants is the spirit, the vivacity, life, volatility; in short, as I said, the “go,” without which effervescence of burlesque dies out, and there remains, as it were, only stale sodawater. And as if to make this the more plain. Miss Nye was not alone in her disqualification. Mr. Howard’s Beppo was a flat performance, and so was Mr. Xnglis’s Lorenzo. It would be unkind to say anything of Mr. Burford as Giacomo, since that gentleman, I am pretty certain, must have taken the part merely to relieve the management from a difficulty. Ido not want burlesque, for the same reasons as those candidly given by the Yiscount aforementioned, yet if good burlesque be well played I am quite prepared to enjoy it, and I am further willing to admit that it can be produced by the Hoy a’ Company to the full satisfaction of such a desire for contemplating human nature as the Viscount expressed. Indeed, Ido not know that so far human nature could be presented in a more agreeable and attractive form than that given us by the Royal Company. But, with this exception, I cannot express approbation of burlesque as played by them. Let them, if they think their patrons want burlesque, get a good leadin ■ lady and gentleman, and the members of the company will drop into places where they will acquit themselves to the satisfaction of the audience.

- It is a pity that the second venture of the company into drama cannot be written of in praise. “ The Cricket on the Hearth” requires more than a low comedian in Caleb Plummer, and is worthless ■without it. The fun of the part is not broad, and is interwoven with pathos of the most tender and true kind. The statement of this fact will at once explain why Caleb Plummer was a failure, and the piece a failure also, as presented on Tuesday and Wednesday, evenings. All plays require careful rehearsal and accurate study, but such plays as Robertson’s require these things in especial. In the performance of “ M.P.” on Friday night there were not wanting evidences of the ability of the company to present the piece properly, but there were also not absent evidences of want of rehearsal and study. Nevertheless, owing to the intrinsic merit of the comedy and to the ability which I have mentioned, the performance must be accounted successful, that is if the applause of the audience may be taken as an evidence of success. Since the play is to be repeated, and will then have, I doubt not, better justice done to it, I need say little more concerning it except to advise the actors to be more careful in dressing their parts, which, with the exception of Scoom, are those of English gentlemen, not of unmitigated snobs. It gives me pleasure to compliment Mr. Oily Leering as the only performer who in dress looked the part he was representing. Had the others been as careful as Mr. Oeering in this respect, the result would have been more satisfactory. I cannot say that the production of “ Little Don Giovanni,” though it went with a little more life than did “ Fra Diavolo,” has in the least altered my opinion as to the merits of the present company for burlesque. The most meritorious performance was that of the gentleman who represented the statue. It is gratifying to know that Mr. and Mrs. Oarrell have been engaged, which 'will just give the company a strength enabling its members to appear in a wider range of drama than they could in their existing state command. The effects of this engagement will be perceptible in increased attendance of playgoers. Histriojiastix.