DRAMATIC.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2635, 31 August 1881, Page 2

DRAMATIC.

Mr R. W. Cary lias had a splendid season in Dunedin, where the “Pirates of Penzance ” lias made a great hit. Mr Cary recently thanked the public for its liberal patronage, and intimated that he hoped before long to pay another visit to Dunedin, and present “ Eillee Taylor” and “ Patience,” for the'right of playing, which he is now negotiating with the authors. The latter comic opera is the very latest production of Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan, and in it London’s last fashionable craze,, the {esthetic nonsense, rendered famous in the columns of “ Punch” by Du Maurier, is held.up to ridicule. The {esthetics, let us explain for the information of those who don’t know, are the disciples of the “ utter” the “intense,” the “quite too too” school, founded by a young Irishman named Oscar Wilde, who has won a great reputation by his pretended ecstasies over lilies, peacock’s feathers, and old china. This individual (the original of the “ Maudle,” who has so often caused us amusement in “ Punch”) is as remarkable for his personal appearance as for his tastes. He has allowed his hair to grow i ntil it falls about his shoulders a la the German Professor of music, in his eyes is the yearning look, the intense appreciation for the beautiful, which is his leading characteristic. He is prepared to go into raptures, in fact, on the shortest notice, Nothing can disturb his equanimity or diminish his self-esteem. When laughed at in London by the vulgar herd (he was walking down llegent street gazing rapturously at a lily he - held in his hand) he charitably attributed their derision to their ignorance, their want of sympathy and their utter inability to appreciate the sublime. He was “ pleased indeed,” he remarked, “to afford amusement to the lower orders.”

Such a character should work up splendidly for burlesque purposes, and we shall look forward with interest to the production in Timaru of “ Patience” the new {esthetic comic opera.