WALTER MONTGOMERY AT THE GAIETY THEATRE.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 20, 30 October 1871, Page 3

WALTER MONTGOMERY AT THE GAIETY THEATRE.

The Pall Mall speaks thus : —“ The Gaiety Theatre is for a month to be devoted to performances curiously at variance with the character of its ordinary entertainments. Shakspeare and Massinger are to take the place of Offenbach and Herve, and the legitimate drama i 6 to prevail where burlesque and opera bouffe have long flourished. The interim manager is Mr. Walter Montgomery, an actor who appeared in London with considerable success some few seasons back, aad has since won fame in America and Australia. Mr. Montgomery proposes to produce a variety of plays of the highest class in rapid succession, and he has commenced his brief season with a representation of the tragedy of Hamlet. He claims indulgence under the circumstances ‘for any shortcomings in the appointments of the stage,’ the Gaiety being ill provided with decorations available for the serious drama. Mr. Montgomery is assisted by a very weak troop, and the representations altogether pomise to be of rather a makeshift character. Still, this conceded, the enterprise is by no means an unworthy one. The poetic drama has been so long neglected that all attemps to revive public interest in regard to it must, almost of necessity, in the first instance be of an imperfect and hesitating kind. Acting is at all times greatly dependent for its invigoration and improvement upon the support and encouragement it derives from the audience. In any case the performances to be presented may claim attention and even prove attractive on the score of their novelty. Of the modem generation of playgoers there can be but few who possess any acquaintance with the merits of Massinger’s New Way to Pay Old Debts, for instance, as an acting drama. It is part of Mr. Montgomery’s plan to revive this play at an early date. That the Hamlet was a genuine success there cannot be a doubt, so was Louis the Eleventh. Othello can scarcely be spoken of with so much emphasis, and Claude Melnotte was excellent. Of the members of the company there cannot much be said, nor of the pecuniary success of the venture. The i attendance has been good, but the houses by no means crowded. Doubtless Mr. Montgomery had made up his mind to this, and tendered the representations from pure love of his art, and a desire to impart a knowledge of it to the people. He will be well thought of and thanked by real lovers of the drama for many a long day, and that is no mean reward.