THE AMATEUR DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 544, 19 August 1869, Page 2

THE AMATEUR DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE.

The late hour on Monday evening at which the entertainment of the Westport Amateur Dramatic Club closed, compelled us to notice their performances iu a much more cursory manner than they deserved. It is true that amateurs are generally considered to be exempt from detailed criticism, but the members of the Westport Dramatic Club have now been so frequently before the public, and have established so fair a reputation for ability, as to render them on the one hand almost public characters, and on the other to leave them little to fear from the severest critic. The performance on Monday night was, as we mentioned, in aid of the Hospital, and as the gross proceeds amounted to between thirty and forty pounds, it will be evident that, with the Government subsidy, the iustitube largely benefited. The curtain rose—but the curtain itself deserves a word of praise. It is a prettily painted Italian landscape, with some picturesque views in the foreground, and the inevitable lake and mountains in the distance, and is the work of Mr Green, a local amateur, to whose brush we believe much of the new scenery is also due. The curtain, then, rose in Mr Oxenford's serio-comic drama "The Porters Knot," the plot of which is too well known to require detailing. The leading character, Sampson Burr who sacrifices a hard-earned competence, and returns in his old age to the toilsome occupation of his youth, to save the honor of his son, was excellently rendered by Mr Notman. Whether in the more tragic scene, when the heart-broken father becomes convinced of the dishonesty of his son, or as the old man reconciling himself to his changed fortunes with a quaint and good natured philosophy, Mr Notman proved himself an actor of no common power. He was admirably supported by Miss Kate Grant as Mrs Burr, while Mrs Nicholas made a graceful and pleasant looking Alice. We scarcely think that Mr Smoothly Smirk as imagined by the author was intended to be played as a gentleman with a Jewish physiognomy and a strong Irish brogue—but the conception was at least original and was carried out by Mr Atkinson with care and vigor. Mr Arenas, as the friend to whose counsels and example young Burr's embarassments are due, acted with great spirit and correctness. By the way, would it have been taking too great a liberty with the author to have gallicized the name of this character in the bills ? The Cosmopolitan sentiments and easy morality of the cast would have lost none of their point by being placed in the mouth of a Jules or Henri, while the task of reconciling a somewhat foreign pronounciation with so Saxon a name as Stephen Scatter would have been avoided. Whilst in the way of suggestions, we might re- 1

commend that in any future cast for the same piece the gentlemen who represented respectively Augustus Burr and Captain Oakum should exchange parts. The modesty and taciturnity which seems a little out of place in a fast young Londoner, would be in better keeping with the character of a (presumably) old salt oft' his natural element, while the audience would be spared the trouble of conjecturing by what possible system of promotion so juvenile looking a seaman attained the command of an Australian clipper. The piece was played without a hitch, and, at its conclusion, the call for the reappearance of the performers was loud and unanimous. It was followed by a short comic interlude " Advertising for a wife," in which Mrs O'Couor as Deborah Snaggletooth an ancient Mrs Malaprop, a severe sufferer from the " screwmatics," Margery Muggins, a rustic and muscular virgin, and Betsy Sligo, presents herself, as per advertisement, as a candidate for the honor of a matrimonial alliance with Mr T. Z. (Mr Berry). If rapturous applause is any criterion, this little piece was the success of the evening. We believe this is Mrs O'Conor's first appearance before a "Westport audience, but if we may judge from her perfect make up and admirable acting, it is by no means " her first appearance upon any stage." The ensuing interval (unnecessarily long by the way) was broken by the appearance of the Secretary to the Hospital, who, on behalf of the Hospital Committee, thanked the public for their attendance and the performers for their services, but declined to respond to loud repeated cries for " Tommy Dodd." Of the concluding farce we must decline to attempt any criticism. It is of the kind appropriately termed screaming, which depend more on comic situations than on a complicated plot, and it kept the audience in roars of laughter to its conclusion. MiBerry made a most effective Eglantine Roseleaf, while Mr Purnell, as Nicodemus Nobbs, and Mr Bishop, as Mackintosh Moke, displayed a spirit and knowledge of stage business, which would have been creditable to professional actors. We trust that the Westport Amateur Dramatic Club will seo in the complete success of Monday evening a reason for soon favoring us with another performance. There is no lack of suitable objects on which to bestow their patronage, whilst the ease with which a crowded house is brought together to witness their performance should prove the high estimation in which their efforts are held by the public of Westport.