NAPIER GARRICK CLUB.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1120, 21 January 1870, Page 2

NAPIER GARRICK CLUB.

The Garrick Club gave their performance, for the benefit of the Misses Williams, last Tuesday night. The house was tolerably well filled, but not crowded, the state of the weather having interfered with <the attendance. The first piece performed was a comedy in two acts, called "All that glitters is not gold." The interest of the story hangs chiefly on the incident of one of the ladies compromising herself with a certain wicked baronet, named Sir Arthur Lassell, in orde^r to rescue her friend from his snares. Her friend, however, is too honourable to allow ljier *jp be sacrificed, so all ends with genera]! reconciliation and congratulation. The Misses Williams, who personated the young ladies in the piece, acted their parts in a very satisfactory manner, and this was evidently the opinion of the audience. If we may make a criticism, not on the actresses, but on the author, we would say, that there seems to us to be too much long-winded speechifying. The speeches would be the better of being broken up into short snatches of conversation. On the whole the acting showed a decided improvement over that which we have seen on previous occasions. This is owing in part to the fact that the actors seem now to have discovered what parts are most suitable to them. . Mr. Swan has gived up melodrama and taken to broad farce, and we congratulate him on the change. Mr. Wilson personates, in as life-like a manner as ever, the crusty old gentleman; we should like to see him in another parfc next time. Mr. Brathwaite's appearance as Lady Leatherbridge was a decided success ; his get up was inimitable. Mr. Kemp's acting was characterized by his usual power, but it was surely exaggeration to make the son of a wealthy manufacturer, whose. brother was , about to marry a nobleman's daughter, look like the veriest country bumpkin, and seem totally unconscious that the dress of a navvy was not suited for his father's drawing room. Possibly, however, the author intended this, and certainly Mr. Kemp's delineation of his somewhat difficult character shewed dramatic talent of a high order. Mr. Brooking had a more prominent part than he has had hitherto. He shewed a little constraint and want of selfpossession at first, but got over it, as the piece proceeded. Mr. Milner, as Sir Arthur Lassell, had to act the part of the polished, though unscrupulous, man of the world, and he did it to perfection. There is something melancholy in doing anything for the last time, and, to our minds, there was something melancholy in listening to Mr. Milner's acting for the last time. Indeed, the sight of so many faces, whether on the stage or among the audience, which we knew we should never see again, cast a tinge of sadness over the whole proceeding. In the interval between the comedy and the burlesque, the audience were entertained with some vocal music from Miss Caulton, Dr. Hitchings, Mr. Milner, and Mr. Carver. To those who could appreciate really high class singing, this was a great addition to the attractions of the evening. Of the burlesque we have not "so much to say. Nothing, indeed, could be better than the get up of most of the chief actors. Some scenes were very effective, especially the one in which, in the midst of a general melee the combatants catch hands, as in the fifth figure of the quadrille, and after spinning round in a violent and boisterous manner, end by landing in all sorts of grotesque positions. The Vizier, for instance, on the back of the Widow Twankey. Many of the puns, we are informed, we missed. We can quite believe it, as some of those which were explained to us, such as the play on the name of Mr. Babbage, and on the opera called the Amber Witch, were of so abstruse a nature that we could not understand them even then. On the whole, there was nothing that we enjoyed more during the evening than the performance of the orchestra, which was admirable. Without wishing to be critical in regard to the arrangements generally, we would suggest that some means be taken to disconnect the entrance to the reserved seats from the refreshment room. Ladies find it an intolerable nuisance to have no means jof entrance and exit save through a i crowded room, in which every one is smoking and drinking.