THEATRE ROYAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6875, 13 March 1883, Page 5

THEATRE ROYAL.

"Tub CteAßßHOppra."

Those who go to the theatre with the expectation of teeing a modern-polished society comedy, while "The Grasshopper" ii running, wDI be baulked of their prey. To say that they will be disappointed will be to state what it much more likely to come true than are most haphazard guesses and bold statement! verging on the prophetic j but that their disappointment will develope into bad humour is most improbable—almost an impossibility, in fact. They will be laughed out of their " bluet/' and kept out of them too, if they have the least appreciation of honett boitterottt fan of the moit mirth-provoking kind. To find a play more exactly the antipodes of "Jo" would be hard: in short, " The Grasshopper" is a farce in three aott, and those not short ones. There will be found plenty of people to'pronounce the play a piece of torn-foolery from beginning to end, and unworthy of Miss Jonnie Lee's great powers as an actress. With such sober, serious, solemn individuals, we cannot altogether agree. The drama takes as many shapet as human nature itself, and those who follow the dramatio profession must, to earn high positions in that walk of life, be as many-sided and versatile as if possessed of many natures. They must be able to depict sorrow or mirth, tears or laughter, mercy or hate, faithfulness or treachery, wisdom or folly—passions, as various and as widely sundered in nature as those in whose breasts they reign. Therefore, it can scarcely with justice be said that, in playing the chief part in a piece exciting nothing but the wildest laughter, which is extravagant in its folly, Miss Lee is casting aside tkoie gifts with which she is so rarely endowed. She is simply showing their extent and variety. For whereas in " Jo " she is the poor, oomfortless, starved, miserable, cringing, broken-spirited boy, in "The Grasshopper" she is merriment embodied, the picture of vigorous health and animal spirits; a " torn-bay "of the first water. At in the former play, the part is taken consistently and naturally throughout, and whether as the circus girl or Lady Ernestine, wild pranks and irrepressible fun are the never-changing traits of the character. The zest of the company enter into the spirit of the thing heartily, and Mr Burnett as Flippett, Mr Leopold as Jingle, kept the fan going to the end, both being very good in their respective parts. Mr Sterling Whyte's old innkeeper Donald was quite a study of a Highlander, and the rest of the oompany were well up in their work. With one thing alone we must express dissatisfaction, and that is the imitation of intoning indulged in by * The Grasshopper " in rattling off by rote her romantic and untruthful account of her previous life when she has become Lady Ernestine Top-Sawyer. It is in bad taste, and, though quite a likely performance for such a young scapegrace and violator of all the canons of propriety, not in the least necessary. Beyond this there is nothing to cavil at, and those whose lungs can withstand an inordinate dose of laughter will find "The Grasshopper" good medicine.