Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Issue I, 1 April 1864, Page 4

Othf.i.i.o TuA.vF.sTiF.n.—On Monday night Ist (week) our theatre was tho scene of a most extraorcn:iiy performance. Mr. G. V. Brooke, :in actor sono years ago made a considerable stir in tlio theatrical world, was announced for one night's performanceat Northampton. -The pla v was to he Othello —the sar taking. of coiir-p, the part of tlio Moor. There vas ;m excellent house, pit, gallery, and boxes being well filled. The curtain was to have risen at half-pst seven, hut it had not, risen at eight o'clock, and :hc audicnee grew impatient, unaware of the cause of Iqluy. At length the curtain hell tinkleil,' and :hfo scene where Uoderigo and lago arouse Urahantio, uid inlonn him of the elopement of his daughter, vn3 duly gone through. And then came tho seen) in which Othello first appears. Mr. Brooke was velcomed with a round of applause. He wits handsonaly attired, and the audience were prepared to appredato the performance. Everybody knows the lirst spech in answer to lago's statement respecting the angr of Brabantio .-— Lot liim do his spite; My services, which I have done tlio Klmll ont-tonjrtie his nmnplnints. Tis yet to know MVliich, when I know l>o:istin;r is :m honour, I shall iiroimiipite) I fetch my life and being From ilea of royal seiye. J But Mr. Brooke's memory on this occasion erricd him no farther than—"l fetch my life and." Tho next word was obviou.'lv not at his tongre'f end; " being" was lieaid all over the house froi the prompter, but Mr. Brooke did not catch it tillit had been reiterated several times. A little furtheronuidha was again at a stand-still —" siege" had utter! - gone from his brain. However, another and very udible ]>rompting carried him through, and tho sees went on. Then came the council scene, in whiclOthello delivers the speech which is the '-fry delightind realisation of an actor's ambition to speak— Most potent, grave, and reverend si^niors— Here, to the amazement of the audience, Mrßreoke again broke down ;he lost his words, and-'as evidently incapable of taking them from the jomptor, although they were words that he certainly' should have known without a prompter." Tlio bnik down was so complete that the audience hissed : ujn which. .Mr. Brooke, whose back was to tlieni as the sigiiiorv, wheeled suddenly round, andxhibited a visage doubly disguisud with paint and miething else, and balancing himself for a sccon or two exclaimed—" O ! good night," and made his exit. "What was the matter was now obvious eimgh. lugo came forward, and endeavoured to apegise and entreat (lie forbearance of the audience, wlu on came Othello again, and more in the manner of n Ethiopian screnadcr, than the Moor of Venitsaid —"I s'pose I may saj a word." " Hear liim, or-'i", order," was the cry nil. over the house; and senee was obtained. ""Well," said Mr. Brooke, baheinghimself again, " here I am ! "Nothing furt In 'pparcntly lv forthcoming the hisses were renewed "On my honour," resumed Mr. Brcote, " strod'irj' circumstance." The uproar was here renewed for a few seconds Othello stood balancing liimfo and then, repeating " I say good night," made 1) final exit. Mr. Wilstone the very respectable manag r then came forward and expressed his deep sorrow what had occurred. He offered to return the aiience their money, or, if they chose, the tragedy 8° 011 i Mr. Lambert (Iago) would undertake o' e H°> and he himself would read the character of Ia£ —he would not say act it, because they knew how c l ' rar y 1 t' B "as to his peculiar line of business. To v/ou.d stop, he offered, in addition, a free adm s "® on the following night. Mr. Brooke, having his " Good night" to the audience, went, we believ forthwith to a cab and returned by the last train to 'Omlen, then just upon starting. His starring it in Northampton was a sort of repetition of the cain l 'S n that famous King of France, who— With thirty thousand men. Marcher! up a hill and then injirched oWn a S am - We ought to add that Mr. Brooke, sin' unlucky catastrophe in this town, has been tfrfonning at ■ Jfott ingham where he went through i" performance of Othello in a manner which woi him the enthusiastic applause of the house, ai- a before the curtain. —Xorthamplon Mcrcunj.