Local News.

Colonist, Issue 18, 22 December 1857, Page 2

Local News.

THE THEATRE.

On Thursday evening last we had the gratification of another evening of rational enjoyment and mental relaxation at, what may now be termed, •our Theatre. Perfection,, or, The Lady of Munster, A Kiss in the Dark, and The Eton Boy constituted the carte. In the comedietta Perfection, there is little or ho plot, and consists of the old ingredients. Sir Laurence Paragon (Mr. Bertram) has a nephew (Mr. Cox) and a ward (Miss Seymour). The nephew, a seeker after " perfection " in woman, has become tired of the chase, and gives it up; but is induced to allow himself to be introduced to the lady, who at that time is seated at a table. The gentleman of course becomes enamoured at once with her, declares his {)assion, and offers her his hand; but on seeipg ier t^rm-but^tiil seated^, declares that,'the laziest, accomplishment he ever saw, but issoon enlightv ened by the abigail, who informs him that hei' mistress has a cork leg. • Horribletfiscovery! It turns out, however, that the Lady ofMunster ■, the ward, was born in Cork; and has not only one, but two, Cork legs. This little affair kept the audience in good humour to the.conclusion., Mr. Cox appeared perfectly au fait to the character, and Mr. Bertram's old bachelor was after the'old approved style. The ladies rendered their portions correctly, and met the due share of applause; Mrs. Cox's cork-leg-gait-imitation was droll in the extreme. A Kiss in the Dark kept the audience in a continual state of cachinnation. A middle aged gentleman, a member of the Stock Exchange (Mr. R. H. Cox), wishes to try the conduct of his young wife (Mrs. R. H. Cox) in his absence, towards her former sweetheart (Mr. H. Bertram), and of course the plot succeeds, and he becomes perfectly satisfied of his own folly. Mr. Cox represented Pettibone, the jealous-pated stockbroker, in a ridiculous light. The sly, racy humour of this gentleman more than once reminded us of our old and universal favourite, Buckstone; but,who ever saw a "gentleman on the Stock Exchange " with "such a shocking bad hat 1" Frank Fathom found an excellent representative in Mr. Bertram, as also did Mrs. Cox and Miss Seymour in each of those of Mrs. Pettibone and Mary. Nor must we omit the wry quiet and! subdued performance of The Veiled Lady, who assisted in bringing the piece to a satisfactory conclusion. The Eton Boy finished the evening, and would nave given, we think, geiieral satisfaction, but for that sort of extravagance which is considered necessary at tile close of the performances at some of the minor places of amusement, such as the Pavilion in Whitechapek. and the Grecian Saloon. We trust our prolcssionals, who have begun so well, will take our unbiassed opinion, that a well conducted theatre in this Province would prove a great': benefit jwhik

the reverse would meet the' reprobation of all classes, and we hope the time may soon arrive "when our hopes will be realised. Ou Saturday evening; we were presented with an abridged version of Tell, arid^ like mdst abridgments, the interest of the piebe suffered materially; though when ,w| take irijto consideration the small space afforded in this tHeatre for the production of plays that rgqHiire some stage effect; and situations, beside^ numberless supernuinaries, we must say that the present managers deserve some credit for, endeavouring to diversify the amusements as much as possible; and we must regret that the first performance of this play should not have been as. successful as we could have wished. We must, however, exonerate Mr. Cox from any blame in this, for he had rather heavy work to contend with, and he acquitted himself well. He also gave us " Villikins and his Dinah," in the approved Robson style, introducing one or twollocal hits, which told with effect. The attendance Avas not so numerous as heretofore/ though perhaps this was occasioned by the .night selected (Saturday), not being one on which the principal part of the inhabitants have the least leisure. We cannot otherwise account for a want of patronage to amusements that have been so|lqng in request by us; and now that we have them only for a short space, we should like-■ to see them well supported when presented in an unobjectionable form. Eiirati/3i.—ln our last theatrical notice, for ' harshness' read * archness.'