STAGE SENSE AND SENSATION.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2092, 17 September 1875, Page 2

STAGE SENSE AND SENSATION.

An audience more disposed to be appreciative than (hat which did honor to the Cricketers' Dramatic Club on Wednesday evening last, has rarely ever assembled ; and the applause bestowed in a manner as kind as the bestowal was frequent, was due not more to the efforts t>f the actors than to the intrinsic merits of the piece. Let us not be understood as'wishing for one nvment to detract from the worth of the congratulations the aclors so warmly received, for such is not our intention. .They are of course far from perfect, and no one than they themselves would, we believe, be more ready to allow this, but one and all.froth first to last did their best, and the rendering of "Caste" fully warranted the remark madt of it in our hearing "that it was the best amateur performance ever given at the Thames." But it is not of the actors that we .have to do here; their merits or demerits have been already touched on; but rather with the character of the pieces they have on the last two occasions performed at least fairly well. We were indeed glad to find that their efforts to act plays worthy of the name had been met with success, and the writings of such a standard author as Eobertson were so well received, though, it had been said to our knowledge of a Thames audience that they would appreciate nothing but farce, or sensation, or at the least the veriest me'odraiiia. We were rejoiced to find that there was not engrained too deep to be eradicated in the minds of Thames playgoers that morbid longing for emotion and unreality which until lately has lowered the tone of the, English stage, and to grat:fy which Dion Boucicault prostituted his genius and Fechter his acting powers. ■ Piays such as those which liobertson wrote can do no harm - they may do some good; they serve to provide wholesome employment and amusement to those who take part in them; they may be made vehicles for affording enjoyment; they depiot what is real and what is true, they hold, "as it were, the mirror up to nature," and give an insight into scenes and phases of society of which, some who see them have had no previous conception. Of such a character was " Caste," and others like it by the same author, written with such an insight into character and such a truthfulness to human nature that not a word is uttered that might not actually have been uttered, and not a scene depicted which might not, nay, which did not, actually occur.. Hence the charm of .Robertson's writings. He presents to his audience no ideal picture of an impossible unreality, no improbable scene of a hero supposed to be miles away arriving in time to prevent his ailianced bride being off by a gang of as many armed ruffians as the resources of the manager can equip, and while he presses to his "manly bosom "the image of his adored one with one arm, and manages dexterously to avoid ten or a dozen sabre cuts with the other, red fire burns at the wings the while, and the curtain descends to Blow music. ' Neither-is it necessary in acting bis pieces to engage some acrobat for the crowning scene (if the theatre, be a large one), to fall from the top of a tower- -with aa audible " plump " on a feather bed beneath, while after the fall water is poured into a tin can to give the idea of a person jumping into a river, as is the case in the wretched translation of Victor Hugo's "Hunchback" dramatised for sensation purposes under the title of " Notre Dame." JN To! It was not by such" stage tricks as these that Kobertson won his way to fame. For years and years he struggled oil, still clinging to his fixed purpose of presenting nothing save types of the leal and the true, his talents unrewarded, his genius Unrecognised, his tamper almost tainted with cynicism, until in a moment lucky for herself and all lovers of the drama, Mrs Bancroft, then Miss Marie Wilton, ! produced ff Society " at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Success unequivocal-^ almost unequalled followed the venture. "Caste" followed "Society." Mr Eobertson's popularity was secured, and he, too late for his heal h and spirits, was recognised by all to obe what he undoubtedly was the finest-writer of legitimate comedy of his time. With his success affairs took a turn for the better, •• Formosa " in all its disgusting details was a dead failure at the Princess'; " The Turn of the Tide " fared not much better.afr Adelphi. '-Mr Gilbert found'it more profitable to write legitimate"plays for the Hay market than to luxuriate upon £150 3, yea? in the civil seiVice/antfjir H. J. Byron, from writing forced, puns under the name of burlesque, devoted his abilities to better and more profitable purposes. Witness the run enjoyed by '• Our Boys " at the Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand.'., So much for the revival effected by Eobertsou. 'An age which

found sensation plavsi the fashion eagerly ran after that fashion as it ran, aud.uahappily still runs alter other fashions equally absusd, and in some cases revoking to good taste. To this fashion stage managers readily pandered, and to such a height did ijfc run that at one time there was not a single play in London wort,h ■ seeing* with the exception •of a* well-acted burlesque at the Strand. Then came the re-action commenced by Robertson, and long may it continue. With half the trouble and a tithe of the expense, plays (expurgated as .was only, right) by Sheridan, Goldsmith, Coleman, Lytton and others* regained their old ascendancy, and the performances became as pleasant to see and hear as they were formerly inane and emotional. Kobertson is now no more, but Gilbert, Hawes Graven, Taylor and Byron are still to the front, and who knows but that Mr Burnand might produce something good in the same way if he tried. But more than this (for pleasant as this state of things is to those who wish well to the stage at home, it affects us but little here) a move in the same direction seems to be made in this province. In Auckland Mr De Lias devotes one evening a week to the production of the legitimate drama, and though it may be questioned whether some of the plays produced come under that title, yet others most certainly do. Hence "School," by Mr Kobertson, has proved a success, and Mr Gilbert's writings hare for the first time been pre ented to a colonial audience in the excellent comedy of " Pygmalion and <'alatea." We hope the same plays will be produced here, and ventu c to predict their success, that is if they be worthily presented. It is a mistaken notion that it is harder to act good plays than bad ones. The language and situations are so much more natural that few who have a taste for acting at all cannot in moderate characters give a passable representation ..of them. Mjr Bell no doubt found 'ij easier to act-up to his conception of the part of -am Gerricjije on Wednesdapuight than he did to iall into a bath placed in a drawing room (!) some eight months ago, while acting the part of Mr Pythagoras Sphoon. He certainly possesses an undeniable talent for acting, and if he gets over the tendency to " overdo" stage business so common to all.low comedy actors, he will, achieve greater things than ever he has yet done. Messrs Robinson and Whitford, too, we should think, found it more satisfactory, to act their parts in "Caste" than to appear as stage ruffiaas in an incongruous attire; and if Messrs Burgess and Donovan, two of the most painstaking actors of the club, as we hear, have an opportunity of appearing in good, not necessarily chief parts, in some good play they will, we think; both be likely to make their mark. We. have another amateur company at the, Thames, and we are glad of it; rivalry is good for actors as well as members of the Stock Exchange; perhaps they too will turn from sensation to sense. If so, there is no earthly reason, why they should not be as successfuras they desire. .^' . .-■