THE CRITIC

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 1, 18 September 1880, Page 6

THE CRITIC

It has long been a recognised fact that the notices of theatrical and other entertainments which appear in the " Star " and " Herald ' are nothing more than rubbishy farragos of fulsome and indiscriminate eulogy. No matter how bad a piece may be, nor how wretched the acting, these journals dare not speak out. The fact is there are advertisements, bills, programmes, and a number of odd jobs hanging to every performance, and to damn a play honestly would be to lose them. The result is, the public deceived times out of number will not iioav read newspaper critiques at all. I'm sure I don't blame them. Nothing can be more exasperating than to go to the theatre expecting to see a good piece and to find a bad one. The evening seems to have been wasted, one's temper is ruffled, and one's anticipated enjoyment a myth. You must not, however, run away with the idea that it is the easiest thing in the world to write a creditable notice. Nothing, of course, can be simpler than to sit down and scribble one's own individual opinions of a comedy or farce. If that were all that was required, any fool could till the office. Unfortunately it is not. The dramatic critic of a respectable paper must be a person who is conversant with the theatres of London and Paris. He must have seen all the best '-stars," and be well up in the traditions of the stage. If he does not possess this knowledge it is impossible for him to estimate accurately the value of the performance, or to draw the comparisons frequently necessary. An honest critic must also be the representative of the public opinion, and, before he commences to write a review, should take many things into consideration. First, he must recall what the audience appeared to think of the piece, and whether the said audience was a representative audience, or composed solely of a particular class. It would never do, for example, to irretrievably damn a Saturday night sensation drama merely because the dress-circle jeered at it. The largest part of the house is filled with those who enjoy and applaud such plays, and the critic must endeavour, as far as possible, to look at it from their point of view. On the other hand, he must take care not to mislead the more fastidious patrons of the house by his praise. Secondly : There are the actors and actresses to be considered. They are a hardworking, hard-living, cla*s ; and before the dramatic critic snatches the bread from their mouths by damning a piece or a person, he ought to be very sure he is right. Better far if there is any doubt about the matter, to keep silence, faint praise is far worse than censure. When a play gets severely " slated " people may go to the theatre to see what it is like, but the review of a friend who wishes to say kind things, but cannot, is terribly damaging. It must not be supposed from all this that I am averse to plain speaking on theatrical matters. Nothing of the kind. The carefully weighed opinions of a competent critic are, in my opinion, serviceable to both the public and the actors, Once let the former discover that writer is reliable, and that he doesn't crack up trashy pieces or "butter" incapable performers, and they will read and be guided "by his criticisms. Praise then becomes worth something, and really does the theatre good. Many actors cannot understand this. > They will swallow readily extravagant strings of eulogistic adjectives, but resent bitterly the mildest censure, and of tenor than not attribute it to some dishonest motive. Here, in the OBSERVER, great pains will be taken with theatrical notices. I believe people want a newspaper which they can look to for an honest opinion ; and my endeavoiir will be to make this that newspaper. I may add that there will be no Observer "dead heads." Representatives of this jovirnal going to the play will pay for their entertainment like everyone else. About last Saturday's performance it is unnecessary to say a great deal. I don't who Mr. Van Ostin may be, but one thing seems certain — he is not much of a dramatist ; and the Lingards were quite right to put " uld Bachelors " on for a single night only. Mr. Lingard and Mr. Overtoil managed to extract a hearty laugh or two from the more pronounced situations, but, as a whole, the piece was dull and the audience 'bored.

The " Baby " Pinafore Troupe are drawing good houses in Sydney. Kelly and Leon have had a big row and " split up." " True to the Core " has been produced with success at the Theatre. Royal Melbourne. The fund in aid of the family of the late George Honey had, on June 21, reached £500. John Gnurlay, late of the Salsbury's Troubadours, has joined Rice's Surprise Party Company. On August 7th, Cooper and Bailey's great circus was at Oswego, in the State of New York. Owen Westford, whom I had previously thought a most ponderous "stick," played "Barney" in •' Old Bachelors" uncommonly well. Herrßandmano's wife (Miss Millie Palmer) is tra-velling with a company of hr own in the States at present, but they are going to India immediately. John Jack and Miss Annie Firmin are "back in New York. They didn't get an engagement In London after all. A feature of the conversazione of the Royal Colonial Institute this year was the brilliant playing of an Auatralian pxaniste, Miss A. S. Burvett.

Mrs. Fitzwilliam, who was so ill at one time as to be given up by the doctors, is now much botter. £2,000 for 15 nights are Sarah Bernhardts terms for a season at the Gaiety Theatre, in London, next year. Never ending rehearsals, nursing Mrs. Fitzwilliam and arduous parts have proved too much, for Mrs. Lingard, who was quite knocked up on Tuesday, and had to cease playing for a night on "Wednesday. On Wednesday evening David Garrick was given with Lingard in the title role. It is_ not one of his best parts by any means, but he plays it carefully and with a good deal of feeling. The " Wreck of the Pinafore " will not, after all, form a feature of the Lingard's present season. They produce the work first at Dunedin, but return here at Christmas, and will open in it on Boxing night. John Bennett has arranged to pilot Henri Ketten, the pianiste, through New Zealand. They will probably commence with Auckland. Baker and Farron are doing the English provinces. They were to open at the Pi'ince of Wales Theatre, at Liverpool, on July I9th. Salshury's Troubadours made their debut in Great Britain, at the Alexandra Theatre, Liverpool, on July 12th. A company of Dutch actors have been playing in London this season. They only did indifferently well. Whenever the Lingards are hard up for a Saturday night's programme let them play three screaming farces. Everybody likes a good laugh, and I'm sure such a programme would draw. Mi.-s Florence Terry, the youngest of the Terry sisters, is about to marry Mr. Hardinge Cox, pare proprietor of the " Field " and " Queen " newspapers, and retire from the stage. The London Comedy Company have scored a great success in Sydney with Uurnand's " Turn of tho Tide." The seen ry, by George Gordon, is said to be the most beautiful ever seen in the colonies. The Melbourne papers "slate "Mr G. Verdi for his Captain Corcoran in the revival of H.M.S. Pinafore, but Mr Riccardi's Sir Joseph is said to be " better than ever." Mr. Alf Hayman, of Mes-rs. Hiscocks and Hayman, will ba a passenger by the incoming mail steamer ' City of New York,' at least, so says ihe "New York Dramatic News." Cooper and Bailey must be doing A. 1 with their big show in the States. An American paper says the proiits of the concern for tho lirst six months of 1880 amounted to <Jo,ood dollars. A correspondent has been writing Ho the "Referee" complaining of the questionable jokes introduce d by our old friend, Harry Rickards, into his new song, " Making the Kettle boi ." Thorne and Darwim, now giving Spiritual manifestations and exposes at tho Halstead-street Opera House, have effected a three years' engagement with J. A. Lord, and will visit Australia and New Zealand under his guidance. The Ballarat papers gush over the performance of that most lamentable "frost," Mr Edwin Browne. Victorian miners must be easily [-leased, that's all I can say. Nobody would go and see Browne when he was here. Affairs theatrical, appear to be worse even in Wellington than in Auckland. One night recently the audience was so small thai, the actors were disheartened, and preferred returning the money to the three solitary individuals in the pit to playing before them. Mr. Patterson and Alic Thompson, who were members of the Steele Dramatic Company, have got back to Sydney, and are going to Temora. The former writes to Charley Weightman that the loss of the Victoria Theatre makes Pitt-street quite a desert. A lady, who was once a danseuse at the French Opera, has just bought a plot of land on the Boulevard Courcelles, Paris, for » sum of over £11,000. She is about to erect thereon a fine mansion for her own residence. There's something in a good pair of legs after all. Dion Boucicault's last dramatic effort is " Forbidden Fruit," a comedy in two acts, which has been produced with some success at the Adelphi Theatre in London. The plot is almost identical with that of an old farce known as " His First Peccadillo.'* During July the Passion play at Ober-Am-mergau was interrupted by the illness of the woodcarver. Joseph Mayer, who plays the part of Christ, and his family refused to allow him to act any long r. At the first r- presentation, he caught a severe cold, and was quite incapable of acting. Among other rumours, to be more or less credited, is one that Emilie Melville contemplates, soon returning to Australia, with the nucleus of a company, for the purpose of producing the series of comic operas ]n which she has appeared at the Bushstreet Theatre, San Francisco. There is a musical marvel at Lusby'a Musical Hall in London. He plays the whistle with his proboscis just as we have known an elephant do with his trunk. He gets the " Carnival ot Venice" out of his cheeks by slapping them, and he plays ihe piano with his elbows, nis lingers, his wrists, and his nose. Whoever is the first to produce "Les Cloches de Comeville " in Auckland (well mounted and decently cast) will make a big hit. The opera has had a much longer run in London than even the redoubtable " Pinafore," and was the rage in Paris for two y ars. In Melbourne, lam told, it did not "gee "but that must have been because of some inherent defect in the performance, as the story is comprehensible, and the music simply perfection. The celebrated conjuror, John Nevil Maskelyne, has yet another marvel in store for the bewilderment of his patrons. He will shortly introduce to the nublic a new musical apparatus, the strong suit of which is that it is so arranged as to dispel all doubts of the contrivance being an illusion. Instruments will be handed to the audience to be tested, and, whilst held by them in the centre of the hall, will be made to play with taste and piv cision. I can't congratulate my daily contemporaries on their sharpness They don't appear to have found out yet that the unassuming gentleman who acts as the Lingarda agent is no less a personage than Mr. Luscombe Suarell, the well-known Australian composer, who has written half-a-dozen comic and serious operas, not to mention uunierous songs and pianoforte pieces. Mr. Searell is here to conduct his new work, the "Wreck of the Pinafore." "Carados," in the " Referee," declares that Lulu, the famous female gymnast, who took London by storm some years ago, is a man. He says : " I saw Lulu a short time ago. He was employed in fixing a net for another gymnast. He wore spectacles, and boasted amo stache. It made me wild to remember that in the days of th« successes at the Holborn Amphitheatre I hadlift-dmy hat to him, had paid him pretty compliments, and had squeezed his Ziand. Ugh ! Mr. Charles Craig, the clever jeune premier, travelling with the Lingards, is an American gentleman of independent fortune, who folljws the theatrical profession for love rather than money. Unlike some actors I could name, he does nut consider himself perfection, and is doing the colonies in order to get thoroughly well grounded. By_-and-bye we shall probably liear of his making a big hit at Wallack's or some other first-class theatre in New York. Having plenty of ' the ready," he can at any tune command a hearing and in good company. Mrs. Lingard has helped on many starvingnovices in her profession. She possesses a keen eye for talent in embryo, and always tries to give promising juniors a chance of distinguishing themselves. At Adelaide there was a tremendous rum-

pus, because she insisted on one- of the younger members of the Company playing '* Cherry Spirit " in " Stolen Kisses." The result, however, justified the choice, and the actress in question is now (thanks to this timely act of kindness) able to secure profitable engagements all over Australia. Tlie author of " Says Moses to Aaron," which was sung in '• Betsy," told a £ri> nd of mine that his royalties on the sale of the song up to date amount d to nearly £500. He is very proud, of his precious offspring, and sings it whenever he can get a chance. At the Lord Mayor's Banquet, to the " Savage Club," this worthy gentleman was asked to oblige with a ditty. He graciously complied, and, going to the piano, began (to the infinite horror of his brother " Savages") to inform the assembled company that the world is not a bed of roses. " No better than it ought to wa«, ' Right y'er are ' says Moses." Haidee Heller is assisting the celebrated conjuror, Dr. Lynn, at the Piccadilly Hall, in London. '• Sketch. ' in a local, says : " This lady possesses the gift of a second sight to a remarkable degree. Close blind-folded, sha can describe every article that the audience chooses to hand to Dr. Lynn. Not long ago, when she was entertaining at the Brighton Aquarium I endeavoured to mistify her on three successive days with a pocket aneroid, a copy of the " San Francisco News Letter," and a photograph of a professional beauty, but it was of no use. Each was accurately described to me, and I gave it up in des f air." One of the reporters on the staff of the " Lyttelton Times " has composed a burlesque and graciously forwarded it to the Lingards for performance. The modest creature says the Christuhurch professionals are all most anxious to produce it, but he refused to allow them, because he is determin d to have the .ieee well done or not at all. The author of " Pinafore " could not be more particular than this sucking Shakespeare. And the beauty of it all is that the play sem is to be rubbishy balderdash, which a child of seven could have written easily. It is stated that Barry Sullivan, who, according to his own account, is the greatest tragedian the world has ever seen, will appear this month at one of the New York theatres, and subsequently visit Australia and New Zealand, His leading lady will be Miss Adelaide Stanhoi-e, who married his son, known in ihe profession as Mr. John Amory. She, too, is spoken of as the possessor of " considerable fame." Well, I don't like to be rude, but I should like to know where she got it from. Certainly London laygoers don't know very much about her, and they have never yet shown a disposition to fall ; down and worship her. ! Mrs Lingard, besides being one of the cleverest and handsomest of actresses, is one of the i sweetest and best of women. The stories of her charities are innumerable and would fill columns. Here is one : Last time the Lingards were in Auckland there was a man very ill at the hotel where they happened to be stopping. Mim. Lingard had never seen or heat d of the poor fellow before, and did not even know his name, but directly she was told of the case she went to him and nursed him devotedly night and day till he died. Then, with her own hands, this true woman perfi rmed the last offices— laid the dead man out, never flinching from a duty, the mere meniion of which would be sufficent to reduce some of our fine ladies to a fainting-fit. When the Lingards were last at Adelaide it was the depth of winter and bitterly cold. Passing out of the theatre ono raw morning Mrs. Lingard observed the stage door-keeper, a poor old "super." shivering with cold and looking half frozen. She remarked to her companion that the do^r-keeper must be miserable without an overcoat in such weather, and he, thinking little about it, carelessly assented. Next day going to the theatre, the same gentleman was astonished to see his old friend muffled in a bran new ulster, and looking the picture of comfort. " Where did yon get that from?" he asked. " I don't know, sir," was the reply. It came to me this morning done up in a brown paper parcel, without a word of explanation, and I can't think who was kind enough to send it." Do yon remember the American humourist Stephen Massett (" Jeems Pipes of Pipesville"), who gave some readings at the Choral Hall about three years ago? W- 11, af t- r leaving New Zealand, he went home to London, and, by dint of judicious manoeuvering, got the papers to puff his «ntertainnient well beforehand. There was a great crowd on the occasion of tho fellow's first appearance at the Hanov r Square Rooms, but he made a miserable failure, and could never raise a house afterwards. Subsequently Massett went out to the Cape, and travelled through the principal towns of South Africa with varying success. On my way out in the ' s s. Orient,' last May, we stopped at Capetown, and I saw him there, looking pretty perky. He is now in London again, and talks of a tour thro' the English provinces. J. K. Emmett ("Fritz ") is in a very bad way. A few months ago he was brought before a Mr. Justice Smith at the instance of his wife, who told the magistrate that her husband was unable to take care of himself, and ask d to have him committed temporarily to an asylum for inebriates. Emmett appeared to tbink it was all right, for he made no demur, but bade the missis and his son an affectionate good-bye, and went off to the asylum without so much as askiDg for another drink. He is now out again. "Town Crier," in the "N. Y. Dramatic News," says: "Some parade was made about a lawyer going down to the place where he was confined and bringing him back. This was making a fuss over nothing, for Emmett had gone to the place of his own consent and could leave when he pleased. He was placed there in the regular way (by commitment), because it was necessary ; but the object was only to get him over his last terrible attack, which nearly brought on death. I saw him on the street the other day. He looked far from well, and is very thin, yellow and emaciated. Just a little more of his weakness and hasty consumption will bring him up with a round turn. John Jack is, according to the Californian capers being divorced from Mary J. Jack. But who is Mary J. Jack? When Mr. Jack was in Auckland Miss Annie Firmin was his wife. Can it be that the good man has two 't Talking of the Jacks reminds me of the ructions thero were towards the end of their season here. I was then dramatic critic for the " Star," and in the course of my duties had found it necessary to "slate " two or three wretchedly weak pieces which they produced. The plays being poor didn't draw, but Mr. Jack chose to think, or say, that my notices had killed his season. Now, my belief is that theatrical critiques are mostly valueless. lew peo i. le read them, and fewer still believe in them. However, Mr. Jack got this unpleasant idea into his head and the result was that on the aflcrno n the pair were to leave for Sydney, Mrs. Jack came to the " Star" office and told me that her husband had taken to drink to drown his sorrow, that she didn't know where he was, that they would miss the steamer, that their Australian engagements would be lost, and that it was all my fault. Of course I could only offer to try and find him, and the two of us commenced a tour of the public houses. After knocking about for a cou-le of hours I went into a little place up in Upp r Victoria-street, and there, sure enough, was tho great John Jack drunk enough to be pugnacious. For a long time he swore at me and flatly declined to move, but after some, little talk, and a wee drop more whiskey, the great man burst into tears, showed symptoms of wishing to embrace me, and finally i ermitted himself to b- taken down to the 'Rotorua.' We bid each other an affectionate farewell, and that was the last I saw of the Jacks. This is the plot of Dion Boucicault's new Irish drama, '" Inchavogue," which is said to be a greater success than even the " Shaughraun." An Irish pilot saves a richly laden ship from wreck and receives a large reward as salvage. Being of a proud and ambitious nature, he resolves to use this leward as the means to found a family and a mass a fortune for his son. He goes to London, grows wealthy, but is much grieved by the conduct of this son, who, despising both his native land and his father, denies his Irish origin and mixes in London society

as " Dudley Walsinstham," an iShglishman. An estrangement between the two is the consequence, and when as a la9t resort the father withdraws his allowance,' the sOn emigrates to Australia. All these avents prey so heavily on the old man's mind, that he becomes half-witted. The son returns from Australia a.ricli man to find his father bank in hia old home, butb.opeless.ley insane. ] The son's partner is expected by the next incoming ship- A storm arisr s. The. ship is seen drifting on to the rocky coast, and will inevitably be wrecked unless piloted to a saftt anchopage. None know the anchorage except the old pijot and his son. The old man senselessly looks on whilst- volunteers are called for to save the vessel. The son feels the ardour of " lang syne" come over him. Ho leaps into the boat, and his battle wi,tli the waves s described by the onlookers The, old pilot grows interested, and when it is shouted Out that the ship has* been conducted to an anchorage, he exclaims, " That's my son ; only he and I know that ahcliorage." His senses return. He recognizes his sc >n\ and when the son is reconciled to his cousi üßweethcart, ;whom he rather looked down upon mi London, the curtain falls on. happiness all aroum i. Max.