DRAMATIC NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6706, 20 November 1889, Page 2

DRAMATIC NOTES.

[From otjb London CoitßxsroNDEJ^.i London, Ocfc- V THE DEAD HEABT. Dospite lavish, mounting and careful acting, the Lyceum revival of The Dead Heart cannot honestly be called a success. Where the preoise fault lies I should not like to say— probably with tha play itself —but the performance is gloomy and slow to a degree. Irving himself satisfies one neither as the gay, insouciant, young eculptor of the first act, nor as the released prisoner, living only for revenge of later scenes. Hia great opportunity is supposed to come when, after the Qtorming ofi the Bastille, tho dazed and half-imbecile Landry is rescued from the cell ho has occupied- for eighteen long years. The actor's appearance then was ghastly and effective enough, but hie moans and groans bordered on the ridiculous. Somehow the situation was lost. The duel with the Abbe Latour went better, but that seemed to mo mostly Bancroft's doing. The ex-Manager of the Haymarket, indeed, scores more than either Irving or Miss Terry in the revival. He was nerj vous on Saturday evening, but yet played | the wicked Abbe with great unction, I especially in the later ecenes. Miss Terry | has little or nothing to do till the final | act, when the Countess prays Landry to I spare hor boy's life. She certainly acted this exceedingly well, but the character, as ] a whole, scarcely suits her peculiar style. | Half a dozen actresses one can think of i could have filled the role equally well. i Eighton, as the Barber Toupst, gave an occasional touch of frivolity to the piece. A much gloomier play has, I should imagine, never been staged in London. | THE GAIETY COMPANY "WELCOMED HOME. There was a great scene at the Gaiety Theatre on the Saturday evening when Nellie Farren, Fred Leslie, Marion Hood and Co. reappeared on the familiar boards after eighteen months' absence in Australia and the United States. No one i seemed to care much about the new piece. It was the " welcome home " we all wished to assist at. And what a welcome it was. When the irrepressible Nellie — frisky, buoyant and debonnaire as ever — Bkipped blithely on to the stage, the smart house literally rose at her. The gallery (crammed almost entirely with medical students) hung out a huge streamer on which was inscribed, "The boys welcome their Nellie ;" the pit cheered and waved handkerchiefs, and the stalls clapped like lunatics. Later Fred Leslie had an equally hearty reception, the audience rising and singing "For he's a jolly good fellow" much aa if it were " God Save the Queen." Six weeks henco the new burlesque Buy Bias, will, no doubt, have worked up into a conventional Gaiety Buccesa. At present it is much too long. When Fred Leßlio and Nellie Farren are together all goes well, but whilst they're resting one's apt to get bored. Letty Lind, I thought, scarcely danced as gracefully as before she went on tour, and Marion Hood's voice seemed a trifle husky. But the entire Company, of course, were nervous and will dp better presently. .. Horace Lingard's new venture with bffenbach'a Brigands at thfl Avenue, has not, bo far, •• caught on." Why the work was selected no one seems to know, as it was never, even in the old days at the Globe Theatre, a popular success. COMING NOVELTIES. Mr Kutland Barrington has dissipatedj in the course of a lew week's management at tho St James' Theatre, the hard-earned savings of ten years' returns to the Savoy, for Gilbert and Sullivan's now opera. George Grossmith, it is highly improbable, will ever act in a Company again. His entertainment has bo far proved a perfect gold mine. The little man writes from Southsea that his share of the profits up to now averages within a few pounds of .£320 a weekj that he is pestered to death by enterprising impresarios wanting him to " try America and the Colonies."' At present, George has no intention of trying either, but, as the villain in the play cays, " a time may come." Great curiosity is naturally felt with regard to tho revival of Caste at the Criterion next week. Leonard Boyne plays D'Alroy; a young actor named Elliott, fresh from the Provinces, Hawtree; and David James, Eccles. Lackadaisical Miss Olga Brandon should be quite at home as Esther, and Lottie Venn,e is, perhaps, the one contemporary actress capable of doing justice to the mercurial Polly. The comedy has been moßt carefully rehearsed, and will be staged rather more Bmartly than heretofore. The rumour that Mrs Bancroft meditates returning to the stage irf quite untrue, I am sure. The erstwhile petite Marie Wilton has grown go ponderously stout, that it would only be possible to fit her with the most unromantic roles. Even on the lecture platform her podgy figure shows to terrible disadvantage.