THE DRAMA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 122, 27 August 1875, Page 11

THE DRAMA.

■ ++ The crowded house which met to witness Mr. DarrelTs personation o£ the Melancholy Dane, no doubt influenced the management in following up with another of Shakspere's tragedies, and on Friday night last " Macbeth" was produced. The cast, however, was materially altered, from that during the engagement of Mr. Bates : — Mr. Steele sustaining the character of the treacherous Thane of Qawdor ; Mr. Darrell, Macduff ; and Mr. Hoyle, Hecate. Mr. Steele has often appeared in the same character in this city, and we rest assured with. greater success, for it must be confessed he -did not appear to advantage on Friday night. The passage in which he apostrophises the dagger was given with a tameness which materially detracted from its effect. In the banquet scene, however, when stricken with horror at the apparition of Banquo's ghost, he infused a vigor and life in the part which met with recognition from the audience. As MacdufE, Mr. Darrell appeared to far greater advantage than in Hamlet, many of the passages being given with telling effect, which were greeted with prolonged applause. Perhaps the act in which Mr. Darrell was most effective was that in which he learns of the slaughter of his children, the outburst of passionate grief being depicted with a reality which it was painful to witness. Mrs. Darrell, of course, appeared in the rdle t of Lady Macbeth, and having said so much, more is needless. It is in such characters as Lady Macbeth, and other of Shakespeare's creations that Mrs. Darrell has scope for her abilities, and after witnessing such a finished performance as that of Friday night, one is forced to regret that talents, such as she possesses, should ever be devoted to aught save the legitimate drama. On Saturday night "Lucretia Borgia" was presented, and on Monday a dramatised version of Wilkie_ Collins 1 novel, "Man and Wife." We understand Mr. Darrell claims the credit of being the adapter, and if such be the case he . must be complimented upon his success. The piece is superior to either " The Struggle for Freedom," or " Under the Ban," and although savouring strongly throughout of the sensational, it is immeasurably more creditable than many pieces which pass current in the present day. It possesses the merit of carrying the audience with it through every act, and although there are five, the interest throughout is never once allowed to flag until the curtain drops upon a most effective tableau. Mr. Darrell appears in the character of Greoffry Delamayn, one for which he is admirably fitted, and which he played to life throughout. Indeed in our mind characters such as G-eoffrey Delamayn and Francis Levison arc those in which he appears to most advantage, where the polished and heartless man of the world is portrayed, or life in its different aspects of the present day is to be depicted. We cannot pass by the admirable personation of the loquacious old Scotch inn-keeper by Mr. Keogh. • His make-up was inimitable, and the fund of humor displayed exhibited comic powers of no mean order. His very appearance on the stage was the signal for merriment, and so well was he disguised, that were it not for his voice, it 'would have been difficult to discover his identity. The part of the heroine was sustained by Mrs. Darrell in a manner which brought forcibly to the audience the wrongs and sufferings of the betrayed woman, the other characters being sustained by Miss Willis and Messrs. Musgrave and Clinton. The drama of " Man and Wife " is one which should have a long run, and the manner in whichit is mounted and put upon the stage reflects much credit upon the management. Since writing the above we have seen a letter .fromiM'r. • Darrell, whicif places his right to the authorship of the piece beyond dispute. On Wednesday night "Hamlet" was"'again " produced, with a slight variance in the cast, the part of Laertes being undertaken by Mr. Keogh, in consequence of the indisposition' of Mr. Stonehani. ' We must congratulate Mr. Darrell upon his good judgment in materially altering many of the points presented on the night of his benefit, and we are bound to confess the conception of the part, as embodied in Wednesday night's representation, is infinitely superior to the preceding one. This was markedly apparent in the soliloquy, "Tobe or not to be," the beautiful passage being given with a delivery and action which, while being in keeping with the text, was widely different from Mr. Darrell's former rendering. Again, in the scene where he finds his interview with Ophelia watched by the King and Polonius, he goes to the arras, behind which they are concealed, and assures himself of the fact, before returning to Ophelia and asking of .her the whereabouts of her father. By this, he makes it more clear to the audience the cause of the horror he feels on receiving her answer, believing her in the plot and playing him false. There are many other points which Mr. Dafrell either introduced or altered since he last appeared, and we are glad to be able to heartily approve of both innovations and alterations. By the course he has adopted, he has shown his only aim is to give a delineation of this creation of the immortal bard which will bear out the conception of the mastermind, and, as in so doing he has taken nature for his guide, and tested. | the correctness or incorrectness of his views by that standard, it will be admitted his performance should bear the test of criticism.