Punch (42.1862)

3

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

January 4, 1862.]

OUR DRAMATIC CORRESPONDENT.

sally, my dear Punch, Mu.
Boucicault is somewhat of an
enviable man. Not _ many
stage-writers have hit the
public taste with more success
than he, or have jumped to
such high favour by a single
leap. His Colleen Bawn has
been the theme of the past dra-
matic year; even Monsieur
Fechteu’s Hamlet has not
been so much talked about.
When the play was put aside
for the production of the Octo-
roon, everybody wondered at the
premature withdrawal. With
a house crammed to the ceiling
every evening as it was, the
attraction of the Colleen was
clearly unabated. Indeed, I
rather think it was the general
belief that, if such had been his
pleasure, its author might with
ease have won the title of ‘ the Hero of Five Hundred Nights.5 Some-
how, people never seemed to tire of seeing that ‘ tremendous header/ and
went over and over again until they must have almost known the piece
by heart. After all, the public is itself the best advertisement. Once
get a good name for no matter how indifferent a play, and there is no
saying how long you may hang out your flaming posters on the outer
walls, while by your audience-attendants the cry is ‘ still they come/ _

“ Whether the Octoroon will rival the Colleen in public favour is
doubtful, not so much from the merits of the play, as from the reason
that the public is a rather fickle patron, and sometimes after patting
people on the back is apt for no good cause to turn its face against
them. Great successes very often are succeeded by re-action, and
things that follow in the wake of what has been commended are, with-
out fair reason, publicly condemned. ‘ Sensation ’ scenes, moreover,
on which such dramas as the Octoroon and Colleen Bawn depend, _ are
apt after a while to pall upon the palate, as one’s emotional capacities
by usage get worn out. To my thinking, a bit of genuine good acting
is more lastingly attractive than a myriad of scenes which are dependent
on mere brushwork and stage-grouping for effect. Thus, when I saw
the Colleen the last night it was played before this Christmas week
revived it (that being, said the play-bill, the two hundred and eighty-
fourth) the part I most enjoyed was the sly humour of the interview
between Myles and the Priest. Mu. Boucicault in this more showed
his power as an actor than any number of his headers would give him
scope to do. Actors, and not acrobats, are what I care to see; and
anything that chances to interest my mind I can see a second time
I with vastly more enjoyment than scenes which are attractive merely to
i my eyesight.

“ As far as its attractiveness is generally concerned, the Octoroon is cer-
tainly improved by bekm altered. Of course there are some people who
! find fault with the amendment, and who suggest that as tastes differ, and
: some playgoers delight in being made extremely miserable, the heroine
should try to please both sorts of her admirers, by killing herself one
night and marrying the next. This would give relief to the monotony of
| acting the same drama every evening throughout a lengthened run, and
would have too the advantage that all who felt dissatisfied with either
way of ending might repeat their visit and applaud the other. Were
I Shakspeaue living now to write ‘sensation’ dramas, he might, to
please the public, make Othello kill logo three nights in the week
instead of venting his blind wrath upon the virtuous Desdemona. More-
I over, Hamlet might be altered so as to end happily, Ophelia being
j rescued and restored to reason, just in time to rush on m the middle of
Act V., and so prevent her brother from sticking the Crown Prince,

| who, having killed the King, might wed her and be happy.

“ Mu. Boucicault can well afford to be a little joked at, tor they Laugh
most who win, and his drama, as now played, will for a fair while nil
the house for him. By altering it to suit the inclinations of the merry
rather than the melancholy, he will doubtless please the great majority
! ot people, who entertain a healthy preference for seeing plays end
happily. However much they may enjoy to use their handkerchiefs
; occasionally while the plot proceeds, as a rule a British audience likes
that all be right at last; and so long as their dear Octoroon is saved
from being poisoned, the house won’t care to criticise the rather hack-
neyed way m which she is preserved. In their jo.v to see her rescued
irom the A/ illain of the piece (well played by Mr. Emery, I think they
must admit), they will not quarrel with the stale device of huddling on
the characters to form a final tableau when the curtain drops; nor will
they cavil at Miss Bora for accepting Salem Scudder in a jiffy when he
asks her, although she loves another and knows he does the same.
Neither will they stare to see this lady and her guardian appear in the

last scene in spotless unstained dress, after having tracked the Villain
and his victim through forests which have torn her clothes half off her
back.

“ Humour and pathos are well blended in the drama • the dry ’cute
Yankee sayings of Mr. Salem Scudder and the droll fun of the old
Nigger (a most life-like bit of acting), alternating neatly with the love
talk of poor Zoe, and the scenes that move our pity and our horror at
her lot. There is abundance of quick action in the piece, so that all j
throughout the interest never flags; while by attention to stage-
groupmg and (except as I have hinted) all the minor details, a
semblance of reality is given to each scene, which very greatly heightens
the general effect. The excitement of the Slave Sale, and the
rush across the stage when the steamboat is on fire, and the
Villain has pushed off from her with Zoe in his skiff, are admirable
specimens of what may be effected by having minor parts well filled,
and getting supernumeraries well up to their work. Even the great
‘ header ’ scene appeared to me quite tame after these ‘ sensation’ ones
(partly owing doubtless to its not being quite so new to me): and if,
as some have fancied, the success of the Colleen depended chiefly on the
Cave Scene, I tftmk the Ship on Fire, the Slave Sale, and the Arkansas
Duel ought to give the Octoroon a like protracted run.

“ One who Pays.”

TO THE LADIES OF BRITAIN.

(Important.)

The British manufacturers complain that they are allowed very in-
sufficient space at the International Exhibition, and that they shall be
able to do no justice to themselves. The directors do not know what
to do, and heartily wish that they had constructed the building of India-
rubber, so that it might have been stretched out to Hammersmith, if
necessary. One idea has occurred to them in their despair. Sheffield,
where steel is chiefly manufactured, is earnest in its complaints of want
of room. The directors appeal to the ladies of England on behalf of the
town that

‘ • Forges those bars of steel
That arm Aurelia with the shape to kill.”

In a word, it is in contemplation to announce, that room must be
made for the exhibition by the exclusion of Crinoline. The official
notification is not yet out, but Mr. Punch, who is in the secret, at
once gives his lovely friends the hint. Surely, between this and May,
their exquisite taste will enable them to devise a dress that shall not,

like Mars, cover nine acres of ground. Why should Venus-but

we have mislaid our Lempriere, and may mull the classical compliment.
We trust, however, that the ladies will do us the justice to admit that
we told them what was coming, and if they don’t believe us, let them
wait till they see the turn-stiles new in course of erection. They are
those from the Parisian Bourse, turn-stiles which the Emperor has
ordered to be taken away, and which M. Fould has disposed of to the
Commissioners here.

“ ARMA VIRUMQUE CANO.”

We copy the following from the Debats, who gives it as “ a curious
specimen of the tolerance of the police authorities of Warsaw, being a
permission signed by the Prefect of Police ” :—

“ I authorise the bearer of tbe present card, M.-, to carry a cane, even with

an iron ferule at the end, and this on account of his advanced age and the weakness
of his legs.” “Pilsudski.”

Some countries, like Austria, are priest-ridden ; others, like poor
Poland, are police-ridden. We wonder if permission is required from
the Polish Prefect to carry an umbrella, “ even with an iron ferule at the
end,” the reason assigned “ being on account of the rainy season and a
tendency to rheumatism in his (the bearer’s) back.” It is curious in
a country where the Government, knowing how culpable it has been,
stands in awe of a cane, that knives and forks are not likewise looked
upon as dangerous weapons, and interdicted accordingly. In truth,
when a State is conscience-stricken, what is there that might not be
considered dangerous ? Razors, pitchforks, scythes, even a lady’s pair
of scissors, might inflict deadly wounds, and should be confided only to
the most trustworthy persons. A Government that did its duty would
not be subject to such miserable fears. The fact is, the Russian
authorities, who govern so shamefully in Poland, feel that they richly
deserve the stick, and so are afraid, like cowards as they are, to
place one in the hands of anybody, for fear it might be turned against
themselves.

The Russian Empire, such as it is generally described, with its body
of brass and its feet of clay, will, if it does not take care, also be
requiring some support some day, to keep it up, on account of the
extreme “weakness of its legs.”

England’s National Reserve may hang back, but England’s Naval
Reserve comes forward.