Punch or The London charivari (1.1841)

156

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

PUNCH'S THEATRE.

DIE HEXEN AM RHEIN; OR, RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURGH.

Mysterious are thy ways, O Yates ! Thou art the only true melodra-
ruatist of the stage and off the stage ! When a new demonology is compiled
thou shalt have an honourable place in it. Thou shalt be worshipped as the
demon of novelty, even by the "gods" themselves. Thy deeds shall be
recorded in history. It shall not be forgotten that thou wert the importer
of Mademoiselle Djeck, the tame elephant; of Monsieur Bohain, the gigan-
tic Irishman ; and of Signor Hervi o'Nano, the Cockneyan-Italian dwarf.
Never should we have seen the Bayaderes but for you ; nor T. P. Cooke in
"The Pilot," nor the Bedouin Arabs, nor "The Wreck Ashore," nor
" bathing and sporting" nymphs, nor other dramatic delicacies. Truly,
thou art the luckiest of managers : for all thy efforts succeed, whether they
deserve it or not. Sometimes thou drawest up an army of scene-painters,
mechanists, dancers, monsters, dwarfs, devils, fire-works, and water-spouts,
in terrible array against common sense. Yet lo ! thou dost conquer ! Thy
pieces never miss fire ; they go on well with the public, and favourable are
the press reports. Wert thou a Catholic thou wouldest be canonised ; for
evil spirits are thy passion ; the Vatican itself cannot produce a more inde-
fatigable " devils' advocate !"

The repast now provided by Mr. Yates for those who are fond of " sup-
ping full of horrors" is a devilled drama, interspersed with hydraulics—
consisting, in fact, of spirits and water, sweetened with songs and spiced
with witches. It is, we are informed by the official announcements, " a
romantic burletta of witchcraft, in two acts, and a prologue, with entirely
new scenery, dresses, and peculiar appointments, imagined by, and intro-
duced under the direction of, Mr. Yates." Now, any person, entirely un-
prejudiced with a taste for devilry and free from hydrophobia, who sees
this production, must have an unbounded opinion of the manager's imagi-
nation,—what a head he must have for aquatic effects ! In vain we look
around for its parallel—nothing but the New River head suggests itself.

But our preface is detaining us from the " prologue ;" the first words in
which stamp the entire production with originality. Assassins, who let
themselves out by the job, have long been pleasantly employed in melo-
dramas, being mostly enacted by performers in the heavy line; but the
author of " Die Hexen am Rhein" introduces a character hitherto unknown
to the stage ; namely, the comic cut-throat. Messieurs Gabor and Wolf-
stein, (played by Mr. Wright, and the immortal Geoffery Muffincap, Mr.
Wilkinson), treat us with a dialogue concerning the blowing out of brains,
and the incision of weasands, which is conceived and delivered with the
broadest humour, enlivened by the choicest of jokes. They have, we learn,
been lately commissioned by Ottocar to murder Rudolph, the exiled Duke
of Hapsburgh, who is to pass that way ; but he does not come, because his
kind kinsman, Ottocar, must have time to consult the god-fathers and god-
mothers of the piece, or " Witches of the Rhine ;" which he does in the
"storm-reft hut of Zabaren." This Zabaren is a hospitable gentleman,
who sings a good song, sees much company, and is played by that convivial
genius Paul Bedford. Ottocar is introduced amongst other friends to a
"speaking spirit," who, being personated by Miss Terrey, utters a terrible
prediction. We could not quite make out the purport of this augurv ; nor
were we much grieved at the loss ; feeling assured that the next two acts
would be occupied in fulfilling it. The funny bravoes present themselves
in the next scene, and exit to stab one of two brothers, who goes off evi-
dently for that purpose, judiciously coming back to die in the arms of Count
Rudolph, for whom he has been mistaken. Under such ciicumstances it is
but fair that the prince should repay the obligation he owes his friend for
being killed in his stead, by promising protection to the widow and child.
The oath he takes would be doubly binding (for lie promises to become a
brother to the wife, and not content with thus making himself the child's 1
uncle, swears to be his father too), if the husband did not die before he has
had time to utter his wife's name. All these affairs having been settled, the
prologue—which used to be called the first act—ends.

Fifteen years are supposed to elapse before the curtain is again rolled up ;
and that this allusion may be rendered the more perfect, the audience is kept
waiting about three times fifteen minutes, to amuse one another during the
entr' acte. We. next learn that Rudolph is seated upon his ducal throne,
fortunate in the possession of a paragon-wife, and a steward of the house-
hold not to be equalled—no other than Ottocar—that particular friend, who,
in the prologue, tried to get a finis put to his mortal career. The jocose
ruffians here enliven the scene—one by being cast into a dungeon for asking
Ottocar (evidently the Colburn of his day), an exorbitant price for the
copyright of a certain manuscript; the other, by calling the courtier a man
of genius, and being taken into his service, as. no doubt, " first robber."
To support this character, a change of apparel is necessary : and no wonder,
tor fVolfstcin has on precisely the same clothes he wore fifteen years before.

His first job is to steal a casket; but is declined, probaoiy, because Wolfttein,
being a professor of the capital crime, considers mere larceny infra dig. A
' second robber" must therefore be hired, and Ottocar has one already
preserved in the castle dungeons, in the person of a dumb prisoner. Dummy
comes on, and the auditors at o ice recognise the "brother" who was not
murdered in the prologue. He steals the casket, and Ottocar steals off.

The duke and duchess next enter into a dialogue, the subject of which is
one Wilhelm, a young standard-bearer, who appears; and having said a few
words exits, that Ida, the duchess, might inform us, in a soliloquy, what we
have already shrewdly suspected, namely—that the ensign is her son;
another presentiment comes into one's mind, which one don't think it fair
to the author and his story to entertain till the proper time. A sort or
secret interview between the mother and son now takes place, which ends by
the imprisonment of the latter ; why is not explained at the moment; nor,
indeed, till the next scene, when it is quite apparent ; for if one sees an
impregnable castle, rigidly guarded by supernumeraries, with an impassable
river, bristling with chevaux-de-frise it is impossible to get over, and a moat
that it would be death to cross, a prison-escape may be surely calculated
upon. In the present instance, this formulary is not omitted, for Wilhelm
jumps into the river from a bridge which he has contrived to reach. Though
several shots are fired into the tank of water that represents the Rhine, there
is no hissing ; on the contrary, the second act ends amidst general applause;
which indeed it deserves, for the scenery is magnificent.

" The Ancient Arch in the Black Forest," is a sort of house of call for
witches, and it being seen during their merry-making, or holiday, is rendered
more picturesque by the Devil's " Ha, ha !" The hospitable Zabaren enter-
tains hundreds of witches, of all sorts and sizes, who dance all manner of
country-dances, and sing a series of songs and choruses, in which the " Ha !
ha !'' is again conspicuously introduced. It seems that German witches not
only ride upon brooms, but sweep with them ; and a company of superna-
tural Jack Rags perform sundry gyrations peculiarly interesting to house-
maids. After about an hour's dancing, the witches being naturally " blown,"
are just in cue for leaving off with an airy dance called the " witches' whirl-
wind."

This episode over, the plot goes on. Ottocar accuses Ida of infidelity
with Wilhelm to the duke ; she, in explanation, fulfils the presentiment «e
had some delicacy in hinting too soon—that she is the wife of the man who
was killed in the prologue ; Rudolph having married her in ignorance of
that fact, and by a coincidence which, though intensely melo-dramatic,
every body foresees who has ever been three times to the Adelphi theatre.

To describe the last scene would be the height of presumption in Punch.
Nobody but " Satan" Montgomery, or the Adelphi play-bill, is equal to the
task. We quote, as preferable, the latter authority :—" Grand inauguration
of Wilhelm, the rightful heir. Coral cave3 and crystal streams :
these are actually obtained by a hydro-scenic effect i As the usr.al
area devoted to illusion becomes a reality 1"

Besides all this, which simply means " real water," there is a Neptune in
a car drawn by three sea or ichtbyological horses, having fins and web feet.
There is a devil that is seen through the whole piece, because he is sup-
posed to be invisible (cleverly played by Mr. Wieland), and who having
dived into the water, is fished out of it, and sent flying into the flies. Thit
sending a devil upward, is a new way of

taking off the dark gentleman.

Being dripping wet, the demon in his ascent seriously incommodes
Neptune; who, not. being used to the water, looks about in great distress,
evidently for an umbrella. After several glares of several coloured fires,
the curtain falls.

Seriously, the scenic effects of this piece do great credit to Mr. Yates's
" imagination," and to the handiwork of his " own peculiar artists." It is
very proper that they should be immortalised in the advertisements; by
which the public are informed that the scenery is by Pitt, (where is Tom-
kins ?) and others: the machinery by -Mr. Hayley, and the lightning by tr.e
direction of Mr. Outhwaite ! Bat will the public be satisfied with such j
scanty information ? Who, they will ask the manager, rolls the thunder ?
who supplies the coloured fires ? who flashes the lightning ? who beats the
gong ? who grinds up the curtain ? Let Mr. Yates be speedy in relieving
the breathless curiosity of his patrons on these points, or look to his benches.