DOI issue:
April 27, 1861
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16867#0180
172 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [April 27, 1861.
Immense Swell. “Haw! Look, heaw! ip I—haw—took a Quantity op these things, would they—haw—pe Cheapaw?”
Hosier. “Well, Sir, that would depend! Pray are you in tee Trade?” [Feelings of Swell may be imagined.
OUR DRAMATIC CORRESPONDENT.
“ Dear Punch,
“ You may recollect that In the first of these interesting
! letters I gave my thanks to two new actors who had just made their
debut, for having each afforded me a pleasant evening’s entertainment.
I considered their performances to be of no small promise, and this
anticipation I am happy to confirm. Widely different as they are in
the parts which, they present, Mr. Drew and Mr. Pechter have at
least this much in common, that their acting is unstagy, natural, and
not forced, and free from the conventional absurdities of art. 1 visited
| the Lyceum a night or two ago, and spent a pleasant hour in seeing
Mr. Drew, whom I shall be glad to re-welcome to our boards. The
pieces that he played in were the trashiest of rubbish, but he had
enough to do to show that he was capable of more; and when nest he
comes to London, I hope he may be fitted with a part which is adapted
to bring out his capacities, and give his talent proper scope. Mr.
Drew when on the stage is an Irishman all over, and does not betray
his birthplace merely by his brogue. You will hear but few if any of
the ‘ tare and ouns !’ and the ‘ och murthers!’’ and the thousand and
one other stale old stupid interjections wherewith stage Irishmen are
wont to interlard their conversation. But in Jiis utterance and tone
and manner of expression, and perhaps even still more in his quaint
angular deportment, you recognise the Irishman of actual existence,
free from the traditions of footlights and of greenrooms, and bringing
a fresh vigour to the characters he plays. A piece more clumsy and
worse-written than the Irish Emigrant it has very rarely been my
misery to witness ; and it affords but little chance for the cleverest of
actors to interest the house. But Mr. Drew made the utmost of the
small talk that was given him ; and his pathos when half-starving, and
first getting gift of food, fully showed him to be capable of something
more than moving the laughter of his audience, to which the efforts of
stage Irishmen are in general confined.
“ YV hile I speak of stage tradition, I should like to make it clear
that there are some pieces where it is most legitimately used, and
which indeed without it lose their chief effect. Such a one for instance
is the Miller and his Men, which seems written to perpetuate the conven-
tionalities of the stage, and which when ■''obbedof them becomes a vapid
i stupid piece. As acted at the Haymarket, I think it a mistake, and
j the pains which have been taken to present it in new shape appear to
me to have deprived it of its only real charm. I have no belief in
Grindoff without a broad black belt, and yellow oehred boots ; and the
man who would reform the hairy-faced and hoarse-voiced ruffian of
my youth into the refined and polished scamp of later years, sadly
interferes with many pleasurable memories, without giving me the
chance of one to cherish in their stead.
“ There is a pretty little piece now playing at the Olympic, which j,
they who like Miss Louise Keelex should not miss the chance of
seeing. It is called The Little Savage—l beg your pardon, Mr.
Author, I mean the The Little Rebel—and is translated, I believe, from
line Fille Terrible, whereas the other piece I mentioned is taken, I am
; told, from La Niase de St. Fleur. (It is as well to be particular in
owning obligations, lest one be charged with debts that one has really j
not incurred.) They who know Miss Keeley’s sprightly, arch,
expressive acting, may conceive how she impersonates a hoydenisli
young lady, who in order to disgust a superannuated suitor makes- !
believe to be a romping, just-emancipated schoolgirl, who half-strangles
him with skipping-ropes and makes him play at ball. .
“ The Chimney Corner still is an attraction at this theatre, and I
doubt not pleases all who eDjoyed the Porter's Knot. Mr. Hobson is
well fitted with a character, of a sort that he has made peculiarly
his own, and which abounds in quick transitions from alternate smiles
to tears,
“Mr, Gye has been out tenor-fishing during the recess; and, after
trying somewhere near the margin of Zurich's fair waters and other
spots which are at times frequented by fine fish, he has landed a fine
specimen, a Signor Tiberini, who may have sprung, for aught I
know, from the banks of the Tiber. Leaving critics to determine
whether or no he really be a tenor pur sang, and capable of giving out
the ut depoitrine, I am content to recollect that he has pleased me as
a singer, and as an actor has evinced himself well grounded in his art.
If he have not the grace and sweetness of Mario and Rubini, the
energy of Tamberlik, or sustained notes of Giuglini, he has enough
charms of his own to make his voice worth hearing; and as a perfect
tenor is rather a rare fish, I think we may congratulate the active
Mr. Gye ou having made so good a catch, “ One who Pays.”
Immense Swell. “Haw! Look, heaw! ip I—haw—took a Quantity op these things, would they—haw—pe Cheapaw?”
Hosier. “Well, Sir, that would depend! Pray are you in tee Trade?” [Feelings of Swell may be imagined.
OUR DRAMATIC CORRESPONDENT.
“ Dear Punch,
“ You may recollect that In the first of these interesting
! letters I gave my thanks to two new actors who had just made their
debut, for having each afforded me a pleasant evening’s entertainment.
I considered their performances to be of no small promise, and this
anticipation I am happy to confirm. Widely different as they are in
the parts which, they present, Mr. Drew and Mr. Pechter have at
least this much in common, that their acting is unstagy, natural, and
not forced, and free from the conventional absurdities of art. 1 visited
| the Lyceum a night or two ago, and spent a pleasant hour in seeing
Mr. Drew, whom I shall be glad to re-welcome to our boards. The
pieces that he played in were the trashiest of rubbish, but he had
enough to do to show that he was capable of more; and when nest he
comes to London, I hope he may be fitted with a part which is adapted
to bring out his capacities, and give his talent proper scope. Mr.
Drew when on the stage is an Irishman all over, and does not betray
his birthplace merely by his brogue. You will hear but few if any of
the ‘ tare and ouns !’ and the ‘ och murthers!’’ and the thousand and
one other stale old stupid interjections wherewith stage Irishmen are
wont to interlard their conversation. But in Jiis utterance and tone
and manner of expression, and perhaps even still more in his quaint
angular deportment, you recognise the Irishman of actual existence,
free from the traditions of footlights and of greenrooms, and bringing
a fresh vigour to the characters he plays. A piece more clumsy and
worse-written than the Irish Emigrant it has very rarely been my
misery to witness ; and it affords but little chance for the cleverest of
actors to interest the house. But Mr. Drew made the utmost of the
small talk that was given him ; and his pathos when half-starving, and
first getting gift of food, fully showed him to be capable of something
more than moving the laughter of his audience, to which the efforts of
stage Irishmen are in general confined.
“ YV hile I speak of stage tradition, I should like to make it clear
that there are some pieces where it is most legitimately used, and
which indeed without it lose their chief effect. Such a one for instance
is the Miller and his Men, which seems written to perpetuate the conven-
tionalities of the stage, and which when ■''obbedof them becomes a vapid
i stupid piece. As acted at the Haymarket, I think it a mistake, and
j the pains which have been taken to present it in new shape appear to
me to have deprived it of its only real charm. I have no belief in
Grindoff without a broad black belt, and yellow oehred boots ; and the
man who would reform the hairy-faced and hoarse-voiced ruffian of
my youth into the refined and polished scamp of later years, sadly
interferes with many pleasurable memories, without giving me the
chance of one to cherish in their stead.
“ There is a pretty little piece now playing at the Olympic, which j,
they who like Miss Louise Keelex should not miss the chance of
seeing. It is called The Little Savage—l beg your pardon, Mr.
Author, I mean the The Little Rebel—and is translated, I believe, from
line Fille Terrible, whereas the other piece I mentioned is taken, I am
; told, from La Niase de St. Fleur. (It is as well to be particular in
owning obligations, lest one be charged with debts that one has really j
not incurred.) They who know Miss Keeley’s sprightly, arch,
expressive acting, may conceive how she impersonates a hoydenisli
young lady, who in order to disgust a superannuated suitor makes- !
believe to be a romping, just-emancipated schoolgirl, who half-strangles
him with skipping-ropes and makes him play at ball. .
“ The Chimney Corner still is an attraction at this theatre, and I
doubt not pleases all who eDjoyed the Porter's Knot. Mr. Hobson is
well fitted with a character, of a sort that he has made peculiarly
his own, and which abounds in quick transitions from alternate smiles
to tears,
“Mr, Gye has been out tenor-fishing during the recess; and, after
trying somewhere near the margin of Zurich's fair waters and other
spots which are at times frequented by fine fish, he has landed a fine
specimen, a Signor Tiberini, who may have sprung, for aught I
know, from the banks of the Tiber. Leaving critics to determine
whether or no he really be a tenor pur sang, and capable of giving out
the ut depoitrine, I am content to recollect that he has pleased me as
a singer, and as an actor has evinced himself well grounded in his art.
If he have not the grace and sweetness of Mario and Rubini, the
energy of Tamberlik, or sustained notes of Giuglini, he has enough
charms of his own to make his voice worth hearing; and as a perfect
tenor is rather a rare fish, I think we may congratulate the active
Mr. Gye ou having made so good a catch, “ One who Pays.”