Punch (80.1881)

Juke 25, 1881.]

DRAMATIC AND OPERATIC.

Many people say that "Bard's the best"—in G-erman. Many
people are welcome to their opinion since Providence made him
an Englishman. As Mr. W. S. Gilbert in an inspired moment
wrote—

He might have been a Prussian,

A—{something and something else, we forget what, and
won't risk it)—a Eussian,
Or an I-ta-li-aii;
But, in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,

He (Shakspeare) remains an Englishman
Chorus.—But in spite, &c.

A Winter's Tale showed the Meiningen troupe at their united
best and their individual worst. The Trial Scene was a masterpiece

" Movement in Court "—Trial Scene in Winter1's Tale.

of military stage-drill, but the Statue Scene was very tame and
commonplace. Nobody acted particularly well ; and the comic
character Autolycus—who was such a difficulty in evidence during
a recent trial—was a very heavy personage. The comic business
was of the clown and pantaloon order.

The idyllic portion of the play is delightful, and there is a babble

of green fields, and Stre-
phons and young Chloes,
and pipes and tabors,
and a smell of sweet hay,
syllabubs, and an all-
among-the-barley atmo-
sphere, which is refresh-
ing to the thirsty soul
on a hot June night in
London.

As to Schiller's
Robbers, it belongs to
our Victorian Drama Era
—we mean as the drama
used to be represented
at " The Vic." The
Meiningens will do better
to stick to Shakspeare,
so that the critics may
"Schiller have to
spare." As to Die
Ahnfrau, they might as
well expect an English
audience to enjoy a revi-
val of The Castle Spectre,

or One o' Clock ; or, the
Dona Sal working the Lord Chamberlain. KnigM and the Wood

. Demon.
Just now, mthis summer Weather, when the glory of asparagus has
departed, when broad beans—may thev be as long as they are broad !
—have appeared, when, in fact, Richmond, Gravesehd, Purfleet,
Greenwich, Eppmg Forest, Hampton Court, all offer attractions to
the Diner-out-of-Town, we own that—

" "We 'd rather be a Dining 'un,
Than a Dreary Lane-ing Meiningen."

So here's all their very good healths, and may they live long and
" brosber ! " h^d

''I've gone wrong for the sake of Sarah!'1'1 might the Lord Cham-
berlain now sing, had we not to thank him for permitting Mile.
Bernhardt to appear as La Dame aux Camelias, in which she is at
this moment absolutely unrivalled. We are not among her gushing
admirers, but the most hardened Anti-iEsthetic Un-sentimentalist
could not witness this performance of hers without a silent snivel and
—Sniveller suggesting SwivelUr—a
subsequent yearning for a "modest
quencher." Poor Marguerite.' better
for young Armand had you stuck
to the Cafe du Helder, and never
troubled the " Maison Duval" !

Opera-goers, who haven't yet heard
and seen Madame Albani as Mignon,
have a treat in store. She was most
charming in that delightful Opera
by Ambroise Thomas. Altogether,
it was capitally played and sung by
Valleria, Trebelli, Gailhard,
Ciampi, and Vergnet. As to the
book, we miss the master-hand of Poet
Pittman, the translation (a very good
one, we regret to say) having been
made by the late T. J. Williams.

When M. Vergnet, as Ouglielmo,
the Tenor, Fair, Fat, and Forte, first
enters, the stage-direction tells us
that " he appears to have come off a
journey" He ought to have been
"dusty and travel-stained"; but
not a bit of it. His hair was neatly
powdered, his wristbands and collar
were of the snowiest white, and the Mignon on Reflection Utters a
only sign suggestive of any careless Note of Admiration,

hurrvin his toilet was conveyed by the

peculiar flesh-pink tint of what ought to have been his unmention-
ables, which gave him the sppearance not so much of having come
off a journey (for he couldn't have travelled like that), but of haying
spent so much time on the arrangement of his hair and_ spotless linen
as only to have left himself a second for drawing on his high patent
leather boots, forgetting in his hurry that portion of his costume the
omission of which would in most civilised countries be considered
as incompatible with g-ood breeding or sanity, and would probably
result in a visit to the nearest police-magistrate. If Monsieur

A « Tenore Robusto"-ifc>$M^ ^the^Tolfy Ef3 of

xl Diavolo ! AHful

Vergnet could only "see himself as others see him," he would
recognise the force of our remarks ; and, if he knows the quotation,
would utter the couplet commencing " 0 ye gods and little fishes ! "

The stage arrangements generally are unworthy of the Italian
Opera, and what should be "the sensation fire scene" at the end
of the Second Act is nothing more than a mere house-warming, ren-
dered hopelessly ludicrous by the stupid stage business. But we
can forgive everything for the sake of the principals—Albani, who
was forced to repeat her great tour de force, and Tbebelli, all but
Treb'ly encored in the celebrated gavotte song, " In veder Vamata
stanza."

Fattre-Warned Pattre-Armkd.—Great excitement at Scotland
Yard on hearing that " A New Force " was coming into operation!
The Police storage of force is wonderful, as where the force is stored
it is impossible to say, the greatest difficulty having always been to
find any member of the Force when particularly wanted.

vol. lxxx. • c c