SHOWMAN BUNN AND WHITSUNTIDE THEATRICALS.
BUNN has made another downward move : be is determined to beat GYNGELL out of the field. Seeing no novelty on Whit Mon-
day, we were applauding his magnanimity in forbearing to crush
sith the weight of his falling monopoly the booths of RICHARD- SON and Co. But the temptation was irresistible, and on Tuesday a juggler, with the Coburg appellation of CARL RAPPO, appeared ;
who balances a straw upon his nose, plays with knives and can- non-halls, and in short rivals the raggamuflins in clowns' dresses
who spread their cloth in unfrequented thmughfares and cuts de sac, astonishing butchers boys and cads by feats of strength and dexterity, and trusting to the liberality of the crowd for their re- ward. The bills describe this as a scientific performance ; and speak of Herculean feats of strength, and athletic ditto. How de- licately the classic BUNN corrects the vulgar error that Hercules was athletic! But the time must come when even this attraction will fail,—though we understand that several shillings were taken at the gallery-door, what then is to be done ? We feel for the modern Sampson of Managers, who with blind determination is tugging away at his two theatres; and would fain assist hint in his struggles to bring them down. CARL RAPPO is an able co- adjutor. Let him now try "the lignum vilce Roscius ; " or act Punch himself, which would be more Buss-worthy. The Spa- nish dancers may have given him a hint to introduce a real bull- fight and matadors on the stage ; or, better still, to clear the pit of its benches, and make it the arena, putting the audience on the stage. This should he done,'. however, before people get too weary of the privilege of figuring on the boards, as they du in Gustavus. As a preparative, a few boxers might be engaged to give the audience a taste of their quality. They are as cheap now as jugglers and conjurors. It would be worthy of BUNN to pa- tronize pugilism and raise the prize-ring to the national stage. DUCROW having got his Dragon home, the Fight of St. George is now enacted every night at Astley's; where the Masked Ball in Gustavus is set on horseback. What was dull and disgusting at the Great Theatres, is here attractive and appropriate. At the Surry, the Adelphi company and burlettas draw crowded houses. The holyday visitors were treated to a pantomime on Whit-Monday. The Victoria also produced a new comic piece, by MONCRIEFF, called The Court of Queen Anne, with an alias of "The Prince and the Breechesmaker." We have not seen it: for since we heard that the managers had taken into their heads to exclude the critics from their grand attraction borrowed from the Fitzroy, we have not been at the trouble to visit their theatre.
The Fitzroy has produced another of its clever and amusing travesties--Gustavus being the subject—called Wagstavus ; in whmh the Mayor of Stoke-Pogis receives a fatal black eye, at the parish hop, from the fist of Ankerjohn, an ex-constable. The ball-room was a spacious barn, illuminated with myriads (as Burs would advertise) of stable-lanterns. MITCHELL played Wagstavus ; MANDERS made a laughable caricature of' Ankerjohn ; and OXBERRY, as Silly-horn, mimicked TEMPLETON'S manner very comically. Little PErrissa was the Mayor's tiger. The double-faced man and woman that dance in Gustavus, were capitally parodied by two beggars with their brats at their back ; and a grand pas de haybands and turnips was introduced. The thing was very laughable : but the ball scene was not complete- " for oh ! for oh! the hobby-horse was forgot !"—where was the double hero, BUNN the Little as Boney the Great ? lie should have been introduced in character as a mountebank.
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