31 MAY 1845, Page 12

The English theatres follow up single successes so continuously, that

to chronicle their doings needs little more than an enumeration of the last po- pular pieces. The career of The Enchantress at Drury Lane, which was interrupted during the whole of last week by the illness of Madame Thillon- to the great loss of the manager and the company—is now resumed; and it bids fair to be as brilliant as the premise of the first night indicated. Ma-

dame Thillon, on her reappearance on Monday, had not lost all traces of indisposition: but her singing was charming, notwithstanding the evident effort it cost her to attempt to fill so large an area with her delicate voice. The audience barbarously rewarded the exertions of the fascinating vocalist by encoring/our of her songs; and would fain have had one of them repeated a third time. This silly custom, destructive of all dramatic effect, and even of the very pleasure that is sought to be renewed, ought to be opposed by the more sensible portion of the audience. Were the fact generally known that the most clamorous bawlers of "atigcore" are either clacqueurs or persons with bad taste and ignorant of the nature of opera, those who now tolerate the absurd practice would steadily resist it.

At the Princess's there have been two or three variations of the current performances. Miss Cushman has played with great success Juliana in The Honeymoon; which is in other respects effectively acted. Mr. Wallack has appeared as the Chevalier de St. Georges, in a version of the French piece of that name performed at the St. James's this season. The cha- racter of the dusky and accomplished Chevalier was the chef d'oruvre of M. Lafont ; and the powerful impression he made was too fresh in publio recollection for Wallack's personation to be satisfactory to any one who had seen his French prototype. On Saturday, a young lady essayed the part of Lady Contest in The Wedding-Day; not altogether unsuccessfully. Evidently new to the stage, her constraint prevented the display of any powers of acting; and beyond a graceful person and a natural and agree- able manner, it is impossible to say precisely what requisites for genteel comedy she may possess. But her reception by the audience was cheering. At the Haymarket, Jerrold's witty comedy, Time Works Wonders, is running a race of popularity with unflagging spirit and animation; making the laughing audiences both merry and wise. Mr. Webster is a very effi- cient representative of the humbugeous Professor Truffles; though less ge- nial than poor Strickland, who first filled the part. The acting, especially on the part of the ladies, is as lively and finished as ever; and Buckstone is characteristically droll without buffoonery.

The premature death of Strickland—he was only forty-seven—has de- prived the Haymarket company of an amusing and useful actor; whose value will be proved by the difficulty of filling his place. With natural talents that might, by study and careful cultivation, have raised him to the first rank in his profession, he dissipated his powers and opportunities, and became a victim to intemperance.

Mr. Hackett, the American comedian, appeared at the Haymarket on Monday, in the original Monsieur Mallet; in which he assumes the dress and conventional manner of Napoleon. But neither his bad English—nor his personation, clever as it was—nor the piece itself, was effective. Re- collections of the Mathews also stood in the way of Mr. Hacketes success.

At the Adelphi, a broad laughable farce by Mr. Selby, called The Irish, Dragoon, gives abundant scope for that outrageous fun in which the half- price visitors at this theatre delight to revel. Coming after Wright's farcical version of Paul Pry, the drollery had need be of the extravagant sort.

Cinderella proves to be the most popular burlesque that the Lyceum has produced; the story being pretty and familiar' and the spectacle splendid. Nor is there any lack of the pleasantries that make this class of entertain- ments so popular.

The engagements of Mademoiselle Plessy and M. Regnier at the French Theatre terminated last evening. M. Anhui is to appear on Monday.