THE THEATRES.
THE only new piece produced this week is taken from the French, as usual. The Bohemians, at the Adelphi, is a sort of Parisian "Tom and Jerry"; the materials being derived from EUGENE SUE'S kennel-rakings in the haunts of crime and wretchedness in Paris. It is a tissue of horrors shot with absurdities. Squalid poverty and splendid profligacy are seen cheek by jowl ; rogues in sags one minute, strut about in fine clothes the next ; while virtue and vice, wealth and want, are jumbled together in a shifting throng of hideous phantasmagoria. The heroine is introduced in the act of drowning herself, and narrowly escapes from murder by her own father, to become the wife of her spendthrift seducer ; who is suddenly restored from abject misery and criminality to fortune and respectability. Mrs. YATES as the heroine, and 0. Sierra as her father, made us forget for a moment the revolting cir- cumstances under which they appeared, so much nature did they throw into their performance. 0. SMITH personates a half-crazed sot, aroused from the stupor of habitual intoxication by hearing the name of his wife, whose murder he vows to revenge : the haggard ferocity of his look when, shaking off his dogged apathy, he glares around in search of the object of his vengeance, is fearful ; yet in the midst of these frantic outbreaks there are discernible traces of suffering and subdued feeling, that show the human tenderness lurking beneath the fiendish purpose. WRIGHT as a merry rogue, and WIELAND as a snivelling scoundrel, are a most amusing pair ; MAY- NARD as a chevalier d'industrie, and LYON as his opponent, also sustain their respective parts well. We cannot say so much for Mr. BRAID, the rescued outcast ; and the brace of bankers were unintentionally amusing. The scenic effect of the moonlit view on the Seine, with the Pont Marie traversed by passengers, and the barges on the shore, where the Bohemians bivouac round their fire, is quite worthy of the palmy days of the Adelphi. The Lady of the Lake has been added to the repertory of Drury Lane ; where opera and ballet still continue to draw good houses. The engagements of Centorre GRISI and M. PETIPA are nearly at an end : their feats in the Pen i are applauded as much as ever.
Covent Garden is closed ; and the short and troublons career of mis-
management is at an end. Mr. II. WALLACE'S rash venture resulted in the shipwreck of his fortunes : he was not the pilot to steer the crazy hulk through shallows in rough weather. The theatre did not open on Monday for the benefit of the manager, as announced ; the house hav- ing been taken possession of by the Sheriff for the benefit of creditors.
Les Enfans Caste& have found a suitable stage for the display of
their talents, at the St. James's Theatre ; where they appeared on Thurs- day. An audience fit, though by no means few, cheered their exer- tions with a heartiness that was most welcome after their stormy recep- tion at Covent Garden ; and must convince the children and their friends that the opposition to their performances there did not arise from any inimical feeling towards the juvenile corps. Le Gamin de Paris was played in so clever and effective a manner as to be entertain- ing apart from any consideration of the youth of the performers : all played their parts with the propriety and tact of old stagers. M. COL.. BRUN personated BouFsi's part of the Gamin, with so much skill, ease, and self-possession, that he looked like an urchin fresh from the streets actually playing the pranks that render him so amusing a character ; and, being the least in size as he is the greatest in talent, the illusion was well sustained. He MS scarcely restless and playful enough, however : the weight of a part created by BOUFFE probably checked his buoyancy of spirit. Mademoiselle RunEx played the old fellow, Bizot, who is the butt of the Gamin, admirably : she was so well " made up" as to look quite like an old man in miniature. M. BONNET personated the old General impressively ; and M. GONZAGUE as his son, and Mademoiselle MATHILDE, played with spirit and address The fairy ballet, L'Isle des Amazons, is a dull and puerile affair, merely a children's game at soldiers : but it served to introduce some very nice dancing, in which Mademoiselle ROSETTE was conspicuous by the pre- cision, steadiness, and freedom of her movements: her execution is in- deed extraordinary for so young a danseuse. Little COLBRUN also sung his Savoyard chanson, and Mademoiselle LEONTLNE danced her valse de
Giselle. In short, the entertainments are very good of their kind ; and promise to be popular with the visiters to the French Plays. Mrs. Nissterr has been playing at the Haymarket this week, in the
Love-Chase and She Stoops to Conquer, during the temporary absence of Madame VESTRIS and Mr. C. MATHEWS ; who are announced to re- appear in a new piece on Tuesday next. Other members of the Covent Garden Company, including Mrs. WARNER, Messrs. PHELPS and AN- DERSON, and Mr. and Mrs. KEELEY, are engaged at Bath. The English Operahouse is to be reopened for Promenade Concerts by M. JULLIEN, OR Thursday.
Previous page
