THEATRES AND MUSIC.
Theatrical excitement has chiefly been kept up this week by a party of tlemen amateurs, well known in the literary world, and also of some
gep c ebrity on account of their previous histrionic performances. Fame sm- oked by such exhibitions is usually of a transient nature; but the pencil of Macrae has fixed the Bobadil of Mr. Dickens and the Kite% of Mr. Faster, so that there is something of permanence in the performances of this particular body. The high price of admission charged for their performances has sub- jected the amateurs to animadversions, made on a rale-of-three principle. professional artists, having a certain amount of talent, charge only so-and- so for the display of it: amateurs, having less talent, ought, according to Cocker, to charge less—certainly they ought not to charge more. This reasoning looks specious at the first glance, but it contains more than one fallacy. In the first place, the party who acted the Merry Waled of Windsor on Monday, and Every Man in his Humour on,Wednesday, not wing taken money to put into their own pockets, are not to be measured by the same standard as professional actors. Their performances are for the fund appropriated to the purchase and curatorship of Shakspere's house; sad the money paid for the tickets may be held to represent not only a price of admission but also a voluntary donation for the benefit of an ulti- mate object. With respect to a large portion of the audience, this view of the case is doubtless the sound one; but, supposing there may be a few who have paid their money for the sake of receiving a certain equivalent, still the arithmetical argument cited above will not hold good. The equi- valent for the money does not consist in the positive histrionic merit, but in the gratification at seeing a number of persons celebrated in literature and art,—who, be it added, can be seen on one or two occasions only. For in- stance, many people who would never dream that Mr. Charles Dickens is a haler comedian than Mr. Charles Mathews or Mr. Keeley, would feel a cer- tain curiosity to see what " Boa* could do, and would go to witness his per- formance, when they would stop away from a theatre under ordinary cir- cumstances. If these amateurs played night after night, this motive would vanish • but they do nothing of the sort, and therefore that question is not on the tapis.
And even with respect to the question of comparative talent, that is not so firmly settled as the arithmetical argument seems to imply. In the matter of stage-business the trained actor will be pretty sure of beating the amateur; but it by no means follows that he has the superior intelligence, or more profundity in conceiving the niceties of human nature. Now, that there is a certain amount of intelligence in the body of amateurs imme- diately before us, has been established by their productions in various departments; and we may be pretty sure, that whatever crudities they display in the practice of their temporary art, they will not fail from having no notion at all of what they are about.
Let us now say a few words about the principal amateurs in the Hay- market performances. And let it be borne in mind, that although Every Han in his Humour was this week acted after the Merry Wives of Wind- sor, it is the play in which the amateurs first appeared before the public. This caveat particularly necessary in the case of Mr. Forster's Ford; which, we are sure, would never have been rendered in so peculiar a man- ner had it not been preceded by Kitely. The latter character is a very prominent impersonation of jealousy, heightened to each a degree that it touches on the region of tragedy, and has generally been played by a tragic aster—among others, by Mr. Macready. To give full force to all the va- rieties of mood to which Kitely's restless nature gives birth, is Mr. Fors- ter's constant endeavour. There is not a line that he has not weighed; there is not a point that he would miss. Ford is a jealous character of fax less importance; rather existing for the business of the drama than as a prominent exhibition of character in himselL All the force and point which Mr Forster has given to lEtely he transfers to Ford; and the audience are startled at finding a part usually subordinate raised to such eminence. The vigorous and accurate elaboration of the conception is en- titled to all praise; but the question is left open, whether the conception itself is not pitched too high.
The most accomplished actor of the company is beyond a doubt Mr. Charles Dickens. He displays an ease which was scarcely to be expected in an amateur; and if he now and then reminds us of a particular per- former, he has evidently a conception of his own. His representation of the bragging and humiliated. Bobadil, (which is almost equivalent to two parts,) of the quick-talking Flexible, (in Love, Law, and Physic,) and the vacant Shallow, is an evidence of remarkable versatility. The last-named character is particularly good; so highly is it finished, without any attempt at being conspicuous.
Mr. G. H. Lewes seems most anxious to look like a real actor. The ten- dency of an amateur is to act only when he is talking, and to become a "stick " in the intervals. To avoid this, Mr. Lewes has adopted a per- petuity of by-play. His Sir Hugh Evans does not come out in sudden ex- plosions, but is in a ceaseless fidget; which is cleverly managed, but bor- ders on exaggeration. The border is completely passed when he plays the country servant in Love, Law, and Physic; for he goes altogether into the old school of caricature.
To fix the merits of Mr. Mark Lemon, is somewhat difficult. The per- sonations of Brainworm (espectially the old soldier, who is endowed with a touch of the pathetic) show a nice discrimination of character, which we miss in Falstaff, and do not find at all in Lubin Log. This last part is totally without individuality. Mr. George Cruikshank " makes up " well both for plays and farces; and he abounds in a sort of unpolished humour, to which his deficiency in modulation of voice is a drawback. Mrs. Cowden Clarke's Dame Quickly was one of the best characters in the Merry Wives; natural, and strongly marked, without caricature. Miss Kenworthy—a debutante, who, we believe, means to be professional— strikes spectators by her personal beauty, and pleases them by the pretti- ness of her acting; in which, however, somewhat of the training-school is yet apparent. The house was moderately fall on Monday—very full on Wednesday.
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