" TRIAL BY JURY " AND " THE PIRATES OF
PENZANCE " AT THE PRINCE'S THEATRE. THERE is a sort of swing about The Pirates of Penzance. The chorus has much more attractive music and words to sing than has that in The Gondoliers, and is altogether used to much greater effect both by author and composer. But, though the pirate ballad opera excels in the realm of pleasant bustle and coming and going, it has not the wit of the more popular The Gondoliers. The production at the Prince's did not, of course, afford quite a fair comparison between the two works, because Mr. Percy Anderson had made a very charming job of " Major-General Stanley's daughter's " dresses, while tho Venetian maidens were most horribly attired in dresses and head-draperies which were both intrinsically ugly and, in addition, unbecoming to their wearers, who are now revealed as very pretty. The only good dresses and scenic work in Gondoliers were, in fact, the Plaza Toro family's costume and the dresses, scene and lighting of the court of Barataria. The charming Queen Adelaide effects of the Duchess's and Casilda's dresses were most pleasant and scholarly. Dress makes the whole difference in this branch of the drama. It is impossible to exaggerate the difference which the good dresses made to our enjoyment, and when I say good I really only mean non-bad. For Mr. Percy Anderson, though capable of making most attractive individual dresses, seems after that to rest content if the ensemble of colour avoids inharmoniousness. He does not do anything with his colour. In the present instance he may have been embarrassed by tradition and by Mr. Bridges Adams's scenery, which, though intrinsically rather pleasant— especially the amusing pseudo-Gothic " Weltschmerz " ruin— is yet rather restless when we consider that dresses, lighting and scone are really inseparable parts of the same composition, i.e., decor. Before leaving this question of the scenic arts, let me say that the reader who goes to the Everyman Theatre and there sees Suppressed Desires will be struck by the great charm and success of Mr. Macdermot's little interior. It is a delightful study of the ratio which it is possible to maintain between elaboration and effect. All aspirant stage designers ought to see what he has done with three colours and about four " features," most of which are necessary
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