THE THEATRES.
SINCE the advent of Martinuzzi, of facetious memory, nothing so rich in absurdity has appeared on the stage in the shape of a serious drama until the new play brought out at Drury Lane on Wednesday, called Plighted Troth: it is a mixture of bombastic melodrama and flat comedy ; but though the comic parts are by no means to be laughed at, their deficiency of drollery was abundantly supplied by the pathos of the tragic business, which sent the audience into convulsions-a few friendly folks excepted, who contrived to keep their countenances in the midst of the general merriment, and only laughed in their sleeves. The author certainly succeeded in shrouding the denouement from view, but it was by completely mystifying the audience as to what he was driving at. The plot is obscure, though a brace of lawyers are introduced to make matters clear ; and the incidents are perplexing to such a degree, that the faint shadowings forth of character are dissipated by the actions of the principal persons of the drama. The only intel- ligible part is the catastrophe; which would make an effective scene for a Surrey melodrama, with some such title as Rascal Rob Rascal, or the Murder of' Grimwood-not the ill-fated Eliza, of Waterloo Road, but Sir Gabriel Grimwood, a sottish Sir Giles Overreach. Grimwood had cheated his ward Raymond Willoughby out of some estates, and kept as a drudge and dependant Maddalene, a countess in her own right ; but he is tricked out of his ill-gotten possessions by his crafty steward Wormall. Reduced to poverty, he becomes a drivelling dotard, raving for revenge ; and meditates a confession of his own villany to dispos- sess Wormall. Wormall, finding Grimwood will not be bribed to secrecy, stabs him with a carving-knife as they sit over a supper-table, in the sight of Grimwood's concealed servant. Grimwood is supposed dead, and Wormall accuses the servant of the murder ; whereupon the wounded man comes to life, and pointing to Wormall, says, " There stands the man that murdered Gabriel Grimwood " The title, Plighted Troth, is derived from a hasty love-promise made to Maddalene by Raymond Willoughby ; who, on meeting her after a few years' absence, when she has become a countess, fails to recognize her, though he falls instantly in love and she swoons away : they have a tete-ii-tete ; the swain reproaching himself for being false to Maddalene, and the lady equally angry with him for forgetting her former self; but no eclair- cissement takes place, until the lady, slipping out of the room, pops on her humble weeds, that she had kept by her for the nonce, and had, luckily, not outgrown, and appears as Maddalene. The dialogue, or at least so much of it as could be heard for the ranting of the performers, is by turns bald colloquial phraseology and inflated rhetoric : the best passages are purely descriptive ; but even these are diffuse and verbose. MAC3F,AD2, as Sir Gabriel Grimwood, has to utter some insane rhapsodies, so extravagant that the half-idiotic state in which he is supposed to be is hardly sufficient excuse for them. Here is a sample of this sublimated stuff; Grimwood has a
" There was an old woman that lived in a shoe, She had so many children she didn't know she to do."
To speak of the acting of such a play, would be waste of words ; though MAEHEADY deserves praise for the strenuous efforts he made to give effect to the character of Grimwood. Am:mason and Miss H. FAUCIT as the lovers, PHELPS as Trormall-all the performers, in short, did their utmost, the ranting apart ; and even that was excusable, con- sidering the stuff they had to utter. Mawr, as Folio, a servile scholar, spoke some descriptions with force and propriety.
The scenery is beautifully painted, and tastefully designed ; and the scene of the ball-room, filled with company in the costume of the time, dancing minuets and gavottes, is magnificently real.
There was considerable opposition throughout the performance, after the first act; but the dissentients were put down by numbers. The audience patiently endured the wearisome infliction for two or three acts, until the fun became irresistible, and laughter was substituted for hisses. The fashion of damning bad plays has gone by ; but so far as shouts of "Off!" and vehement cries of "No!" when the repetition of the piece was announced, can express condemnation, the fiat went forth. How MACREADY, with his judgment and experience should have wasted so much pains and expense on so utterly undramatic a production, is one of the mysteries of management that we cannot pene- trate. The piece had been advertised for repetition in the bills next day ; but a convenient theatrical indisposition served to cover its retreat, and Plighted Troth escaped a second condemnation by being withdrawn. vision of Eternity, which he personifies as "Time with his toe in his mouth "-we forget the precise words, but this is the sense, or rather the nonsense of the idea. The author's attempts at pleasantry may be judged of by the wag of the piece, Viscount Joybel, singing the nursery rhyme-
Previous page
