E4e . 44 - marts.
The comedy, produced last Thursday at the Haymarket, and entitled the Overland Route, may be pronounced. one of Mr. Tom Taylor'a most sharacteristic works. In the Contested Election, the smaller characters who represented the circumstances amid which the action took place, Were more important than the prominent personages by whom the action was carried on; and. similarly. in Mr. Taylor's last production we care hsse. about the private mishaps of the trtivellers on board the steam-ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, than abont theirparticipation in the voyage-itself, and in the shipwreck by which it is' unexpectedly interrupted: A gentleman, who to ran away efficiently from a turbulent- wife, changes his name, and in the choice of is pseudonym, is so very UR.. fortimate that he identifies himself with a forger, and thus falls into the chrtches of a detective- officer, is just a- person as might figure in any farce, and sustained by Mr. Buckstone he would- be certain of a- roar. Alady supposed to be a widow, but really- a wife, who concealing her real character, gratifies her amity by receitingt the adorations of-two old beaux, is one of those figures of genteel comedy that might appear half' a- dozen times over; and be. fergotte.n as-soon as- seen. But let these per- sonages be shown first in the saloon, afterwards on the quarter-deck of a perfectly-appointed vessel, let one be a distinct commissioner, another a "resident"; let.the dialogue bristle over with allusions to Naw.aubs and Kitmagura; let the flirtations assume the character that we associate with Anglo-Indian idieness—andlo ! a pair of wry commonplace and not over-probable stories become replete with life and freshness, worthy to hold a distinguished place in the gallery of living pictures illustrative of the nineteenth century. The got in fact of the first two acts is a
mere pretext for introducing the local tints, like the slight story which
connects the. antiquarian information, in the " Charieles " of Bekker.
In the third act; when the ship has been wrecked and the dramatis persoe: e have become the inhabitants of a coral reef, subsisting on short ratiore, the author attempts to illustrate the doctrine theta man's true character is brought out by excessive misfortune. The- flirt- has become a tender nurse of the sick, the bully, is a snivelling coward,—all in short are the opposites of what they appeared before, because their previously- recondite qualities have risen to the surface. But these- conversions are ma great measure isolated, so-that the converts never perfectly unite to carry on a single action, and still it is the local atmosphere in which they move that gives importance to the scene.
There is no doubt that this work, extremely defective as a drama,, ad- mirable as-a picture of life, by an author well "posted" in his subject, will draw more money than a- dozen plays far 'moreregularly constructed: but deficient in substantial reality. This is an age of panoramas and: populex lectures, and the sort of instruction that is commonly conveyed by these favourite means of teaching- is here communicated with the ad- junct of dramatic. action by way of relish. Lau& add that the dialogue. la written with even more than Mr. Taylor's wonted power of repartee;, thstehe cast.comprises nearly the whole of the Haymarket company, of which Mr. sail Mrs.. Charles Mathews now form a part e and that the decorations are to the highest degree elaborate.
A new and. original, drama, called Paper Wings, is announced at the Adelphi for next week There is to be an extraordinary amateur performance at the Lyceum on. Wednesday the 7th. of March, for the benefit of the families, of two literary gentlemen lately deceased. Many gentlemen well known in the literary world have undertaken to. act in The School for Scandal, and, in a burlesque written for the occasion by nearly all the dramatic rhymers of the day, and Miss Amy Sedgwick will aid the enterprise by playing the character of Lady Teazle.
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