THEATRICALS.
KNOWLES'S plays draw' full audiences at the- Victoria, where they are very efficiently got up. KNOWLES has been playing William Tell, and St. Pierre in the Thfe, this week. The latter can be seen at this theatre only. His William Tell is as fine a performance as MACREADY'S, and a more genuine personation of the sturdy mountaineer. It is KNOWLES'S best character, not ex- cepting the Hunchback : it leaves nothing to be desired. Miss JARMAN plays the heroines; and makes us feel the loss- of ELLEN TREE as. little as would any actress that we know of. KNOWLES is announced to play Mercutio for' her benefit on Mon- day. It will be an original performance, at any rate. CNARLES KEMBLE reanimated the character : his Mercutio was an admir- able piece of acting, and the best stage version,of the part in this day. It was more gallant than gay, however; the liveliness was assumed. KNOWLES'S gaiety, though boisterous, is spontaneous and heartfelt; it is cheerful, not saturnine : so far he promises well. Whatever his actingmay be, his reading of the part is surety be intellectual. WARDE has been repeating his Richard the Third' this week. It is a clever performance, with no lack of physical energy; and but for the mannerism of the actor, and his loud-tongued and monotonous declamation, would be- as good as any Richard on.the stage—that is not SHAKSPEARB.S. William Tell &Bowed Richard the Third. Two five-act plays in one night, it too much, though both be good. The attention flags; and-the audience, except those who come in at half-price, grow tired. It-is bad management. The performances didenot terminate tilt long after twelve. This is too late for any theatre, but especially for- one in the suburbs.
We are glad to correct an error with respect to the- name of the, scene-painter of the Victoria. It is HILLIARD, and not INN-- GOUGH, as we had been misinformed. We shall not forget-the- name when we have any fresh occasion to-do justice to the rising talent of this young artist. The only novelty at the Great Theatres this week isa.melo- drama, with some good scenery. MACREADY and ELLEN TREE are the only attractions in tragedy. Mr. KING and Mrs. SLOMAN are finding their level. They are useful adjuncts of a. corps of tragedians; but they belong to a bad school- of acting. Mrs. SL0-. rs AN-is a mere tragedy-queen, and KING is a raw and indifferent substitute for WALLACE; The Times characterizes his perform- ance of WALLACE'S part in Werner as " a regular piece of me- lodrama, in which noise and rant usurped the place of feeling, and violent gesticulation and affected attitude were substituted for grace and dignity." MACREADY'S Werner seems to have been wonder- 'fully fine—as indeed it always was. The Herald confirms our censure of the way in which •the " le- gitimate drama" is supported at the " National Theatres." " Henry the Eighth was performed [at Drury Lane, on Monday], but not in a manner that denoted a great deal of preparatory care. This has been too much the case with the old dramas, which have been brought out so crowdedly, and with rather more ostentation than judgment, at this house since the corn-- meneement of the season. With the exception of Mr. Macready's, they have not had any support above mediocrity. In former times, they were better cast in their more important characters, while in their details they were at least= well got up as at present. This is not what we bad a right to anticipate from the combined patents of the two Great Theatres Under the new_monopply system, it was-to beexpected that the amount of the corps drarnatigto at both houses would be reduced, but thatthe smaller band, with the consequence-annexed, shttuld be most select—should be as the sound grain, when the winnowing hadearried off
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