The Theatre
" The Red Rover's Revenge." A Nautical Drama in three acts, adapted by Peter Godfrey from the play written by the late Edward Fitzball, Esq. At the Gate. Theatre.
THE legitimate drama of one age is not infrequently the melodrama of the next : it is a stimulating thought that the intellectual young things of fifty years hence, whose " bright- ness " may take the form of a rigid asceticism and monastic loftiness of principle, will revel in a burlesquing welter of bedroom scenes, cosmetic morality and bad manners, and marvel at the vulgarity of their forebears. Certainly the plot of The Red Rover's Revenge is no more ridiculous than the theatrical devices of present day drawing-room comedy. There is, indeed, a satisfying solidity about its characters which is appreciable even through the darkening glass of parody.
The wicked baronet, Sir Arthur Trevor, so justly described as unworthy of the title he bears," who entices the two innocent damsels on board the pirate's vessel and mocks the honest poverty of their naval suitors ; the bloodtlArity seafarers ; and the nefarious Red Rover himself : these are no more unreal than the quavering puppets who dance when the high-brow showman pulls the string. The vigour of the characterization has, moreover, its counterpart in the action of the play : the discovery of the papers revealing the falsity of the fraudulent baronet's claims to his title, his fight with the virtuous young lieutenant, and the final sinking of the pirate's ship are alt incidents of a- kind for which by virtue of their.surroundings our appetites are automatically whetted. But the smashing of idols, even when they are blanketed with the cobwebs of oblivion, is a business which must be speedily done to be affective : with postponement comes an inevitable lack of interest; and here the reckless sport is too long drawn out ; the Roman holiday loses its hold over us, and our attention is allowed to flag.
As the Red Rover, Mr. W. E. C. Jenkins made the most obliging of buccaneers. Though the calls upon his time were no doubt both numerous and exacting, he was, nevertheless, always ready to oblige with song and dance. We had no need of the outraged protestations of his critics to gauge the character of Sir Arthur Trevor. Mr. Godfrey paints him with the deepest black on his palette, and with his final dis- appearance over the side of the ship we are virtuously aware of the triumph of the forces of righteousness. Miss Viola Lyel and Miss Irene Freeman make admirably ingenuous maidens and the " brave British sailors " are well played by Mr. Michael MacOwan and Mr. John Gatrell. There are in addition some good scenic and lighting effects. With a little more speed, this would be an excellent production.
DEREK VERSCHOYI.E.
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