PLAYS AND PLAYERS.
A NEW play, entitled Reputation, or the State Secret, written by PLANCHE, was produced at Covent ,Gardmon Monday. It owed its success mainly to the excellent acting of CHARLES KEAN, for whom most of the applause was intended.
The story is briefly this. Otto, Count of Splugen, the virtuous and popular minister of a certain brutal Landgrave, has secretly married the Princess Frederica, his master's sister; and being met returning from a nocturnal visit to his bride, to prevent discovery, hints that he has just come from the chamber of Helena Istein. This is noised abroad on the very eve of the young woman's intended marriage. Her brother Hugo discovers the author of the slander, and demands its public retractation. The Count is willing to declare her innocence, and make reparation in money, but cannot give the proof required by Hugo, without endangering his own secret. Hugo vows to be revenged, and joins a conspiracy for that purpose. The Count's marriage is discovered, and both he and Frederica are condemned to instant death by the cruel Landgrave. The lady is seen kneeling on the scaffold, and the headsman with his sword upraised only waits the signal from the Landgrave to strike the fatal blow ; but before it can be given, the tyrant falls dead, from the effects of wine and rage operating on a wound received in a struggle with the betrothed of Helena.
This is meagre matter for a five-act play; and to eke out to that length what might have been better contained in three, the plot is encumbered with many trivial incidents, and a numerous dramatis personce. Almost every circumstance has its actor, and every incident its scene ; reminding us of MATHEWS'S "Pint of wine and candle—candle and pint of wine." The characters, with the exception of Hugo, are described rather than developed. The injury upon which the passion of the play is founded is too slight to bear the superstructure ; and the incidents are not adequate to support the interest, which is consequently feeble and languid, and renders the performance tedious. The dialogue never rises above a respectable mediocrity. The conclusion is quite a surprise—it is cutting the Gordian knot with a vengeance. CHARLES KEAN personated Hugo, the honest and high-spirited artisan, with characteristic energy and truth. His self-possessed and resolute manner told effectively, and never interfered with the illusion of the scene. He delivered the dialogue with great point and feeling, never overstepping the bounds of propriety, even in his most vehement bursts of passion, and rarely allowing the actor to peep through the assumed character. In the quiet and conversational parts of the performance, he was easy and natural, but never slovenly. He elicited several times distinct rounds of applause, which were well earned and spontaneously bestowed. This was the only character which possessed much interest. ELLEN TREE had scarcely any thing to do, though she was the heroine of the piece; and her betrothed was little more than a nonentity. The court party were really sickening. W ARDE whined and stalked about, as Count Otto ; G. BENNETT mouthed and ranted, and swaggered and strutted, as the Landgrave; ABBOTT bawled and made a boisterous show of mirth ; and Miss TAYLOR, not less affected than usual, retched out her words in her own peculiar and most disagreeable manner. Little POOLE played the part of a boy very well; and Mrs. GIBBS made a juvenile grandame. We are much gratified at having been afforded an opportunity of praising CHARLES KEAN: his talents and intelligence, and we must now add, his skill as an actor, make him a welcome acquisition to the stage. 'We are glad to have seen him in a part where his resemblance to his father in style and manner does not provoke a comparison necessarily unfavourable to himself. Independently of the fault of imitation, however, he has not powers or genius to cope with characters of the highest grade. His Hamlet was a failure. The refinement, the sensibility, the easy dignity, the moody waywardness of Hamlet, were all wanting. He gave us the pantomime of the part only. He was energetic, but did not seem in earnest ; his passion was mere physical rage. He came on the stage with the calm and collected air of a gladiator, his sinews braced for the combat; and he grappled with the part as though it were a wild beast, to be overcome by force and manual dexterity. There is still a wide range for the talent of this deserving young man, without essaying what is :beyond :his reach. In no other hands, save 1Vlacan Amt.% could the part he played on Monday night have sue,needed half so well. It does one good to visit VRSTRIS'S snug little Pavilion, with its groups of little loves and its garlands of flowers ; its benches thickly studded with laughing phizzes, and its stage displaying a galaxy of fine forms and fair faces. The entertainments are light and lively, like French wines : here is none of the heavy brandied Port of tragedy, nor the hot Sherry of comedy; now and then we have a vinous flow of dry wit like Hock, and sometimes a few drops of Virginis lac. The merriment runs in gusts round the house, like the cheerful and cosy mirth of a social party. Ile enjoy the fun in company, and not alone, as in the desert solitudes —be they ever so thickly peopled—of the huge theatres. What with Politics and Lent, we had not been able till this week to be a party to A Match in the Dark ; in which VESTRIS has a share. She looks as lovely and is as fascinating as ever. Good spirits make beauty perennial. Old Time's wing has not ruffled the fair brow of VESTRIS. We have also Mrs. ORGER, the most genial of pert young maids and staid old maids. Her canny Scotch Housekeeper is capital, dialect and all. Little COLLIER, in the Lawyer's Clerk, looks as if he slept in a desk between parchment sheets. Then there is LISTON in his famous part of Sam Savoury, under another name ; and last, there is the Paphian Bower, with its classical decorations, and parodies of popular songs. The completeness and correctness of the costumes, scenery, and accessories, display the good taste that pervades all the arrangements.
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