THEATRICAL REVIEW. 52 -> 



gratified in being enabled to state that Macready played "King- 

 John" with all his wonted discrimination and excellence, being so 

 ably supported by Charles Kemble in the chivalric " Faulconbridge," 

 as to induce us to forgive him for the outrages he had committed on 

 " Hamlet" and " Macbeth." Miss Helen Faucit was the representa- 

 tive of" Lady Constance," for which task she was wholly incompe- 

 tent. The same week W. Farren made his bow in the " School for 

 Scandal," Charles Kemble playing " Charles Surface." The remain- 

 der of the characters were sustained by a set of gentlemen, whose 

 equals in point of histrionic talent are only to be found in a barn or a 

 penny theatre. 



The next novelty was the appearance of that over-rated tragedian, 

 Vandenhoff, as " Adrastus," in the beautifully written tragedy of 

 " Ion." This gentleman's lungs we think get stronger every season, 

 and from the way in which he uses them, we should not be surprised 

 if he was heard as distinctly outside the walls of the theatre as he is 

 within them. A farce, entitled "Mutual Expense," a feeble transla- 

 tion from the French, supposed, from its extreme badness, to pro- 

 ceed from the pen of the manager, Mr. Osbaldiston, was summarily 

 condemned. When nearly one third of this trumpery had been en- 

 dured, and the hissing became loud and general, Mr. Osbaldiston 

 consummated his good sense by coming forward and treating the au- 

 dience with a long rambling story about a party having pledged 

 themselves to damn the piece. This only increased the uproar, dur- 

 ing which a policeman attempted with great violence to remove one 

 of the dissentients in the dress boxes, which he did not accomplish. 

 On the next morning the gentleman brought his assailant before Mr. 

 Minshull, at Bow Street, who informed a Mr. Harris, Mr. Osbaldis- 

 ton's secretary, that parties paying their money had an undoubted 

 right to hiss whatever displeased them, and recommended the police- 

 man to make an apology, which he instantly did, and thus the affair 

 terminated. We take this opportunity of suggesting to Mr. Osbal- 

 diston that if he must keep a secretary, there are plenty of lawyers' 

 clerks out of employ who would write his letters cheap, and enlighten 

 him on subjects like the preceding into the bargain. 



DRURY LANE. After a series of swaggering announcements re- 

 garding the decorations of the house and the extraordinary talent to 

 be found in every department of the company, this newly adorned 

 edifice opened on the 8th of October. It certainly has been redeco- 

 rated in the arabesque style, and there is an abundance of gilding, 

 foliage, cameos, masks, and dancing figures, besides a series of scenes 

 from Shakspeare adorning the pannels of the dress circle. The tout 

 ensemble is gay and lively, but trifling and insignificant ; every orna- 

 ment being unsuited to so large a building as Drury Lane. The style 

 in which every embellishment is conceived and executed is fitted only 

 for a small theatre like the Olympic, or some slight temple of Thespis 

 erected for his own performances by some stage-struck nobleman. 



The first novelty of the evening was the debut of Mr. Balfe in 

 " Michael," in his own opera, " The Siege of Rochelle- 5 ' This gen- 

 tleman, although new to the English boards, is an old Italian stager, 

 where, by dint of practice, he has acquired confidence and a certain 



