And Mr. Seymour Hicks is at the head of his profession, and knows what his public wants. From the story of Cinderella he fashioned the phenomenally successful “Catch of the Season,” and now from an idea in “David Garrick,” and the marked resemblance in personal appearance of his brother, Mr. Stanley Brett, to himself, Mr. Hicks has evolved the story the “Beauty of Bath,” who comes to town, falls in love with a prominent actor, and finds herself at the end of the play engaged to marry his double, a dashing naval officer.
Miss Ellaline Terriss makes a perfect beauty from Bath, Mr. Stanley Brett is the distinguished actor, and Mr. Seymour Hicks is breezy Dick Alington the sailor hero of the story, with a large fortune and a long and exacting and admirably played part. Mr. Hicks is at his best in a pathetic scene between Dick and his mother upon the return of the former from China. And in the second act his scene of pseudo-drunkenness au David Garrick is very well done.
In “Bluebell” he was not on the stage nearly enough to satisfy his admirers, who, in the present production, are delighted to see more Hicks. Amongst other members of a long cast, that accomplished actress, Miss Rosina Filippi, does wonders with a part which seems scarcely good enough for her; and Master Valchera as a call-boy, adds to the popularity he won as Bucket, the page-boy, in the “Catch of the Season,” and Miss Barbara Deane sings as charmingly as ever.
Beautiful ladies in beautiful costumes form a prominent and most attractive feature of the entertainment, and the Twelve Bath Buns, as they are styled, might any of them challenge the “Judgment of Paris.”
The two scenes, representing the foyer of a theatre and a ballroom, are very fine, and reflect the greatest credit upon Mr. W. Hann, the painter: and altogether there seems to be nothing but praise for everyone concerned in this handsome production.
Why the Comedy should not be a more lucky theatre is a problem which we have never heard solved in a satisfactory way. It is very conveniently placed and is a nice enough house, and yet a long run there is more or less a rarity. Following the short run of “The Alabaster Staircase,” a revival of “A Pair of Spectacles” presented those consummate artists, Messrs. John Hare and Charles Groves, in their original parts, but even this did not fill the bill for long, and upon April 5th, Mr. Chudleigh reverted to an old-time method of his at the Court Theatre, and put up a triple bill. The first piece is by Mr. Austin Strong, the author of “The Little Father of the Wilderness,” which a few months ago afforded Mr. Huntley Wright a good opportunity of displaying his ability as a pathetic actor.
“The Drums of Oude” deals with an incident in the Indian Mutiny, where a small body of English troops are in peril and it is a question of death before dishonour when, at almost the last desperate moment reinforcements spell rescue. The chief feature of this little drama was the very telling performance of Mr. Matheson Lang as the resolute Captain Hector Macgregor. The rest of the evening was devoted to two pieces by Mr. J. M. Barrie—“Punch,” a toy tragedy in one act, and “Josephine,” a revue in three scenes.
“Punch” deals with the misfortunes and ruin of the senior dramatists before the growth of Superpunch. Besides Punch and Judy, the other two characters in the tragedy are ὁ χαριεις a fishmonger’s boy, who announces that he represents the voice of the public. Mr. Barrie is such a profound and elaborate jester that one looks closely for a joke in his every word, but this ὁ χαριεις is too perplexing for us, unless, indeed, the explanation offered by a super-Scotchman be the correct one, that a fishmonger’s boy would, of course, carry ice. This is bad enough, but we would rather adopt that view than believe Mr. Barrie to have put up a fishmonger or butcher’s boy to represent δι χαριευτες the Attic “men of culture and taste.” However that may be, the other character in the tragedy is not so involved, and before Superpunch had come on the stage we were prepared for the notorious Bernard Shaw beard, and for the complete triumph of the new man. We should think it improbable that “Punch” will enjoy such a long run as is usually the case with anything from Mr. Barrie’s fertile pen.
“Josephine” is called on the programme “a Revue,” but this is unfair to a distinguished institution which belongs to Paris, and we prefer to call “Josephine” a political skit. The story is of the household of sleepy Mr. Buller, where his three Scotch sons take it in turns to play at being eldest son, and mismanaging everything, with flirtations with Mavourneen Blarney to pass the time, and more serious engagements with Josephine. Bunting is a youngest son, representative of the growing Labour Party, and Fair and Free are two beautiful ladies who each claim to assist in the housekeeping, with disastrous results.
The three scenes are made up of personalities at the expense of Lord Rosebery, Mr. Balfour, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and, of course, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who is represented in woman’s clothes by a male actor. This might be regarded as an error of judgment, were it not that Mr. Dion Boucicault plays this difficult part with the best of taste and discretion; at the same time we see no reason why the part should not have been played by a lady, as is the case with Mavourneen Blarney, who is admirably represented by Miss Eva Moore. We cannot find much to say in praise of “Josephine,” but there is much to be said in praise of the company who play it.