human
GOOD HEAVENS! WHAT A SWELL! WHAT IS IT? TEA-FIGHT? WEDDING BREAKFAST?
gpt
OH NO; ONLY GOING TO MY TAILOR'S. _MUST_ BE DECENTLY DRESSED WHEN I GO TO SEE _HIM_. HE'S SO BEASTLY CRITICAL!
human
Licensed by the London County Council to the Proprietors, Mrs. JOHN WOOD and Mr. A. CHUDLEIGH, --is the LORD CHAMBERLAIN out of it in this quarter? (how can there be a Court without a Lord Chamberlain?), and,
gpt
Was it in the days of _The Happy Land?_--but no matter. To resume. At the aforesaid Court Theatre is now being performed an original Farce, in Three Acts, written by Mr. R.R. LUMLEY. Ah! Ah! LUMLEY, this isn't quite up to your other piece, _Aunt Jack._ Mrs. JOHN WOOD is invaluable, and keeps the game alive throughout; while ARTHUR CECIL's _Duke of Donoway_--not a Comedy Duke, but a Duke in farcical circumstances--is excellent. WEEDON GROSSMITH is funny, but in make-up, tone of voice, and mannerisms, the part seems mixed up with one or two others that he has played, and is very far from being in the same category with _Aunt Jack's_ crushed Solicitor. BRANDON THOMAS as _Captain Roland Gurney, R.N._, is very natural. _The Office Boy_ of Master WILSON and the little _Gridd_ of Master WESTGATE (very near Birchington when the boy is in Mrs. WOOD's hands), are capital. Miss CARLOTTA LECLERCQ's _Duchess_ is equal to the occasion. The two girls' parts are unnatural and uninteresting. What ought to make the success of the piece is the scene where WEEDON GROSSMITH volunteers to sing
human
and everyone talks and chatters until the Babel ends in an explosion. It convulses the house with laughter; and if this situation had been so contrived,--as it might have been, allow me to say,--as to end the Act, the Curtain falling on the climax, the dashing down of the enraged musician's song and the exit of the Duke, the run of _The Volcano_ would have been insured from now to Christmas. Is it too late to retrieve this? To quote the title of one of ANTHONY TROLLOPE's novels,
gpt
I say No! There is so much that is genuinely funny in the piece, that if the alteration is done with a will, _hic et nunc_, why within a week the piece could be fixed securely in its place for the London season, and beyond it. Let funny little WEEDON reconsider his make-up, and come out as the flaxen-headed M.P. of a Saxon constituency. And a word in his ear,--SOTHERN fashioned _Lord Dundreary_ out of a worse part than this. _The Volcano_ shouldn't
human
JOURNALISM.--I want to become a Dramatic Critic; how should I begin? I am fond of going to the theatre, but find it difficult to remember the plot of the play afterwards. What kind of notices do Editors prefer?--_Histrionica_.