Though not much a frequenter of theatres of late, I was recently induced,
by the flourishing public announcements, to go to Drury Lane Theatre; with
the chance, but scarcely in the hope, of seeing what I never yet have seen,
a perfect Othello. Alas! echo still answers _never yet_. But yours are not
the pages for dramatic criticism.
As my bill lay before me, I could not help thinking what an execrably bad
taste our modern managers show in the extravagant and ridiculous
announcement of the splendour of the _star_ you come to contemplate! If Mr.
Brooke have great merit, he needs not all this sound of trumpets; if he
have it not, he is only rendered the more contemptible by it. I have some
of the play-bills of John Kemble's last performances before me, and there
is none of this fustian: the fact, the performance, and the name are simply
announced. If our taste improves in some respects, it does not in this; it
is a retrogression--a royal theatre sinking back into the booth of a fair.
Shakspeare's and Byron's texts have been converted into the showman's
explanations of panoramas: to what vile uses they may be next applied,
there is no guessing. Poor Shakspeare! how I have pitied him, and you too,
Mr. Editor, as I have seen him for so many months undergoing the operation
of the _teazle_ in "N. & Q.!" I hope there will be soon an end of this
"skimble stuff," "signifying nothing."
But my observation upon the Drury Lane play-bill reminded me of one I have
in my common-place book; and, as a correspondent and reader of "N. & Q.," I
think it my duty to send it:
_A Spanish Play-bill, exhibited at Seville_, 1762.
"To the Sovereign of Heaven--to the Mother of the Eternal World--to the
Polar Star of Spain--to the Comforter of all Spain--to the faithful
Protectress of the Spanish Nation--to the Honour and Glory of the Most
Holy Virgin Mary--for her benefit, and for the Propagation of her
Worship--the company of Comedians will this day give a representation
of the Comic Piece called--