_Robin Goodfellow_, by Mr. CARTON, is not a brilliant play, as its
dialogue lacks epigrammatic sparkle: neither is it an interesting
play, as the plot, such as it is, is too weak for words,--which, by
the way, at once accounts for the absence of the sparkle
above-mentioned.
Three questions must have occurred to those who have already seen the
play, and which those who may hereafter see it will be sure to ask
themselves,--and they are these:--
[Illustration: Nearly burning his fingers. Mr. Hare acting
with Grace.]
First. Why should _Grace's_ father, _Valentine Barbrook_, tell her of
the means by which he had brought about the betrothal of _Hugh Rokeby_
to _Constance_?
Secondly. This being so, why allow six weeks to elapse when a word
from the one girl, who knows, to the other, who doesn't, would explain
everything?
Thirdly. If a sudden shock would kill the grandmother, surely, in the
course of six weeks, _Grace_ would have found out that her shortest
and best way was to tell the truth to her cousin, without mentioning
it to the old lady.
If in doubt, why didn't she confide in the Doctor, who would at once
have told her whether the nature of the communication she had to make
was of a sufficiently startling nature to kill the old lady right off
or not?
The fact is, it was necessary to keep the lover, _Mr. Stanley
Trevenen_, away for some time, in order to allow of there being a
glimmer of probability in the announcement of his having thrown over
the girl to whom he is devotedly attached, and having married somebody
else whom he met abroad. "Now," says the dramatist, "what is the
shortest possible space of time I can allow for this? Ahem!--say a
month." So he gives him a month. "Then," says he, next, "what is the
shortest possible time we can allow for an engagement and a marriage?
Say six weeks. Good. Six weeks be it. Only, hang it, this muddle has
to last for six weeks! Well, it can't be helped. I can't give any more
trouble to the bothering plot; and, as after all, there's a capital
character for Mr. HARE, and not at all a bad one for Miss RORKE, with
a fairish one for FORBES ROBERTSON, why, if Mr. HARE will accept the
play, and do it, I should say that, cast and played as it will be, it
is pretty sure to be a success."
[Illustration: The Happy Pair.]
So much for the Author and the Play. As to the Actors, Mr. HARE has
had many a better part, and this is but an inferior species of a genus
with which the public has long been familiar; but there is no one who
can touch him in a part of this description. Admirable! most
admirable! _Barbrook_ is in reality a silly elderly scamp, with all
the will to be a villain but not endowed with the brains requisite for
that line of life. Thus, the Author, unconsciously, has created him.
But Mr. HARE invests this feather-headed scoundrel with Iago-ish and
Mephistophelian characteristics, that go very near to make the
audience believe that, after all, there _is_ something in the part,
and also in the plot. But the part is only a snowman, and melts away
under the sunlight of criticism. Miss KATE RORKE is charming. It is a
monotonous and wearisome part, and the merit of it is her own. Miss
NORREYS is very good but the girl is insipid. Miss COMPTON, as the
good-hearted, knowing, fast lady, wins us, as she proves herself to be
the real _Robin Goodfellow_, the real good fairy of the piece, _Robin
Goodfellow_ is a misnomer, unless the aforesaid _Robin_ be dissociated
from _Puck_: but it is altogether a bad title as applied to this piece
for, as with Mr. CARTON's piece at the St. James's, _Liberty Hall_, it
is a title absolutely thrown away. Mr. FORBES ROBERTSON is as good as
the part permits, and it is the Author's fault that he is not better.
Mr. GILBERT HARE gives a neat bit of character as the Doctor, and Mr.
DONALD ROBERTSON may by now have made something of the rather foolish
Clergyman (whether Rector, Vicar, or Curate I could not make out),
whose stupid laugh began by making a distinct hit, and, on frequent
repetition, became a decided bore. It is played in one Scene and three
Acts, and no doubt in the course of a fortnight certain repetitious
and needless lines will have been excised, and the piece will play
closer, and may be an attraction, but not a great one, for some time
to come. At all events, the part of _Valentine Barbrook_ will add
another highly-finished picture to Mr. HARE'S gallery of eccentric
comedy-character. I think of him with delight, and exclaim, once
more--Admirable!