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' vfifhiv GUrlet ' ¦ ( Va/lJ ^ JillW*. ^
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. - . - ; ¦ ¦ ¦ » ¦ ; ' . . MR . "WILKIE COLLINS'S " FROZEN DEEP . " Private theatricals are generally associated in people ' s minds with ideas of embarrassed ladies and gentlemen , an imperfect acquirement of the parts to be presented , a makeshift stage , inadequate to the purposes of the drama , nondescript costumes , equivocal scenery , and a general demand upon your merciful indulgence . You weep by courtesy ; applaud out of a sense of consideration ; and are glad of an opportunity to laugh , because ( with the exception of feeling uneasy ) that is the only genuine thing you can do . There have recently "been
some contradictions to this unhappy rule ; and among those contradictions one of the most remarkable is that presented by Mr . Dickens at his own residence . The visitor at Tavistock . Hocse finds a theatre , small , indeed , tut complete in every point ; exquisite scenery , from the hands of Stanfield and Tel-bin ; atmospherical effects absolutely superior to those at the public theatres ; and acting ¦ which is equal to that of the profession in all the requirements of confidence and ease , and often far above it in the higher qualities of truthful conception and artistic feeling . Mr . Dickens , moreover , is a genuine manager , * creating ' bow pieces as well as reviving old ; and it is a new ' creation' we have now to notice .
lays him at the feet of Clara . Having thus accomplished a noble revenge , hi own strength fails , and he dies , blessing and blessed . Mr . Dickek 8 's perform , ance of this most touching and beautiful part might open a new era for the sta ge , if the stage had the wisdom to profit by it . It i 8 fearfully fine throughout— -from the sullen despair in the second act , alternating with gusts of passion or with gleams of tenderness ( let us more particularl y note the savage energy with which he hews to pieces his rival's berth with an axe , when the approaching departure of Frank Aldersley renders it no longer needed , except for fuel ) , down to the appalling naisery and supreme emotion of the dying scene . Most awful are those wild looks and gestures of the starved , crazed man ; that husky voice , now fiercely vehementand now
falter-, ing into the last sorrow ; that frantic cry when he recognizes Clara ; that h ysterical burst of joy when he brings in his former object of hatred , to prove that he is not a murderer ; and that melting tenderness with which he kisses his old friend and his ~« arly love , and passes quietly away from life . In these passages , Mr . Dickens shows that he is not only a great novelist , but a great actor also . Both , indeed , proceed from the same intense sympathy with humanity , the same subtle identification of the individual man with the breadth and depth of our general nature . Mr . Dickens has all the technical knowledge and resources of a professed actor ; but these , the dry bones of acting , are kindled by that soul of vitality which can only be put into them by the man of genius and the interpreter of the affections .
All the other parts are played with careful intelligence and hearty zest . Mr . Wilkie Collins is very truthful and touching in the last scene ; and Mr . Augustus Ego- ' realizes' a grumbling sea-cook with infinite humour . The ladies , who vie lovingly in all the charms and all the graces that delight the eye and touch the heart , are members of Mr . Dickens ' s family j and Mr . Young Cha . ri . es , " who performs Lieutenant Steventon with great ease and tact , is no other than Mr . Charles Dickens , theYounger . Mr . Alfkeb Dickjens's Captain Helding is a fine piece of bluff , sailor-like robustness and sincerity ; and Messrs . Edward Hogarth and Frederick Evans , who act two of the Sea Mew ' s crew , are thorough Jack Tars , with a taste of the salt breeze in all their looks and ways . Of the scenery of the first act , which is by Mr . Telbin , we have already spoken as being singularly beautiful . That in the two other acts is by Mr . Staufield ( assisted by Mr . DansoiO , and is worthy of the Master ' s hand .
The drama is succeeded by Mr . Bdckstone ' s farce of Uncle John , acted with immense spirit by all , and giving further evidence of Mr . DtCKENs ' s powers as an actor , in the exuberant fun of his comedy , which , by the way , is most effectively supported by Mr . Mark . Lemon and Mr . Wilkie Collins , and delightfully aided by-the refine ! vivacity of Miss Hogarth , the marvellous dramatic instinct of * Miss Mary , ' and the fascinating simplicity of « Miss Kate . ' Altogether , thevaudience return hone from Tavistock House rather indisposed for some time to come to be content -with the time-honoured conventionalities of the public stage . ^ The musical arrangements , which are of marked importance , in the conduct of the drama under
Perfect music set to noble words . The following Prologue , written by Mr . Dickens , was delivered , behind the scenes , by Mr . John Fobster : — One savage foot-print on the lonely shore , Where One Man listen'd to the surge ' s roar , Not all the winds that stir the mighty-sea Can ever ruffle in the Memory . If such its interest and thrall , O ! then Pause on the footprints of heroic men , Making a garden of the desert wide , Where Parry conquor'd , and wliere Franklin died . To that white region , where the lost lie low , Wrapt in their mantles of eternal snow , TJnvisited by change , nothing to mock Those Btatucs sculptured in the icy rock , We pray your company ; that hearts as true ( Though fancies of the air ) may live for you . Nor only yet that on . our little glass A faint reflection of "those wilds may pass , But , that the secrets of the vast Profound Within us , an exploring hand may sound , Testing the rigor of the ice-bound soul , Seeking the passage at its Nortliern Pole , Soft ' ning the horrors of its wintry sleep , Melting the surface cf that Frozen Deep . Vanish , ya mists ! But ere this gloom departs And to the union of three sister arts , ' Wo give a winter evening , good to know That in the charm of Buch anothor show , That in the fiction of a friendly Play , The Arctic Sailors , too , put gloom away , Forgot their long ni « ht , saw no starry dome , Hail'd the warm sun and were again at homo . V anisu ye mists ! Not yet do wo repair To the still country of the pioreing air , But seek , before -via cross the troubled seas , An English hearth and Devon ' s vraving trcea .
, are the skilful and accomplished direction of Mr . Francesco Bercek , a young composer of rich promise , who appears to unite in his art , as m his name , the melody of Italy with the science of Germany . A small but very select orchestra is placed behind the scenes , Mr . Bbrger presiding at the piano . The introductory overture , compact inform arid brilliant in character , is marked throughout by skill , taste , aud feeling ; -we may note particularly a duet for violoncello and flute , felicitously intimating the tender and pathetic elements of the story , and written with unmistakable affection and the true sympathy of a sister art . The incidental music , announcing and accompanying the chief episodes in the action , deserves a word of emphatic recognition for- the perfect fidelity of expression , the exquisite refinement , and the consistent grace , which almost approach Tennyson's ideal of wedded bliss :
The Frozen Deep is the title of the drama brought out for the first time on Tuesday evening , repeated on Thursday , and destined to be played at Tavistock House twice more . It is by Mr . Wilkie Collins—a fact which is in itself a guarantee of an exciting and admirably constructed story , and powerful writing . The plot centres round the heroes of an Arctic expedition , and brings on the scene a great variety of characters and considerable hreadth of passion and pathos . The first act introduces us to four young ladies who live in a quiet nook of ¦ Devon , and who have each a relation or lover in the Polar expedition , which forms the main subject of the drama . All , of course , are sad and depressed } Clara Burnhatn ( Miss Mary ) is peculiarly soj for not merely has her betrothed gone to the terrible icy regions , but in the same expedition is a young Kentish gentleman whose passion for her she has rejected out of a misapprehension , and who has sworn to kill the man who has robbed him of her , whenever they shall meet . He does not know the name of her favoured suitor , but Clara feels persuaded that the two rivals vi 11 be led together by some mysterious
influence ; and in the deepening twilight and crimson sunset flush of the early Autumn evening she tells her story to her friend Lucy Cray ford ( Miss Hogabth ) - Her sad misgivings sufficiently painful in themselves , are intensified by the mystical forebodings of an old Scotch attendant , Nurse Esther ( Mrs . Wills ) , who is gifted with second sight , and who goes about the house like an ominous enchantress , muttering of awful visions which come to her from " the land o * ice and snaw . " On the particular evening on which the story opens , she is full of these dreary revelations ; and , as the twilight deepens into night , and the warm red hues of the west pale into the grey and spectral moonshine ( an effect marvellously contrived by Mr . Tblbin ) , she stands in the gathering gloom , darkly relieved against the misty blue of the window , ana , in a voice half frightened , half denunciatory ( for the young Southern ladies have been sceptical of her supernatural powers ) , tells them of a vision of blood which passes before her eyes from the Northern seas . Lucy Cray ford , shuddering with dread , calls for lights ; Clara Burnham . falls senseless ; and the first act is concluded .
Of the effect ofthis scene , from the commencement to the end , it would "be difficult to convey an adequate idea . The weary , lonely grief of the four companions ; the spirit of quiet , gentle sorrow that moves over the whole performance ; the sweet , sad melody sung by two of the young ladies in the inner room , while Clara is telling her story to Lucy ; the awful forebodings of the Scotch nurse ; the . deep , yet melancholy sympathy of the evening light and the solemn stealing in of the white moonrise ; the wretchedness and the terror of the ladies , and the shuddering awe of Esther ' s vision ( not raved out , according to transmitted fashion , but all quiet and intense)—these elements contribute to a general effect which is new . to our stage , because based on Nature instead of on tradition . And here let us say that the acting of the ladies—Miss Mary Miss Hogarth , Mies Helen , and Miss Kate—was exquisitely pure , delicate ) and natural ; and the voices , from not being strained , lost none of their refined gentleness and tender grace . Mrs . Wills , also , played with true feeling and subdued power .
The second act brings us to the Arctic regions . Here we find the lost heroes in an Arctic Hut ; and it is resolved to send out a party of explorertrto see whether a way cannot be « ut through the barrier that hems them in . They cast lots ; andFrank Aldersl&j ( Mr . Wilkie Collins ) , Clara Bumham ' s favoured suitor , is to bo one of the expedition . Richard Wardour , the rejected lover—a moody , passionate man , of a rugged but noble nature , played by Mr Dickens—throws a number which has the effect of keeping him in the Hutand just before the starting of the explorers , he discovers that Frank Aldersley ib his rival . An accident decides , his going with them in company with Frankand , in spite of the opposition of Lieutenant Cray ford ( played to perfection by Mr Mark Lismon ) who fears what may ensue , the rivals denart together . ln tue tlurdact
_ . , we find several of the Arctic party in a cavern on tlie coast °£ - ? !? Sr l d > rescued and returning home . But Prank Aldersley and Richard Wardour remain behind . The ladies from Devon , who have corno out with their Scotch nurse in search of the lost ones , are also congregated in the SS ^ Tft ^ VE * 5 £ ?* ?** ? S a Wild ' * ' maniac ^ evTture , crying for . food . It is RKhard Wardour who has escaped from the icy floe , half starved , And with mudnesa in his brain . Eood and drink are giv « n him and after hastily and fiercely swallowing some , ho stows away the rest in a wallet , and is preparing to rush off when he is recognised , and himself recognizes cJXi jw * £ " ° » « £ i £ - d Wlth the raurder of his comrade ; but lie replies hyVteric ^ \^ t 3 < h V \ Wfty OVL ) ofthe cave > ret «™ W almoat i ^ tanSy with frank AUertley in Ids arms , faint , famished , frost-bitton , but alive SftJn in the wastes of snow has Itichard been , tempted to slay him , or to leivo him behind when Bleeping , that he nmyperiah slowly . But his noblo nature at length prevails , anSwhea his rival sinks beneath his sore trials , Sard * stronger arm brings him safely through the icebergs and the snow drifts and
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44 fHE XEAI > E 1 , [ No . 355 , SAJtmDAy , ^ i ¦¦ , —¦ . -- ii— . i . H !¦ - ¦ ¦ -ii - "' . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ' . ' . ' ' — - —————^ M — ^—< Mi ^^ ^^^^^**^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^*^^
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An amusing httlo piece called A Night at Wotting Hill , in . which Mr . Wright , AnEJp , yT T ^ n ? ' T ? J > 9 ? - ™™ perform , has been produced nt the resorts to t £ f ™*™ ™ ^ ° f 8 ht of * ™ 7 alderman ; the futility of civic nXomtn i « y T , f- ? lfVn"trftI > i and th , e absorbed attention of our policemen in the contemplation of servant-maids arid pantries . The farce which is very successful , is by Mr . Edmcnd Yatks and Mr . HaSngt ™ .
' Vfifhiv Gurlet ' ¦ ( Va/Lj ^ Jillw*. ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 10, 1857, page 44, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2175/page/20/
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