TI1E THEATRES.
THE closing of Drury, and the announcement that the present manage- ment of Covent Garden will terminate with the season, have created quite a sensation in the theatrical world. The secession of MACREADY from the managerial office, indeed, will excite surprise and regret beyond the narrow circle of stage-worshipers. lie has not only rescued Covent Garden from degradation and neglect, and restored SHAKSPERE'S plays, but given a new impetus to the drama, and called forth fresh talent into an almost forsaken field. The glory of the theatre will, we fear, depart with him who has raised its fallen for- tunes ; and the scene of the triumph of SITAKSPERE and the legitimate drama may become, for aught we know, " a wilderness of' monkies." The reason fbr this sudden determination has not transpired : it cer- tainly cannot be want of present success, for the season has hitherto been productive of profit as well as honour. The experiment on the public taste has completely succeeded ; and even in the teeth of lions and tigers, " good plays well acted" have drawn crowded houses, without order-giving or allurements of a disreputable sort, in spite of late dinner- hours and altered habits. The worry of management, in addition to the wear and tear of the excitement of acting, may be too much for a man, who. besides being very much in earnest in his profession, is of an irritable temperament : but " the labour we delight in physics .pain," and public applause and power are sweet rewards of toil. The imme- diate cause is, we believe, a disagreement between the lessee and the proprietors as to money matters : we have heard that an advanced rent is demanded for the theatre by the Committee. If this is true, it scents on the face of it an illiberal and impolitic step, to require from the ma- nager who hats so greatly enhanced the value of the property by ex- penditure and his own talent and exertion, a share of his fair gains. Better to secure .Macnistov at a sacrifice titan run the chance of an unworthy successor ; even though lie cannot, we understand, take away the company to another theatre. Some arrangement may yet be made, however ; and a meeting was held on the stage the other day for that purpose. The perfbrmers are alive to their own interests, if the Com- mittee are not to those of the proprietor.
The following programme of performances has been put forth as the anal arrangements for the season.
" The Standard Plays, as brought nut at this Theatre, will each he performed once more,—viz. King Lear, iaMuehetly Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus, Ion, The Two Foscari, Werner, and Virginias. A new Grand Opera, by W. M. Itooke, to be called Henrique, or the Lime-Pilgrim, will be produced on Tuesday, April 30. A new Dramatic Romance, called Agnes Bernaner, the Maid of diags- hurg, will be brought forward in the course of the ensuing week. The Histo- rical Play of King Henry the Fifth, from the text of Shakspere, will be pro- duced eatly in June. Richelieu will be repeated four nights a week until fur- ther notice. The Tempest and The Lady of Lyons will be acted once a week till further notice."
• The " chorus" between the acts of Henry the Fifth will be spoken. by VANDENHOFF, with progressive scenic backgrounds, illustrative of the changes of place ; painted by STANFIELD, perhaps.
The chosen lessee of the Drury Lane Committee has earned a fresh title to their confidence and thanks : he has fairly distanced the audi-
ence—run time public out of breath, by the rapidity with which he pro. duced successive novelties ; and has exhausted the treasury by the pre. fuse liberality of his payments ; so that the strong box is emptier than all the other boxes. On the eve of the appearance of a new piece, it served the double purpose of puffing it and saving the expenses of night or two to shut up the theatre on pretence of rehearsal : the an. nouncement of an English version of A MUM'S new opera is modestly matte the plea for closing the theatre for an indefinite period. If it only re.
quired a night or two previous to the appearance of the Bronze Horse, what a work Le Lee des Fees must be, which is advertised to be brought out, sine die! The actors will have abundant time to study their parts at leisure ; but the band and vocalists will be tiring their arms and spend. big their breath in a raised orchestra, so long as they can bring people to the theatre. Lucky they to have such a pis idler as the Promenade Concerts ; but what is to become of the poor actors and scene-shifters all the while ? The Bishop's Lent had only two fast days in the week ; the Manager's is perpetual holyday—not so much as a Bunn to keep them front starving. But seriously—for it is no laughing matter to the sufferers—it behoves the Committees of both Theatres not only to look well to the interests of the shareholders, but to bestow a thought oa the performers and others dependent on them. The proprietors of Covent Garden should take warning from the fate of their rival.
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