t4tatrps.
Several trifles, produced this week, serve to fill up the theatrical record, and it appears we may expect such accessions for some time to come. Save at the Adelphi no success has been achieved of so decided a character that the manager may consider his plan of entertainment settled for a long series of weeks.
At the Princess's there is a broad farce, adapted from the French, with the title, Nursery Chickweed. Here Mr. Widdicomb represents the husband of an eloped nurse, who, concealing the fact of his bereavement, brings up the children entrusted to his wife by parents resident abroad, and while he receives a liberal allowance, bestows an education of a peculiar kind, that comprises proficiency in ultra-plebeian accomplish- ments, but excludes reading and writing. A rustic tom-boy, of very savage propensities, skilled in the composition of pea-soup, and dexterous in the use of his fist, is a striking specimen of his system, played with admirable vigour by Miss Louise Keeley. The expedients to which "Nursery Chickweed" is reduced, that the parents of the child, who return unexpectedly, may not discover the fraud that has been practised, elicit all the drollery of Mr. Widdicomb. The Ifronde,ful Woman has been revived at the same house, with Mr. F. Matthews as Crispin, one of the best characters in his repertory. Mr. A. Harris, the lessee of the house, essays the Marquis, and brings with him the qualifications of lightness and gaiety, which now-a-days are by no means universal.
Another revival of the week is that of the Bachelor of Arts at the Haymarket. This, it will be remembered, was one of the best pieces brought out at the Lyceum, under the management of Mr. Charles Mathews, who plays his original part in his best manner. Mrs. Stir- ling also plays a favourite part in a new version of an old piece, produced at the Olympic, with the title The Head of the Family. Partly from the old storehouse of Northern tradition, partly from the libretto of Le Lac des Fdes, have Messrs. Charles Kenney and Sutherland Edwards derived the plot of an extravaganza, which has been brought out at the St. James's Theatre, with the strange title—The Swan and Edgar. The swan, played by Miss Lydia Thompson, is the amphibious lady of the ancient tale, who commonly appears in the form of the stately bird, but is condemned to perpetual humanity by the loss of her veil; Edgar, played by Miss St. Casse, is the romantic swain captivated by her charms. On the dancing of Miss Lydia Thompson, and the singing of Miss St. Casse—especially the former—the attraction of the piece mainly depends.
Madame Celeste proposes to open the Lyceum Theatre on Monday, the 28th instant, and has already announced her company.
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