THE WONDER
Covent-Garden Theatre.
Covent-Garden Theatre.
Covent-Garden Theatre.
Covent-Garden Theatre.
The Wonder, orA Woman keeps a Secret, was performed here last night with admirable effect. Miss Brunton was the heroine of the piece, the charmingViolante. We cannot speak in rapturous termsof her performance of the part. There is in the character itself an extreme spirit, and at the same time an extreme delicacy, which it is not easy to unite. Miss Brunton went through the different scenes, however, with a considerable degree of grace, vivacity, and general propriety, never falling below, and seldom rising above mediocrity. She does not
‘Snatch a grace beyond the reach of art;’
‘Snatch a grace beyond the reach of art;’
‘Snatch a grace beyond the reach of art;’
‘Snatch a grace beyond the reach of art;’
nor, according to another line of the same poet, which seems to convey a perfect idea of female comic acting,
‘Catch ere she falls the Cynthia of the minute.’
‘Catch ere she falls the Cynthia of the minute.’
‘Catch ere she falls the Cynthia of the minute.’
‘Catch ere she falls the Cynthia of the minute.’
We have already objected to this young lady’s recitation, a certain didactic, monotonoustwang, and we cannot upon the present occasion recant our criticism. Miss Foote wasViolante’sfriend,Donna Isabella, and looked and lisped the part very mincingly. Charles Kemble’sDon Felixis one of his best parts. He raves, sighs, starts, frets, grows jealous, and relents, with all the characteristic spirit of an amorous hero; and in the drunken scene with oldDon Lopez, where he produces his pistol as the marriage-contract, is particularly excellent and edifying. Fawcett playedLissardoas he plays almost every thing: he chattered like a magpie, and strutted like a crow in a gutter. But Emery’sGibbywas the thing: the genius of Scotland shone through his Highland plaid and broad bluff face: he seemed evidently afraid neither of having his voice heard, nor his face seen. In person he resembled the figure of the Highlander which we see stuck up as a sign at tobacconists’ windows. We never see nor wish to see better acting than this. Emery’s acting is indeed the most perfect imitation of common nature on the stage. Abbott was respectable asColonel Briton. Mrs. Gibbs’sFlorawas what every waiting-woman ought to be.