The GLIO Site

PETERSFIELD.

     AMATEUR DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT.— [We briefly alluded to this entertainment in our last, and are indebted to a ‟special correspondent for the subjoined report, our usual correspondent being, for obvious reasons, precluded from furnishing the requisite information.] Those who consider our town to be the ‟slowest of all slow” places, would surely have felt inclined to alter their opinion if they had seen or heard one half of the bustle which ushered in the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday in Easter week. Infatuated flymen,  vainly endeavoring to make their poor beasts outstrip Pegasus himself; complacent coachmen, mildly urging on their sleek horses to a gentle trot: excited pedestrians hurrying along with unwonted velocity: all plainly told us that something was ‘‘up.” And this ‟something,” as our readers are probably aware, was nothing less than a dramatic entertainment given by some amateurs, all of them inhabitants of Petersfield, for the benefit of the Cricket Club. To be voluntarily absent from such a performance would, in our opinion, be scarcely an evidence of having a ‟mens sane in corpora sana,” and as we are naturally anxious to be thought the possessor of such a desirable thing, we determined at once upon purchasing a ticket, and wending our way to the Dolphin Assembly Room, which, so the programme informed us, Mr. Crafts had kindly allowed to be converted into a theatre pro tem. Having arrived at the hotel, and deposited our overcoat in the cloak room we began to mount a staircase tastefully decorated with evergreens and flags bearing the inscription, P. C. C. (Petersfield Cricket Club). It was not, however, until we had executed many skilful manœvres to avoid treading on ladies’ dresses, and thereby injuring alike their feelings and their property, that we found ourselves in the ‟theatre,” comfortably established in reserved seats Nos. ??  It was with no small flutter of anticipation that we silently gazed upon the green curtain, which, surmounted with the crown and Prince of Wales’s feathers, and partly concealed by graceful festoons of crimson and white, was gently swayed by the evening air which stole in through the open doors. And here we must digress a little to remark that the stage was a perfect bijou, and displayed the most refined taste both in the design and execution, and did the utmost credit to the amateur ‟stage carpenters,” Mr. Larence and Mr. Wright, who kindly undertook the work, and spared no pains or trouble to make it perfect of its kind; the proscenium was formed of a well-turned arch in white and gold, supported on each side by green malachite pillars. The further ornamentation of the stage with lace curtains, &c., &c., was very wisely left to the tasteful hands of Mrs. Crafts, who has been from the first untiring in her efforts to help forward the work in hand.But to return at last, the overture, a pianoforte duet excellently rendered by Miss Aldous and Mr. Finley, announced that the much wished for hour had almost arrived. The music ceased, and. after a moment of suspense, R. S. Cross, Esq., vice-president of the Cricket Club, stepped before the curtain. The applause which greeted him having subsided, he commenced the prologue written by Miss Nichols, which has been the theme of unqualified praise by all who had the gratification of hearing it, and, as we are sure it will be read with much pleasure, we are very glad to be able to include it in our report. It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Cross spoke it admirably.

Ladies and gentlemen, ’tis with much delight
We welcome you to see our play to-night:
And, truth to speak, we do not greatly fear
You will repent of having ‟dropp’d in” here:
For, we propose to bring upon these ‟boards”
Not kings and queens, fair ladies and proud lords,
Enamour’d knights with pages golden-hair’d,
Enchanted damsels, for whom warriors dared
To face the terrors of ogre’s might,
And close with dangers in disastrous fight:—
No—none of these —you’ve seen them oft before,
And p’rhaps won’t care to see them any more.
Besides, they’re ‟passé”—out of date—absurd—
By far too full of fancy—in a word,
Unfit for this most realistic age:
So we have bid them go elsewhere, to wage
Their wars ’gainst foes; and in their stead,
We’ll introduce some moderns, who, ’tis said,
Have less of grace, but more—much more, of art,
And therefore play a longer, busier part
On this world’s ‟vas’y” stage. May be ’tis so,—
We will not stop to ask, but straightway show
Them to you as they are, and you shall say
How well you like the men of this our day
When you have seen their conduct on our stage.
We only hope that they will so engage
Your int’rest, that with them you’ll sympathise,
Too much, indeed, to care to criticise.

This important preliminary being over, the mysterious curtain drew up, and the comedy entitled ‟Still Waters Run Deep” began,

It is not our intention to say anything of the play we have to do rather with the players, and this is no easy matter, for all performed their parts so well, and the principal actors had each so many excellencies, that it would take too much time and space to bestow on each a full share of eulogy. Since then we cannot particularise, we must generalise, and content ourselves with saying what id indeed high praise, viz., that both the ladies and gentlemen of the corps dramatique thoroughly identified themselves with the individuals whom they personated. Consequently, their success was perfect. Nor do these remarks apply only to those who appeared in the comedy, they hold equally good with regard to those who played the truly laughable farce of ‟The Irish Tiger,” which followed it, and of which the following was the cast:—

That the opinion of all the spectators coincided with our own is manifest from the enthusiasm with which the amateurs were called before the curtain at the conclusion of each piece. Among the company we noticed Mr. Bonham Carter, Mrs. Douglas Galton, Miss Baring, Miss Kingdon, Mr. and Mrs Rickman, Captain, Mr., Miss, and Master Sandeman, Mr Harry Sumner and friends, Mr. Stowe, Rev. W. H. and Mrs. Hawker and party, Rev. R. E. Coles, Miss Blackmore and friend, Mrs. Shebbeare and the Misses Peskett, Mr. and the Misses Adams, Mr. Gray, Mr. Soames, Mr. Grain, Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Master Whitelock, Dr. Leachman, Mr. Elkington and party, Mr. and the Misses Shenton, Mr. Light and party, Mr., Mrs. and Miss Atkinson, Mr. and Miss Buxton, Mr. Mrs. and Miss Dusautoy, Mrs. Butterfield, Mrs. T. Howard and party, Mrs. and the Misses Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Cross, Captain and Mrs. Seward, Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Seward, Mr. and Mrs. Minty and Miss Pidgeon, Mr. Hunnard, Mr. Troughton, Mr. Cobbett, Mr. Eldrid, &c., &c., &c. A complimentary speech from J. Bonham Carter, Esq., M.P., which was responded to by Mr. W. G. Blanchard, the indefatigable stage manager, and succeeded by the National Anthem, not sung terminated the evening, which we can honestly record as one of the pleasantest we have ever spent in witnessing a dramatic exhibition. We must not forget to add that the necessary pauses between the acts were enlivened by a judicious selection of music, both vocal and instrumental, Mrs. Edward Faulkner providing the former, and Miss Aldous and Mr. Finley the latter. The encore which followed the song, and the applause which was bestowed on the pianoforte pieces, testified that the audience appreciated the merits of both. Nor must we omit to state what the amateurs themselves are all agreed on, viz., that without the valuable assistance of Mrs. Crafts they would have found it almost impossible to carry out their laudable project. Nothing now remains for us but to express a hope that the entertainment, at which we have been lately present, will not be the last as well as the first of the kind in Petersfield, but that the ladies and gentlemen who provided it will on some future occasion endeavour to wreathe some fresh laurels with those they have now so justly won.

See also 20-Apr-1865, 22-Apr-1865 & 25-Apr-1865