A.D.C.
From those days has come down to us some rather amazing lines that refer apparently to an unnamed enthusiast who, in an access of realism, blacked not only his face but his whole body to play the part of Othello. They are well worth quoting:
"For my part I deem him a splendid fellow
Who blacked himself throughout to play Othello:
No London, no provincial town or borough
Can surely boast professional more thorough:
He felt the part, and when the boards he trod he
Became Othello, heart and soul - and body!
That prince of amateurs will stand alone,
Hongkong may take his measure, but his tone
Transcends the Peak, and let it be conceded
All honest players must go in as he did:
And unto much as choose "to go the whole hog"
Be offered as a tribute due, this Prologue."
We must now, I'm afraid, turn down an empty glass to this, the earliest chapter of our history, with keen regret that we know so little of it. There were no ladies on the stage in those days to receive the floral tributes of admiring occupants of the stalls, but the low comedian no doubt got his cauliflower bouquet, the "rafters rang" with "well deserved applause" and all concerned brought credit to the A.D.C. and earned the esteem of the age through which they passed. At any rate we hope so. We certainly have no reason for supposing anything to the contrary.
Opening Production
Possibly in 1860 the Victoria Theatre was abandoned as it was closed by the authorities. The Club then transferred its activities to the first "Theatre Royal", which was a matshed erected on the site where, six years later, the foundations were laid of the City Hall and that is occupied today by the Hongkong Bank. Fashions in matsheds have changed little since then and we can have no difficulty in visualising what was described as "a most ungainly edifice outside." It probably differed little in appearance from the matsheds that periodically are erected nowadays, for the temporary accommodation of travelling Chinese theatrical troupes - constructions of bamboo mats and light planks lashed together with strips of rattan.