[
    {
        "id": 211810,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 225,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "200\n\nrash decision to marry the first that came\". Another actor who was to become a local Roscius. Mr. Phunago BRUSHWOOD, \"gave the somewhat unusual stage character of a double-faced farmer (Wurzel) all the selfish cunning and irritable tone which it needed\". Other parts were taken by Miss Polly DEXTER, Mr. HEAVISWELL, Mr. Jehoshaphat SNAKES and Mr. PLEADWELL (as the lawyer!).\n\nIn Box and Cox Messrs PROTEUS, BRUSHWOOD and Mrs. CLAY \"kept the audience in a roar\" (NCH 22.2.1857).\n\n3.3.1857 (Tue)\n\nDramatic readings from Charles Dickens by Mr. Benjamin SEARE. Th: C\n\n―\n\nR: In the Herald of February 28 it was announced that \"we are apprized by 'Circular' that an entertainment of a novel character in Shanghai, but one which has greatly attracted the fashionable and literary world elsewhere, will be given by Mr. Scare in the Hall of the Shanghai Theatre on Tuesday Evening next the 3rd prox. The subject - The Early Writings of Charles Dickens is a theme affording scope for great versatility of talent. (...) The Community are much indebted to Mr. Scare for his gratuitous offer of an evening's intellectual amusement to diversify and enliven the monotony of Shanghai life. The Circular notifies that the divertissement will commence at half past 8 & precisely, that no personal invitations will be issued and that a syllabus of the Lecture will be placed in each seat for the use and acceptance of its occupant”. Then, in the issue of March 7, a report was published: \"A large and select circle of residents had met in the New Theatre\". It became a kind of one man show by Mr. Seare, as the \"requirements of versatility and mimic power were most successfully supplied. (...) The lecturer was perfectly at home in each and all of the various characters as they turned up, passed from one to another with an ease that was admirable and portrayed each with a force of comic power which elicited much applause, and, to select the most appropriate compliment we can bestow, did justice to the author. All in all the audience was \"kept in a roar”. Mr. Seare concluded with some general remarks on the necessity of some recreation of this kind in a community so distant from home and so isolated and comprising at the same time so much intelligence and ability\" (NCH 7.3.1857). One wonders how Mr. Seare was able to give these lectures free of charge; had he been a touring artist that would of course have been impossible. But as it turns out he was a mercantile assistant in the employment of Gilman & Co (this according to the Shanghai Almanac for 1858). In May 1865 he gave another performance (see 27.5.1865). No further details are available about the programme, but no doubt the characters from The Pickwick Papers figured largely in it. Who, after all, can resist Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Jingle and Sam Weller? Dickens himself began readings from his own works one year later, in April 1858, in Britain and the United States.\n\n26.3.1857 (Thur)\n\nJ.B. BUCKSTONE: \"A Kiss in the Dark\" (1840)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nM.B.W. JERROLD: \"Cool as a Cucumber\" (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nH. DANVERS: \"A Conjugal Lesson\" (1856)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: N.N. (CH\n\nR: In a witty mind \"The Man on the Bund\" informed us that \"by way of introduction there was a kiss — and in the dark too! — perhaps the sweetest kiss of all, administered with enviable gusto by Mr. SNAKES as Fathom. Mrs. Pettibone submitted to it with less indignation than the fact of her being so much respected led us to suppose. But then, it was to punish the odiously jealous Mr. Pettibone who would insist on making\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211842,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 257,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "232\n\nnot heard before and of which the best that can be said is that they are decidedly original. They seemed an imitation of the noise of braying of donkeys, but still they elicited great applause from the gallery [which was generally not regarded as very complimentary JH] perhaps from a certain feeling of sympathy. An amateur played Weber's \"Aufforderung zum Tanz\" with a \"perfect feeling\". To conclude the evening Mme SIMONSEN sung the \"Valse de concert\" (composer unmentioned) in which \"she displayed her powers more than in any other piece she has sung\" (SCR 22.5.1865).\n\n24.5.1865 (Wedn)\n\nH. MAYHEW: \"The Wandering Minstrel“ (1834)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nJ.P. PLANCHE: \"The Knights of the Round Table” (1854)\n\nT: Drama (5 acts)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Mounted Rangers\n\nF: Music by the Band of the 67th Regiment; prologue read by Capt. Markham\n\nTh: Lyceum Theatre (1)\n\n―\n\nR: In lieu of the old time favourites, Messrs Brushwood, Pickwick, Newcome and Mrs. Nesbit had come new faces. Most foreigners had not yet made Shanghai their permanent place of residence, so turnover in the theatre too was rather high. Tonight could be admired Mr. SMALLWEED who, in the Knights of the Round Table, as \"the blameless king shewed a keen appreciation of his part and while he delivered the burlesque passages with much humour, proved by the taste with which he pronounced the prophetic eulogium on the Queen of England that he need not necessarily confine himself to broad burlesque in order to gain well-merited applause\"; Mr. Edmund (also a member of the Amateur Burlesque Company) won golden opinions as Launcelot, whereas Mr. PEEKT as Merlin \"displayed much cleverness in personating feeble old men\". In The Wandering Minstrel \"Mr. R.T. Larff, better known to the theatrical world as Mr. Wynnge (did this mean that he had two stage names? JH) sustained the reputation he has already gained as a low comedian and makes us the less deplore the absence of the well known and inimitable Brushwood” (last recorded performance 10.5.1860). Of course the female roles were taken by men, which led, as it always does, to some ridiculous scenes: \"The company possesses great strength in the important particular of lady performers. The only drawback which, however, is immaterial in burlesque, lies in the great height and muscular development of the fair ones\". Yet Miss Mary MIDDLESEX \"bore away the palm for natural feminine get-up\" and \"nothing could excel the dash which Kate COVENTRY threw into the part of the vivandière\", (NCH 27.5.1865). That not all patrons were equally pleased became evident from the Shanghai Commercial Record (5.6.1865) when it wrote: \"an allusion which was considered too personal led to a corresponding in our columns\" (i.e. the \"Shanghai Recorder\" which to the great regret of all historians treating the history of foreign Shanghai can no longer be found). At the end of the evening a number of toasts were proposed, among others to \"Alabaster, to whose exertions much of the success of the company was due\". This was a reference to Chaloner Alabaster (1831-1890), the British vice-consul who was also active in the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. In conclusion the Herald reported that \"the arrangements were excellent and notwithstanding the warmth of the evening and the crowded state of the theatre, the air within the walls did not become oppressively hot. Punkahs were slung over the front seats and during the temporary pauses kept up a current of air\",\n\n27.5.1865 (Sat)\n\nPerformance by Mr. Benjamin Seare. Programme unknown (reading, etc)\n\nTh: Lyceum Theatre (1)\n\nR: Both the Herald and the Record agreed that Mr. SEARE \"is possessed of great talent\"",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211843,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 258,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "233\n\n(SCR 5,6. 1865). \"The gentleman is gifted with rare powers of voice and action which enable him to throw an immense amount of dramatic spirit in his readings and recitations\" (NCH 3.6.1865). It was his second (recorded) performance; earlier he had been successful on March 3 1857.\n\n1.6.1865 (Thur)\n\nPerformance by the Shanghai Amateur Burlesque Company Ltd.\n\nNo titles have been recorded. (NCH 3.6.1865; SCR 5.6.1865)\n\nR: It was \"not quite so successful as some of their previous representations\" (SCR).\n\n3.6.1865 (Sat)\n\nPerformance by Mr. Benjamin Seare.\n\nTh: N.N. (I)\n\nEarly June 1865\n\nConcerts by the Police Band on the Bund.\n\n17.6.1865 (Sat)\n\nC. SELBY: \"The Unfinished Gentleman\" (1834)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs of the 67th Regiment\n\nF: Music\n\nTh: N.N.\n\nR: Whereas in days gone by it was quite usual that there were only a couple of theatrical or musical entertainments during the whole season, now, after a fortnight since the last occasion, the Herald complained that \"considerable dullness has prevailed in Shanghai during the week owing to the lack of any public amusement of any description\" (NCH 17,6,1865). The night of the 17th was \"well attended and gave great satisfaction” (NCH 24.6.1865).\n\n30.9.1865 (Sat)\n\nW. BROUGH & A. HALLIDAY: \"The Area Belle\" (1864)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"The 'Grin' Bushes or Missis Brown of the Mississippi\" (1864)\n\nT: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act)\n\nC: Shanghai Amateurs Burlesque Company Ltd\n\nTh: N.N. (1)\n\nR: This was the first night of the new season (NCH 30.9.1865). No review was published in the Herald or the Record.\n\n10.11.1865 (Fri)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"Princess Springtime\" (1864)\n\nT: Fairy extravaganza\n\nJ. KENNEY: “Turn Out!\" (announced as \"Turn Him Out!'')\n\nT: Musical farce (2 acts)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Mounted Rangers\n\nF: Prologue spoken by Capt. Markham\n\nTh: N.N.\n\nR: The evening \"proved a complete success. The acting throughout was excellent and not a single hitch occurred\" (NCH 16.11.1865)\n\n20.11.1865 (Mon)\n\nRepeat of 11.11.1865,\n\nR: The proceeds of this performance went to the Shanghai Hospital, an institution founded",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    }
]