[ { "id": 211785, "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": 200, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "175\n\nwas enough to account for that. In addition quite a few women were the wives of missionaries, and in religious circles suspicions about the theatre in general and the role of females in particular often still lingered on. This was indeed so conspicuous that the list of \"contributors\" in the first issue of \"Puck\" (April 1, 1871!) mockingly included: “Our Dramatic Critiques will be undertaken by the Missionary Body who are so frequently absent from the Performances and will therefore be impartial judges of the merits of the Performances\". And then, of course, it may just have been possible that the taipans did not like to see their wives before the footlights with other men.\n\nReading about the early Thespian evenings one may nonetheless be fooled into thinking that women had in fact taken their place on the stage. In the circumstances it was only natural that the \"actresses” should be called \"Miss\" or \"Mrs.\", but what should we think about the glowing term in which one of them, a “Mrs Nesbit” (was this stage name a pun on the rather well-known British actress Louisa Nisbett?) was described on more than one occasion:\n\n“The acting of our charming favourite Mrs. Nesbit, as Mrs. Lullaby [in Henry Danvers' A Conjugal Lesson, on March 26, 1857 – JH] left nothing to be desired. It was perfect of its kind and were it not that she gave a too vivid, and, it may be, truthful portrait of that dread of club-haunting bachelors like ourselves, the matrimonial chamber, we could on the instant have made Mrs. Nesbit the offer of our hand”.* Stronger even, on February 16, 1859:\n\n#\n\n\"But where shall we find words to express our admiration of Mrs. Nesbit, that beautiful Nesbit, who, blessed with an incomparable modiste, displayed so many feminine graces, such latent charms, as effectually to revive the enthusiasm of our younger days and cause us to run round the stage door in the hope of once more beholding so fair a 'genius of the lamps'.\n\n* 34\n\nAnd in an epilogue to the evening of May 26, 1864, the ladies were again put under the spotlight:\n\n\"But stay! The Ladies' praises must be sung. These Belles were surely meant to be well rung. There's Wiggins, Lizzie, Baby, only choose.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211789, "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": 204, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "179\n\nAs was common, it was occasionally furbished up, not always to the taste of the critic who at one time in 1857 feared the decorations \"threatened to overwhelm me with a fall of flowers and garlands from the roof\". This was not at all what a member of the amateur company wanted to hear and he acidly reacted that \"as your 'witty (?) contributor' complained of being so uncomfortable amongst the roses which surrounded him, it has been proposed and seconded by one of the ladies he admires so much |Mrs. Nesbit, cf. Calendar, 26.3.1857 — JHJ to put in a few thistles for his especial benefit, should he ever honour our private theatricals with his presence”. \n\nThe theatre was also used for a number of recitals, the acoustics reportedly being good.\n\nD.\n\nFor some reason or other (had the Commercial House temporarily closed down? cf note 94) the godown theatre could not be put at the disposal of the amateurs during the 1855-1856 season so they had to look elsewhere. They were saved by the firm of Cramptons, Hanbury & Co who agreed to lease one of their godowns to the A.D.C. It was very probably situated on Church Street (Kiangsi Road) and for the opening night on January 23 1856 a drop scene of the Lake of Geneva had been painted which aroused \"a general murmur of admiration and applause\".\n\nWith the sale by public auction of the Commercial Hotel (cf note 94) in November 1858 the fate of the Theatre Royal was also sealed, and not only of the theatre itself but of the scenery and properties too, for a reporter of the Herald saw a few days after the sale \"the mangled remains of Palaces and Cottages, of Bombastes' Wood [from Bombastes Furioso — JHJ] and Captain Copp's tavern [from Charles II — JHJ] lying in sad ruins in the open air\".\n\nE.\n\nSic transit gloria mundi, but, not deterred, the Thespian society managed to obtain a new building which was proudly called The New Theatre Royal. Once again we are at a loss where to find it, no information whatsoever appearing in the Herald. It was larger than the previous house, which was deemed all right for theatricals but much less so for solo", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211809, "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": 224, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "199\n\n-- it may, however, improve on further acquaintance but we had no other opportunity of judging during the evening\". The \"Turkophonini” could be heard in a solo with variations and it was deemed \"by far the most perfect and pleasing instrument of the two`. The Shanghai Redowa Waise (Redowa: a Bohemian dance) which had been \"composed expressly for this Concert and dedicated to the Ladies of Shanghai — as the programme informed us\", also performed on the Turkophonini was not thought of \"very highly”, but it convinced the reporter that \"the instrument is well adopted for that class of music\". Obviously not everyone in the audience was of the same view, for the editor wrote in the Herald of September 27: \"The critique of our reporter has been much discussed in fashionable circles and the correctness of his judgement as to the perfection of these new instruments questioned. Knowing his high attainments as a musician, we defer to his opinion. Matters of taste do not admit of dispute. De gustibus non est disputandum. We may all enjoy our own and as a second glass of wine enables us to pronounce better judgement as to its quality, so will this second performance (on September 29) by familiarizing us with the instruments enable us better to decide upon their excellence\". In Hong Kong the China Mail could not speak \"in very warm terms of praise at least as regards their suitability for solo performances\" (CM 21.8.1856). On the other hand it admitted that \"by men of cultivated taste M. Ali's talents are fully appreciated and it will be long ere those who have had the pleasure of listening to his performances will forget the sweet but powerful tones of the Turkophone or the duleet melody of the Grand Clarionet and Turkophonini\" (CM 16.10.1856). Ali Ben Sou Alle was assisted by local amateurs who played a number of pieces including two Rossini overtures on the piano; and \"very creditably\" sung Mendelssohn's \"The Fairest Flower\".\n\nThe evening was attended by a \"numerous audience, comprising the beauty and fashion of our Settlement'' (NCH 20.8.1856).\n\n29.9.1856 (Mon)\n\nA second concert by Ali Ben Sou Alle.\n\nNo review was published in the Herald, only an announcement (NCH 27.9.1856).\n\n18.2.1857 (Wedn)\n\nD. BOUCICAULT & C. MATHEWS: \"Used Up\" (1846)\n\nT: Comedietta (2 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: “Box and Cox\" (1847)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Prologue\n\nTh: N.N. (C)\n\n―\n\nR: The season opened both under the new management of \"Peter PROTEUS\" (again: a stage name, Proteus being an old Greek who could assume different shapes, as some actors are able to; also a character from Shakespeare's \"Two Gentlemen of Verona') and with a new theatrical reviewer in the Herald: \"The Man on the Bund\" (for the current season only). And although some months later he was heavily criticized because of some strictures he made about the choice of plays, in general his articles in a highly personal style were a mere continuation of the \"nothing but praise\" attitude that so prevailed. Thus Used Up was \"rendered with unquestionable ability by Mr. Peter Proteus, the manager\" who himself played Sir Charles Coldstream; and Mr. CLAY gave the part of the forlorn, but blunt and honest blacksmith Ironbrace with much skill and effect\". Making her debut Mrs. NESBIT impersonated Lady Clutterbuck: \"One would not have thought that so much deceit could lurk under so smooth and charming a face\". She brought to this part \"not only much cleverness and knowledge of the feminine heart but a very imposing person and decided good looks; and one could not help thinking the baronet might have stumbled upon a less pretty face in his", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211811, "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": 226, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "201\n\n+\n\nhimself uncomfortable, with one of the nicest looking creatures for a wife imaginable. (...) Mr. BRUSHWOOD did the 'green eyed monster' admirably and the character suited him well—we mean of course artistically. By a skilful arrangement the warmth of a kiss was made to be followed by Cool as a Cucumber. Did the manager intend this to impart a deeper meaning than is conveyed on the face of the \"play-bill\"? We have an esteem for him and hope not: for although a kiss is, sometimes, but the prelude of a coolness that surpasses even that of a cucumber, we would not have Mr PROTEUS openly hint as much\". This piece called forth all the powers of the manager himself, and so perfectly was the coolness of Mr. Plumper exhibited, whether as regards the criticism of Mr. Barkins' face or his sherry, that, had he stepped from the neighbouring ice-house directly upon the stage, he could not have looked cooler (this was a reference to the Commercial Hotel; see note 94) What a desirable companion he would make, we thought, for the hot weather, but Mr. Proteus must be so, indeed, in any weather. The playing was well sustained throughout and Mr. BRUSHWOOD did his best — and that was not a little — to fret and fume as ‘Old Barkins' — but we can scarcely say that he looked a heavy father\" (the heavy father was one of the specialist roles in a stock company). A Conjugal Lesson was \"decidedly the crowning piece of the evening and was performed with an amount of case and artistic ability which elicited loud and well merited applause\". And as the critic had evidently taken a fancy to \"Mrs. NESBIT” he continued that she “looked more fascinating and piquant than ever and quite won the hearts of the bachelor portion of the audience who were altogether at a loss to understand the bad taste of Mr. Lullaby who could stay away from such an attraction till three in the morning!” (NCH 28.3.1857).\n\n23.4.1857 (Thur)\n\nT. TAYLOR: \"Still Waters Run Deep\" (1856)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: “A Capital Match” (1852)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: N.N. (C\n\n—\n\nR: That other favourite of the reviewer, Peter PROTEUS, had resigned and so the evening had to do without him. In the introduction to his report, the \"Man on the Bund\" referred to the playbill which informed him \"in capitals of vermillion that Still Waters Run Deep and of other matters besides in the like flaming manner”. About the piece he was not at all content: \"Muddy waters, however, as well as still, they turned out to be. This piece is one of those incongruous mixtures of French novel morality and English domestic life, which is as offensive and preposterous, as it is ludicrous. London milliners may persist in imitating the extravagances of French crinoline and superabundant circumference: they dress up our wives and sisters until they have destroyed every graceful curve they may have and make them look like balloons endowed with feminine heads and shoulders; and with a growl we may submit to this perversion of taste and whim of fashion. But when our playwrights, in their dearth of invention, ransack the repertories of the minor Parisian theatres for something new, which they themselves cannot originate, and stumbling upon the old and stale subject of Parisian conjugal infidelity, try to fit it into English social life, especially that of the middle class, the attempt excites at once our scorn and laughter, and ought, like monstrous bandorgans and other nuisances, to be put a stop to\". Small wonder then that in it \"there was much good acting thrown away. Mr. CLAY performed, throughout, the part he had undertaken, admirably. His conception of his character was good and was given with fidelity and ability. It was just how a blunt, honest Englishman might have been expected to act when, by some extraordinary chance, his domestic privacy is invaded by such a frenchified monstrosity as Captain Hawkesley. Mr. ROLLER too did the lean and slippered Pantaloon most successfully. His ease of manner on the stage and finished...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211812, "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": 227, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "202\n\nByeplay showed that, although his first appearance here, it is by no means his first attempt at acting\". But another anti-French jibe was added when he wrote: \"Mrs. NESBIT and Miss DEXTER play indifferently and we are rather proud of it — for as they only profess to play English female characters it was no wonder that they did not feel at home\". These acid comments drew forth a letter from \"Another Man on the Bund\" in the Herald of May 2 in which a counterweight was offered: \"Are we to take the opinion of this would-be orator in preference to the unanimous opinion of the rest of the community? What meant those thunders of applause repeated again and again in a manner that has never been heard in Shanghai and the repeated calls at the fall of the curtain; are we to believe that a piece that has had an almost unprecedented run in both England and America and in the former country was played by the express command of Her Majesty at her own palace is worthless or so bad because condemned by 'The Man on the Bund?' (...) My own and the general opinion outside is that The Man on the Bund at the time of writing the above was either labouring under a severe attack of bile or intensely disgusted that the acknowledged best performance ever given here should have been given without the assistance of himself or his darling Peter Proteus\". After, at any rate his disappointment about Still Waters, in A Capital Match Mr. BRUSHWOOD restored \"The Man on the Bund\" to his comfort and equanimity, nay more, utterly overturned our critical gravity and made us laugh like the veriest schoolboy at a favourite pantomime\". Mr. Beverly NEWCOME made his debut and he appeared to be quite at home in the naval character and we admired his style almost as much as the widow did. And the widow; none other than Mrs. NESBIT. It was also the occasion on which the critic showed his disapproval of the new interior of the theatre: \"'On entering the Thespian temple, I observed that there had been a change in the decoration of it - I cannot add improvements. The same taste which had furnished me with a posting bill streaked all over with lightning threatened to overwhelm me with a fall of flowers and garlands from the roof and treat me as if I were a prima donna or the boeuf gras of a Parisian festival\". Yet, thinking about Mrs. Nesbit, he continued ironically: \"What will a man not undergo when a woman is on the tapis! So, in imminent danger of being garlanded, like the Ass of Silenus [attendant of Bacchus usually represented as riding on an ass, drunken and crowned with flowers — JH] in a classic fresco, I took my seat and, unfolding my portentous play bill, began to scan it over at my leisure\". (NCH 25.4.1857).\n\n8.10.1857 (Thur)\n\nM. BARNETT: \"The Serious Family\" (1849)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nB.N. WEBSTER: \"The Golden Farmer\" (1832)\n\nT: Domestic drama (2 acts)\n\nJ.S. COYNE: \"Binks the Bagman\" (1843)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: The \"Union Theatrical Company of the U.S.S. San Jacinto\"\n\nTh: On board ship\n\nN: More entertainment had been given by the crew of this ship, but this is the only one which has been recorded.\n\nR: Specially noticed was the prison scene in The Golden Farmer wherein the robber \"takes a tender farewell of his beloved wife and infant daughter Louisa. It brought moisture to the eyes of many\". Could it be of laughter, bearing in mind the ruling travesties? (NCH 10.10.1857). The San Jacinto was a U.S. warsteamer with a crew of 218.\n\n29.12.1857 (Tue)\n\nEntertainment by Mr. George Henri, a conjurer and ventriloquist. Th: Theatre Royal (C)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211815, "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": 230, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "205\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: Alter the usual doubts about the formation of a theatrical company for the season, two plays were given this evening. The theatre had been redecorated and there was a new drop scene, not quite to the liking of the critic though: \"however picturesque and attractive the drop scene may be it ought not to absorb the attention of the onlookers to the exclusion of other objects quite as attractive and much more interesting\". Considering how much stage furniture was normal at that time, this performance must have been very crowded!\n\nOne of the plays, Done on Both Sides, also came in for some sharp remarks, yet this time there was no public outcry in the Herald. But for the remainder the principal character, Henry Jasper (in A Bachelor of Arts) was most successfully personated by Mr. NEWCOME who greatly excelled his efforts on a former occasion and succeeded in placing himself in the foremost ranks of our genteel comedians. Not less finished and effective was the acting of Mr. PICKWICK, in the character of Mr. Thornton. It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive a more quiet and judicious representation of the intelligent, gentleman-like, elderly merchant and man of the world than this performer succeeded in giving. \"Mr. PICKWICK as one of the new members of the corps, we look upon as a decidedly valuable acquisition\". And of course there was that \"first star of the galaxy\" Mrs. NESBIT as Emma Thornton with her \"astonishing powers of portraying the multifarious and often uncomprehensible traits of character which make up that delightful enigma 'woman'\". In Done on Both Sides \"our old favorite Mr. BRUSHWOOD appeared in the character of Pygmalion Phibbs, a veterinary Surgeon\" (NCH 13.2.1858). For behaviour of some members of the public see Survey.\n\n16.3.1858 (Tue)\n\nJ.H. PAYNE: \"Charles the Second\" (1824)\n\nT: Comedy (2 acts)\n\nH. LILLIE: \"As Like as Two Peas\" (1854)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by Messrs Phu & Mor; a selection of overtures and operatic morceaux\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (C)\n\nN: Second performance of the season.\n\nR: Again one of the pieces, As Like as Two Peas, was not quite up to the standards of the reviewer: \"what was successful in creating laughter was due to the acting, certainly not to the play\". Mrs. NESBIT got some competition tonight for an \"actress of much promise made her debut before the Shanghai audience [Miss WALTERS – JHJ]. The lady-like manner and finished toilette of the new candidate created quite a sensation\". Payne's Charles the Second was far more to the taste of Herald: \"On this occasion the corps took a large step backward — not, we would for an instant wish to infer, in point of ability, but merely in point of time. Hitherto their efforts have been enlisted upon contemporaneous subjects upon the manners and custom of the present day (this was not quite true, see e.g. 21.4.1851 and 26.1.1852). Their characters have been taken from the sunny side of Regent Street or the genteel suburbs of Clapham and exhibited on the stage in the costumes to which the genius of living tailors has brought us, and which we, in our foolish vanity, may consider elegant and becoming, but which, it is mortifying to think, will furnish a subject of lively mirth and ridicule to our great-grandchildren. The comedy selected went back to the time of Charles II and was illustrative of the manners of himself and his court. The scenes were laid in Whitehall and Wapping; and the characters were the courtiers of the merry Monarch and the occupants of a hostelry. The mise-en-scene, considering the means the amateurs have at command, was very well arranged and the two royal and noble revellers, together with the attendant Page and Lady Clara, were dressed with great elegance and effect.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211816, "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": 231, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "206\n\n(...) Our first favourite was Captain Copp. This is a glorious character and was performed faultlessly [by Benjamin BLUSTER-JH]. From the first moment we made his acquaintance until we took a reluctant leave of him, our heart was kept in a continuous glow by his honest face, his blunt, sea-faring manner; his rugged but kindly touches of feeling, harmonically blended together as they were by his ceremonial bursts of good humoured jollity. Every time he broke out with his favourite stave\n\n'In the time of the Dump\n\nWhen Old Admiral Trump'\n\nwe felt a strong inclination to hear more of it and were scarcely pleased with Mary for stopping it so abruptly. (...) Mary's taste in the choice of a lover was unexceptionable - a compliment which cannot be said with truth, of pretty girls generally. The page who was the favoured suitor deserved his good fortune: he played well and sung sweetly. It is some time indeed since we heard on the stage or elsewhere a song given with so much taste and expression (...). No wonder the pretty Mary melted under the influence of the mellow tones of such a music master\". And Mary? She was played of course by Mrs NESBIT who \"as usual placed before us a lively picture of the piquant and coquettish, but withal modest and pretty niece of the host of the 'Grand Admiral'; and she looked so enticing as to make some of those who were present and near us wish that they too were actors provided there was plenty of kissing in the play and such a delightful subject as herself to practice upon”. (NCH 20.3.1858). Again it should be stressed that all female characters were portrayed by men, which, paradoxically, probably allowed the critic to write in such a vein!\n\n5.5.1858 (Wedn)\n\nJ. COURTNEY: \"Time Tries All\" (1848)\n\nT: Drama (2 acts)\n\nJ.S. COYNE: “Urgent Private Affairs\" (1856) T: Farce (1 act)\n\nW.B. RHODES: \"Bombastes Furioso\" (1810) T: Burlesque tragic opera (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by the band of H.M.S. Highflyer\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (C)\n\nN: Third and final performance of the season\n\nR: For a house that was \"crowded to the doors\" the curtain rose on a new drop scene **of a light and pretty character\". Once more Mrs. NESBIT could be admired, in Time Tries All, as Laura Leeson and \"too much credit could not be extended on her for the manner in which she brought before us the wilful, pettish but withal warm-hearted woman\". As her husband, Mr. Leeson, \"Mr. ROLLER was most successful; he has made for himself a 'spécialité' in this line of characters which it would be difficult to surpass or to replace. Mr. PICKWICK played the role of Matthew Bates and by **his judicious, quiet acting gained considerable and well-merited applause\". Mr. TINTINNABULUM (who also sung a \"pretty Irish ballad\") as the Hon Mr. Yawn \"was capital and exercised the propensity with which his cognomen so plainly gifts him with such arts as to make many of the audience strenuously follow his example\"; whereas Miss Fact and Mr. Tact found fit representatives in Miss WALTERS and Mr. BRUSWOOD. Some of the actors again appeared in the closing piece; Bombastes Furioso when Mr. Beverley NEWCOME impersonated General Bombastes, “a creditable performance, but the role was evidently not so well suited to the powers of that gentleman as other parts in which we have seen him\". King Artaxominous was taken by Mr. PICKWICK, Furbos by Mr. TINTINNABULUM and Destafina by Mrs. NESBIT. Concluding, the reviewer was \"especially pleased with the scenery of this and other", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211818, "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": 233, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "208\n\n12.10.1858 (Tue)\n\nConcert by Mr. Martin Simonsen\n\nN: No review was published.\n\nMr. Simonsen had also visited Hong Kong; there he had given his last recital on September 20, 1858 (CM 23.9.1858).\n\n16.2.1859 (Wedn)\n\nT: Comedy (2 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Whitebait at Greenwich\" (1853)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by the band of H.M.S. Highflyer\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (E)\n\nR: For the first night of the amateur season \"a very numerous audience was collected and the presence of nearly all the beauty and fashion (we allude to the eccentricities [what may these have been? - JH] of masculine as well as to the elegancies of feminine costumes) of Shanghai imparted to the front benches a very brilliant appearance, which was further enlivened by the smiling faces of two or three laughing cherubs whom we detected nestling under the maternal wing\". For the occasion the drop pictured \"a very faithful (our travels in Italy enable us to state) representation of a most romantic spot on the banks of the Lago Maggiore\". Sink or Swim was found to be a \"dull plagiarism upon our old favourite 'Used Up'\" but it passed off with the utmost special due to the talents and exertions of the actors\", among whom \"Mr. PETREL's Mr. Scampley struck us as well conceived, a swindling roué's impertinence dashed by a sense of uneasiness\", Mr. FARREN (again a stage name after a London actor: William Farren, 1786-1861) sustained Lord Yawnley \"admirably\" and Mr. PICKWICK displayed as Adam Stirling all \"the quaint humour of his immortal ancestor\". Miss WALTERS, however, was thought to have been less fit for the part of Mrs. Stirling. She did not upon all occasions evince that grave decorum which usually characterises the British matron\". Morton's Whitebait at Greenwich was, as on January 23, 1856, a hit. This time Mr. PICKWICK took the part of Benjamin Buzzard in a \"quiet and most natural style of acting\". Mr. Phunago BRUSHWOOD - \"an actor of the Keeley-Robinson school, possessing a racy humour of his own\" played John Small and it was \"a gem of low comedy\". Of course there was Mrs. NESBIT, as well as Miss WALTERS whose portrayal of the servant maid came off much better than her Mrs. Stirling: \"we do not wonder at Mr. Buzzard's having been caught by her saucy face and bright complexion\" (NCH 19.2.1859). (Robert Keeley, 1793-1869, and Frederick Robson, 1821-1864, were both well known low comedians in Britain).\n\n22.2.1859 (Tue)\n\nConcert by Prof. Shonbrun, piano, and some local amateurs.\n\nTh: Theatre Royal (E)\n\n+\n\nR: The concert was given in the (New) Theatre Royal of the amateur dramatic corps, but acoustically it was not very satisfactory. No wonder that many of Mr. SHONBRUN's best efforts and most brilliant passages did not fully reach the audience\", an audience which was not very numerous in the first place, which too has its influence on the sound. For the following concert it was foreseen that \"a small scene will be erected and the wings closed in\".\n\nFor the time being the critic refrained from any strictures on the soloist, except that he hoped that \"on the next occasion Mr. Shonbrun will lead us to a higher class of pianoforte music than that put forward on Tuesday last\". It will come as no surprise that there was a eulogy on the amateurs who participated: \"the tenor solos were given with taste and genuine voice and the recall with which he was unanimously favoured was well merited\". (NCH 26.2.1859).\n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211819, "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": 234, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "209\n\n1.3.1859 (Mon)\n\nConcert by Prof. Shonbrun, piano, and some local amateurs (i.a. the Germania Singing Club) Programme:\n\nNo piano works were mentioned, with the exception of \"Monastery Bells\".\n\nVocal works: Sir Henry BISHOP: \"The Pilgrim of Love\", Wilhelm SPEYER (1790-1878) a bass aria, G. DONIZETTI: \"The great tenor aria from 'Lucia di Lammermoor\" (presumably \"Tombe degli avi miei – Fra poco a me ricovero\" from act III). Th: (New) Theatre Royal (E)\n\nR Were Shanghailanders music lovers or not? One wonders for again \"we were sorry to find so small an audience assembled on the occasion\", but the wretchedly wet state of the weather had no doubt much to do with this\". As it turned out the efforts of Mr. SHONBRUN were disappointing (at least in the ears of one critic — and how they may differ in opinion everyone knows). In this case the skill and artistic feeling which would be highly respectable in an amateur reflect no especial credit on a professional player and though Mr. SHONBRUN performed several pieces pleasingly we missed that precision, that brilliant crisp fingering and particularly that general careful finish which should characterize the true master of his instrument\". The amateurs were more appreciated and the tenor singer even had to repeat his Lucia aria. For the first time the “Germania Singing Club\" is mentioned, although there must have been earlier performances as the Herald says \"the number of the singers on Tuesday was much smaller than on former occasions\". Obviously it was in a somewhat precarious state for even a conductor was missing and the reviewer was \"constrained to say, without wishing to be too critical on the performers of amateur music, that the Association has not kept up to the standard which it established for itself by former deeds\" (NCH 12.3.1859).\n\n2.6.1859 (Thur)\n\nM. BARNETT: \"The Serious Family\" (1849)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Grimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: (New) Theatre Royal (E)\n\nR: Very late in the season the last amateur night went off. And although the review was by no means scathing, the editor of the Herald thought it wise to add that \"the heat at the theatre was extremely oppressive and this may have much to do with the lukewarm manner in which our critic speaks of the performances\". The Serious Family was described as \"an admirable satire upon that morbid and mistaken feeling of piety which regards a smile as wantonness, condemns gaiety as sin and backsliding”, nevertheless **as a scenic representation it smacks too much of dullness\". The leading parts were put on the stage by Miss Minnie O'NETTE, who acted Lady Sowerly Creamly \"to the life\"; and Mr. TINTINNABULUM upon whom \"the action of the Comedy seemed chiefly to rest. His stage bearing is admirable and his intonation excellent, but we may perhaps be permitted to take exception to his brogue which, however good as an assumption, scarcely denoted one to the manner born\". Mr. PICKWICK exerted \"to the utmost his undoubted talents for light comedy as Charles Torrens; on the other hand darling Mrs. NESBIT \"scarcely found opportunity in the part of Mrs. Torrens for the display of that vivacity which forms her chief merit\". Mr. BRUSHWOOD (00 lacked something in the role of Aminadab Sleck, viz \"that racy appreciation of his part which usually characterizes him and the hat and garb of the puritan did not sit easily upon that comical little figure which has on previous occasions so often convulsed us with merriment\". In contrast Miss WALTERS “looked and acted extremely well, causing us much regret that a drama more adapted to the exigencies of the Corps did not form the chief attraction of the evening. About the second piece, Grimshaw,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211820, "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": 235, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "210\n\nBagshaw and Bradshaw, the critic had to admit that \"what it was all about we were utterly unable to discover\" (NCH 4.6.1859).\n\n15.2.1860 (Wedn)\n\nL.S. BUCKINGHAM: \"Take that Girl Away\" (1855)\n\nT: Comedy (2 acts)\n\nC. SELBY: \"A Fearful Tragedy in the Seven Dials\" (1857)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: N.N. (F)\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: The new theatre was only a small one and therefore it was announced in the Herald of February 11 that \"admission will only be given to ticket holders. Tickets will be distributed with the Bills to the various Hongs and any Gentleman who may be accidentally omitted will be supplied on written application to the Manager\". From time to time politics continued to turn up in the playhouse. It was the time of the English and French wars in China; the United States was not taking part in them, only sharing in the spoils, yet the following remark closed the review: \"We beg permission to observe that we should have been glad to have seen the 'Star Spangled Banner' floating over the proscenium along with the colours of France and England. All honour to the Anglo-French Alliance! But our American cousins form, in every respect, so important a section of this community that the absence of their flag on an occasion like Wednesday evening would seem to be a discourtesy of which we feel very sure that the worthy management never was intentionally guilty\". Tonight, and on March 15, the faces of Messrs. PICKWICK, BRUSHWOOD, and TINTINNABULUM as well as that of Mrs. NESBIT were absent from the stage; others like Miss WALTERS and Mr. PETREL had remained. Making their debut were Mr. ADOLPHE, \"gifted with both self-possession and a good voice\"; Mr. WITHAM who, as Cuttle (in Take that Girl Away) \"displayed a steadiness and a clearness of enunciation calculated to make him a valuable actor in 'utility' parts\"; and Mr. NATIVE whom the reviewer thought \"better fitted to shine as a sentimental than as a grotesque lover\". Miss WALTERS was \"dressed to perfection, played as well as ever (can we say more!) and was charmingly feminine\". In A Fearful Tragedy in the Seven Dials, there was the first night of Mr. C. AITCH as Slumpington for whom **a great future success in 'character parts' was predicted. These hopes were not realised, however, for I have not found his name again. For the umpteenth time, the Herald judged the pieces that were represented weak - to put it mildly. (NCH 18.2.1860).\n\n15.3.1860 (Thur)\n\nT. TAYLOR: \"Still Waters Run Deep\" (1856)\n\nT: Comedy (3 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: \"Poor Pillicoddy\" (1848)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by the band of H.M.S. Imperieuse\n\nTh: N.N. (F)\n\nN: Second performance of the season\n\nR: This second night took place in a house that was \"crowded in every part\" and proved \"in every respect highly successful\". The \"Man on the Bund\" had no longer a say in the theatrical reports, and the piece about which he had been so dissatisfied (see 23.4.1857), Still Waters Run Deep got a far better critique now: \"in that scene in the second act in which the villain Hawksley is unmasked, the interest was raised to an exciting pitch and sterling dramatic ability displayed by the performers\". No actors were mentioned, but in Poor Pillicoddy, a \"young gentleman made his first appearance", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211821, "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": 236, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "211\n\non any stage with ease and aptitude. And the part of the soubrette was acted \"in a manner for which we had not given the young lady who sustained it credit\" (NCH 17.3.1860).\n\n10.5.1860 (Thur)\n\nJ. COURTNEY: “Time Tries All\" (1848)\n\nT: Drama (2 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: “To Paris and back for £5\" (1853)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Music by the Germania Singing Club and the band of the 101st regiment\n\nTh: N.N. (1)\n\nN: Third and last performance of the season\n\nR: Time Tries All was a revival from 1858 and in it some of the old familiar faces could be admired again. This time Mr. TINTINNBULUM personified Matthew Bates and he \"threw an amount of grace and feeling into his acting that make us well regret his absence in the two former representations“. Mrs NESRIT gave a repeat of her Laura Leeson. One of the newcomers, Mr. ADOLPHE, “has assumed the character of negative instead of the positive villain of the last representation and almost succeeded in making us gape, so natural was his representation of that peculiar because catching disease\". Phunago BRUSHWOOD reappeared in To Paris and back for £5 and this farce offered **full scope to his laughter moving capabilities, both as to acting and costume\". There was music too, by the Germania Singverein – which reminded the critic “of their own charming Soirées Musicales\" (not recorded). However, the construction of the theatre was \"such as to mar to a considerable extent the effect of their well chosen and well executed pieces“ (NCH 12.5.1860).\n\n17.3.1861 (Sunday)\n\nConcert by the band of the French 101st regiment, conducted by Mr. Dumas. Programme:\n\nG. DONIZETTI: \"La Favorita\", D.F.E. AUBER: \"La Part du Diable\", overture, **Haydée” (an opéra-comique), fantaisie, George BOUSQUET (1818-1854); “Hélène” (waltz), DENEAUX: Mazurka.\n\nLocation: Headquarters of General De Montauban at Messrs. Rémi, Schmidt & Co French Concession. (NCH 16.3.1861).\n\n24.3.1861 (Sunday)\n\nConcert by the band of the French 101st regiment, conducted by Mr. Dumas. Programme:\n\nGURTNER: Pas redoublé, DUMAS: Ronde tyrolienne. D.F.E. AUBER: \"La Muette de Portici\", overture, G. ROSSINI: **[Il Barbiere di Siviglia” fantasia, D.F.E. AUBER: **Les Diamants de la Couronne\", overture, “La Brise”.\n\nLocation: as on 17.3.1861 (NCH 23.3.1861).\n\n31.3.1861 (Sunday)\n\nConcert by the band of the French 101st regiment, conducted by Mr. Dumas.\n\nProgramme:\n\nBOSCH: Pas redoublé. C.W. VON GLUCK: \"Armide\", F.M.V. MASSE: \"La Chanteuse Voilée\", overture, G. ROSSINI: \"Mosè in Egitto”, chorus **Valse allemande“. GURTNER: \"France\" (polka).\n\nLocation: as on 17.3.1861 (NCH 30.3.1861)\n\nNovember 1861\n\nConcert by Signor Robbio.", "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 } ]