PETERSFIELD

AMATEUR DRAMATIC DRAWING ROOM ENTERTAINMENT.

     It is highly gratifying to state that the announced entertainments were given on Tuesday and Wednesday nights last, at the Dolphin Assembly Room, with the most complete success on each occasion, to a crowded and fashionable audience. Admission by tickets of invitation only. 

     The stage was erected by two of the Amateurs, and was a gem of its kind, being artistically correct (and so portable in its construction that it can be removed in four hours), and was a general theme of admiration.

     The following prologue, written expressly for the occasion, by Miss Nichols, of Petersfield, was admirably spoken by R. S. Cross, Esq., V.P. of the Club ; viz:— 

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Besides, they’re ‟passé”—out of date—absurd—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.

     After which, Tom Taylor's much admired comedy of ‟Still Waters Run Deep” was rendered in a very efficient manner by Amateurs—ladies and gentlemen of Petersfield—followed by the popular farce of ‟The Irish Tiger.”
     The whole of the characters in both pieces were well sustained, and if we may judge from the enthusiastic applause of the audience, gave complete satisfaction throughout; and we sincerely hope that on many occasions, during the coming winter months, this talented company will favour us with many ‟Drawing Room Entertainments” of similar class.


See also 20-Apr-1865