Next to Drury Lane, the theatres which have of late years maintained the best reputation for good old-fashioned phantom have been the Surrey and the Grand Theatve at Islington; but three new theatres—the Metropole at Camberwell, the Brixton in that suburb, and the Borough theatre at Stratford-by-Bow, have this year run the old-established houses hard, if they have not even eclipsed them. Very few of the theatres attempt new subjects. Putting aside the Britannia at Hoxton, which has chosen "Giant and Dwarf" as its subject, Red Riding Hood" at the Novelty, "Three Blind Mice" at the Elephant and Castle, and "Mother Goose" at the Standard, five nursery legends will cover all the other pantomimes. There are four Cinderellas, three Aladdins, three Ah Babus and three Babes in the Wood. Some of these are capitally put on the stage, and although the casts are for the most part drawn from the music hall stage, the acting is as a rule good, there is plenty of fun and very little vulgarity. Some of the prettiest effects are produced in the way of aerial dances, which at Drury Lane especially, have reached a marvellous degree of perfection. The wires by which the dancers are suspended as they float about in
fine that it requires an excellent glass to the air and perform graceful dances are detect them; and nothing could be more fairy-like than this power of graceful flight which an ingenious stage carpenter of Drury Lane has brought to the aid of the corypheds.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.