Opening Performances at the Embassy Theatre Shanghai, Oct. 6.
Shanghai, we think, will" appre. ciate these players: Despite a some__ what scant house last evening, due to rain and certain counter attractions, they tly scored Bluebeard's Eighth Wife," Arthur Wimperis's adaptation of the French] comedy by Alfred Savoir. Alfred is well-named; he is evidently possessed of both savoir, faire and voir vive, "Bluebeard's Eighth fe" is not merely a comedy based on the eternal triangle. It is a conception of the eternal triangle em-Ybllishod by certain geometrical con-copts, namely, parallelopidedons, truncated cones, parabolas, hyper-oles, and hypotheses, such as only' a Frenchman could conceive. The adaptation is very clever, and®ne permitted to sense in the "Englis) Tines much of the Gallic idiom.
The critic has no intention of Bestowing bouquets on the individual performers, floral tributes which soon wither and all too clearly inter pret Hamlet's caustic observation anent the funeral baked meats which went gayly forth to deck the wed: ding feast. Experience has taught him te reserve final judgment until such time as he has seen them in. several plays, In the meantime, suffice it to say that they are emin-tently sound and.revenl a most sati factory glimpse of powers which will doubtless subsequently be confirmed. There was much genuine acting, las evening. If there ig any stricture] to be recorded, it is that the Briton] Thas yet to be born who can portray not only the true French accent, but} the abandon which popular concept-Yon ascribes to all that la Gallic Dear Miss April Vivian (whom the} calendar of, matrimony has convert ed into May, as Mrs. Forbes Rus-fell) struck a sympathetic note with ther attempts at the "Och-la-l business, conveying as they did, the! International Settlements idea the streets in the Concession Fran-ai for example, "Avenoo doo Roy Al-bear."
'The play is to be repented this evening, and we sincerely advise thone who can to see it. They find in it a touch of Penville Grahame Woodhouse, the reverse of the "Taming of the' Shrew," sors thing of "Cappy Ricks," a fragment of Kurt Goetz's "Der Lampenschism,"" and, above all, they ill find this quaint concept extremely well acted by an aggregation who} claim our most respectful attention.
Translated into the language of the man in the street, these people fare good. One of them has an ae sumed American accent. that made tthe critic almost, homesick—almo it bout not quite. What is far more te the point, they offer us some comparatively recent plays which have Attained to great popularity in the Homeland. A critical analysis of, how they comport themselves, wi follow upon their second perform "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife"
Oct.
Last evening's presentation of "Blucbeard's Eighth Wife," at the Embassy Theatre fully confirmed the very favourable impression conveyed by the initial performance of the Forbes Russell Comedy Company, and definitely established them as accomplished players: who have a world of excel Tent entertainment to offer us. One already anticipates an extension of their season, to enable them to repeat not only this delightful comedy, but certain other plays as well.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.