SCENE.--_Acts 1st & 3rd, in Paris. Act 2nd, near Prague._
Between the First and Second Acts of the Drama The Band will play the "Kate Terry Valse" (published by Hopwood & Crew)
Performed by command before the Sultan, Viceroy, & His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, by the Band of the 1st Life Guards.
Dedicated by the composer, Mr Henry King of Bath, to Miss Kate Terry.
On Friday to conclude with & on Saturday to commence with the
Major Choker Mr Shephard Mr John Parker Mr Charles Wyndham Mr Lionel Larkins Mr J. Robins Jonathan Mr R. Soutar Lady Barbara Choker Mrs Chas. Jones Kate Dalrymple Miss Ellen Terry
Doors open at seven o'clock. Performance to commence at half-past.
Private Boxes £3. 3s. and £1. 11s. 6d. Prices:--Stalls 6/. Lower Circle 5/. Upper Circle 2/. Pit 1/. Gallery 6d.
As the carrier-dove invariably, and often after a period of long absence, wings its way back to its first home, so in due time Ellen Terry, bringing with her her long-desired message, fluttered back to the stage. We have seen how in 1866 she appeared at the Olympic, playing Helen to her sister's Julia, in "The Hunchback." This was a special occasion, but in the following year she, to the great delight of the public, entered once more on a regular engagement. This was at the Queen's Theatre in Longacre, and it came at the right time. In the August of 1867 playgoers had mourned for the loss of their beloved Kate Terry. In the following October Ellen Terry was at hand to take her place in their hearts. In the previous June she had acted at the Holborn Theatre in a short-lived play by Tom Taylor, entitled "The Antipodes, or Ups and Downs of Life." In it she had the support of a good company, which included that wonderful actress Charlotte Saunders; but though the drama dealt more or less effectively with the racing element in England and the digging element in Australia, it gave little or no chance to the performers, and is only mentioned here for purposes of record.
It was at the Queen's that the new laurels were to be won.
To the playgoers of to-day, who are accustomed to the theatres of Shaftesbury Avenue and the Charing Cross Road, and who are even inclined to regard the historic Strand as a decaying home for the players, it may seem strange to think of houses in Holborn and Longacre, but the Queen's was in its brief day very popular, and to mention it conjures up many happy memories. It was there that John L. Toole appeared in some of his best domestic comedy parts, with such actors as Henry Irving, Lionel Brough, Charles Wyndham, John Clayton, and Henrietta Hodson for his comrades; it was there that all London flocked to see Hermann Vezin in F. C. Burnand's convincing drama, "The Turn of the Tide" (founded upon the then deservedly popular novel, "The Morals of Mayfair"), and in W. G. Wills's first ambitious play, "Hinko"; and it was there that Shakespearean students revelled in Samuel Phelps's perfect impersonation of Bottom the Weaver, and George Rignold's striking, nay, almost startling, rendering of Caliban. Alas! for its many memories, the Queen's Theatre is no more, and, instead of stage, footlights, and auditorium, its walls encase the works of a Longacre carriage-building firm.