Event Comment: "[In
Pizarro]
the effeminacy of
Alonzo's dress, better adopted for a ball-room than for scenes of warfare;
the magnificence of
the Spanish dungeon, in a country where
the Spanish invaders were fain to put up with tents for
their own accomodation;
the vile manner in which
the scene is bungled toge
ther, where
Cora leaves her infant child to
the fury of
the pitiless storm, whilst a hut stands most invitingly in sight;
the absurd introduction of Cora's song to
the accompaniment of thunder and lightning--but, above all,
the disgraceful additions made by
Mr Sheridan himself, with
the farcical termination of this sublime tragedy, by an
Irish howl over
the dead body of
Rolla;--all
these glaring defects, sufficient to damn any writer of less notoriety than Sheridan, still continue to outrage good-sense, and
the feelings of every spectator of taste and discernment...We are firmly of opinion that
the crowded houses this play still continues to draw are principally to be attributed to
the masterly acting of
the elder
Kemble" (
Dramatic Censor, I, 23-24). Receipts: #429 9s. (388.1; 40.1; 1.7)