Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-03-20
THE STAGE 1(''i "TRffBY" lili;iIf'"
pU MAuRIER's HEROINE SECONDARY
TO SvEN0ALl IN THE PLAY.
4 Boston Critic Says That the soens Where
TriIby Sees tho Corpse of tho Musician
IL Akin To Reading Du Msurssr by
Washes Of Lightning.


FLASHES Of Lightning.
Despite tho fact that the title Of "TrIl-
by" IL ono To conjurc with, tho play which
Mr.. Paul Potter has adroitly fashioned
from Du MAuriors novel might DO moro
appropriately named "Svongnli.' IL Is
this character In which Is incnrnntcd tho
ruling motif Of hypnotism that dominates
tho play from tho moment he appears In
the three Englishmen's studio to tho cul-
minating situation Of his death. 1t Is this
powerful and sinister figure In which tho
dramatic interest OF tho story IL centered,
and supcrlative as tho eharm of parsonage
OF the heroine Is In tho printed pages IL Is
subordinatod when 10 oomos to question
OF ian acting play" to the deus OK ma
china, tho instrument OF tho gods In tho
weirdly tragic form Of Svongali. Tho
playwright has separated tho thoatrio
wheat from tho literary chaff, and select
ing the hypnotic forco exorted by Svongali
developed 1t from the first net to the end
of the third. The result is that Trilby ap-
pears before tho footlights as species Of a
Gretchen or Marguerite In the tolls OF a
modern Mephistophelos, the character In
which Mr.. Wilton Lackaye has demon
strated his possession Of talent of so high
an order. Tho Svengali OF act 3-tbe sue
cessful magician OF music, tho serpent
who has fascinated tho bird TO sing Mt will
lis a heroic figure indeed, even in his
malignity, compared to tho snarling crea-
turo Of dubious expedients In tho earlier
scenes. The disease Of the heart from
which he Is about to expire Is indicated
by the dead white pallor of the counte-
nance, that contrasts with the beotling
brows and name of coal black hair.
The effect OF the parsonage OF Trilby in
the play, oven moro sweepingly than In
tho novel itself, Is that of a creature
moved and swayed by personal force su-
perior to her own. Theatrically tho effect
is perhaps unwittingly to subordinate Du
Maurier's heroine to "tho villain who still
pursues" her. Yet In this complex char
acter Miss Virginia Harmed has presented
a plausible parsonage and one which will
enhance her reputation as clever actress.
The beaute du diable of the girlish Trilby
can only be suggested, as may indeed the
stature Of young giantess wide Du Mau-
rier) who, for stage purposes, must not
mako Little Billee ridiculous by towering
above him.
In the scenes Of hypnotism Miss Harmed
succeeds In establishing and maintaining
q complete illusion, and she Is "as graceful
as q lily on it's stalk" in the capital episode
of tho play, the scene in the foyer OF the
Cirque The actress is draped In classic
robes Of soft white stuff embroidered In
gold, her bare feet are sandaled, and she
carries hugo bunch Of Easter lilies.
The play will enjoy, to begin with, an
immense success of curiosity, and, to sup
plement that interest, a vogue founded
upon its own merits. Had the audience to
whom 1t Is now presented been simply re-
galed with the entrance Of character after
character In the guisc of the personages
with whom the public has been made dou-
bly, familiar-for Du Maurier Is we'll nigh
unique in suppementing the pen by the
poncil-their interest would have pre-
sently died away. 1t was not enough
that Trilby and Svongali, Taffy, the
should bo "made up like tho now famil-
lar drawings and descriptions of Du Maui
rier, although that much was imperative.
Once the model for "tho altogether" came
in in her singularly picturesque accouter-
monts, once the physique and apparel Of
the other personages were found to answer
to preconceived ideals, the audience settled
back to judge tho play as drama and not
as mere series of living pictures. 1t was
then that tho playwright was found to
havo selected the hypnotic element as his
oheval de bataille, and the character OF
! Svongali, therefore, became perforce the
principal rolc of the piece.
The aim of the dramatist Is to supply a
character who "does something" and
who, whether for good or for evil, brings
about results. In this instance Svengali
acts in tho sense of executes. while Trilby
becomes his instrument and some of the
other characters In the piece eithor his tool,
like Gecko or powerless to interiors, as In
the case of Little Billee Taffy and the
Laird. The quarrel between these men
and the mystical musician Is we'll devised
to occur just before his death, and it Is
their action at this junoture that helps to
give life and movement to tho excellent
third act, where Gccko's revolt also pre-
cipitates the climax of tho dramatic inter
est. The audience is therefore provided
with twin satisfaction-that Of recalling
the truly great scene of the novel; where,
In his matchless prose, Du Maurier has
described the fasco of the erst hypnotized
heroine and tho death In his box Of Sven.
gall, and of beholding these well remem-
bered elements put into action. The effect
is very much as though one were assisting
ut tho brilliant debut In public Of some
personal friends.
Say what one will, the pleasure the
reader derives from book, great as 1t is,
Is less intense than the emotion furnished
by tho more human and personal incl
dents OF an acted play, and whom tho spec.
tator who knows his "Trilby" by heart
sees the shattered goddess Of song In her
gold lowered robes sweeping past the liv-
ing wall that screens from her tho CHASTITY
corpse Of the lifeless musician, hon ging
backward over tho table, one experiences a
coup du theatre which can only be do
scribed as akin to reading Du Maurier by
flashes OF lightning. Boston Herald.