The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-05-14

have learned to like, either from your
own reading or because someone mas
told you what jolly lot OF acqualn-
tances they are, will quite reach
your ideal, partly because everybody
mental picture could not be duplicated by
ever so Clever an artist and partly because
the cast Is only an ordinarily good com
pany OF persons. And IL you go to tho
theater under the impression that
YOU are to have the story
of "Trilby" retold on the stage,
as the author told 1t, you
are going to be disappointed, albeit when
the last curtain falls you will conclude
that the playwright has made about as
interesting a play as the author made
book.
For dramatic purposes "Trilby" is as
impossible as an impressionist picture.
There is hardly a tangible dramatic situa-
tion In it except the death oil Svengali
and the death of Trilby, and hardly
tangible dramatic character in 1t except
Svengali. For dramatic purposes Irllby
herself is only an impressions; Little
Billie is absolutely colorless;
the Laird offers no hope to the play
wright; Taffy gives him some chance;
but minor characters are the strongest
for setting on the stage, ard Svengal
alone OF the important creations oners
much to work with. And he is tragic.
Paul NJ. Potter Is an expert dramatist.
As a saw mill will reduce to finished
shingles an unwieldy piece OF TIM
Der, scattering the waste broadcast, so
Mr.. Potter will give you finished stage
work from any impossible material, al
though in the process good deal
of the material may be found
useless and thrown away. That the
dramatist's trained eve promptly saw
the impossibIlity of telling on the stage
the story of Trilby as it was told by Du
Maurior, and that the trained hand seized
promptly upon n vital dramatic char
acter and new and strong dra-
matte thought and let the rest OF the
story tell itself, as best 1t might,
on tho stage, is due the making of a
pretty good melodrama and play OF
more than average interest. The play
wright set to work TO make play and he
has made good on. lie has
plucked Svengali from the book, with
bis hypnotic power and his greed, and de-
veloped him as the central figure in a
dramatic story OF the unhappy fortune OF
Trilby brought under the spell of
weird power, TO the destruction of her
self and her master. This is good enough
material for any dramatist
The playwright has let the atmosphere
OF the book take care of itself, and il
does so very satisfactorily. You are fire.
quently presented with tableaux from
"Trilby" and quotations from "Trilbyn
while the playwright ht does not permit these
to confuse the story that he is telling
SO the pictures are pleasant II you want
Trilby pictures. To be sure Miss John
stone, in the earlier scenes, is inclined tc
give US a soubret idea of the Du Mauriel
creation, and Taffy is more heavy
than robust, and you fear Svengal
is going 10 be creation OF low comedy
But the people in the cast and the peopl,
that you have in your mind gradually
get together very satisfactorily before
the red curtain falls on climax tha
makes the audience jump, and rises agar
TO disclose n last ableau from DuMaurier'
wonderful pencil.
But you are 10 be pitied IL you sit mex
TO somebody who wants TO tell you, as th'
play proceeds, how closely or remotely d
follows the book. That Is worse than be
ing next door to the chap who tells you
while you watch Shakespeare, how mucl
of Shakespeare the stage editions leay'
out.
"Trilby" closes tomorrow night ant
there Is a matinee tomorrow. Ther
comes Sandow.