Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-24
THE STAGE "TRILBY"
pu MAURiER's HEROINE SECONDARY
 TO SvENGALl IN THE PLAY.

A Boston Critic Says That the Scene Where
 Triiby Sees the Corpse of the sfusiciar
 Is Akin to Reading Du Maurier by
 Flashes of Lightning.
 Despite the fact that the titlo of "Tril- by'' is one to conjure with, the play which MT. Paul Potter has adroitly fashioned from Du Maurer's novel might be moro appropriately named "Svengali. !" It is this character in which is incarnated the ruling motif of hypnotism that dominates tho play from tho moment he appears in tho three Englishmen' 6 studio to tho cu1- minating situation of his death. It is this powerful and sinister figure in which tho dramatic interest of tho story Is centered, and supcrlutive us tho charm of parsonage of tho heroine is in the printed pages it is subordinated when 1t comes to question of Ian acting pley,'' to tho deus OK ma china the instrument of the gods in the weirdly tragic forn, of Syengali. The playwright has separated the thcatric wheat from tho literary chaH, and select ing tho hypnotic force exerted by Svengali developed 1t from the first act to the end of the third. The result Is that Trilby ap- pears before the footlights as a species of a Gretchen or Marguerite in tho tolls of a
 
 which Mir Wilton Laokaye has demon strated his possession of talent of so high nn order The Svengali of act 8-the sue ccssful magician of music, the serpent who has fascinated tho bird to sing at will lis heroic figure indeed, oven in bis malignity, compared to the snarling crea- ture of dubious expedients in the earlier scenes The disease of tho heart from which he Is about to expire is indicated by the dead white pallor of the counte- nance, that contrasts with the beetling brows and mano of coal black hair.
 The effect of the parsonage of Trlby in the play, even more sweepingly than in tho novel iteclf, is that of creature moved and swayed by personal force su- perior to her own. Theatrically the effect is perhaps unwittingly to subordinate Du Maurier's heroine to the villain who still pursues' her. Yet in this complex char acter Miss Virginia Harmed has presented plausible pers onage and one which will enhance her reputation as clever actress. The beaute du diable of tho girlish Trilby can only be suggested as may indeed the stature of young giantcss (yide Du Mau- rier) who, for stage purposes, must not make Little Billee ridiculous by towering above him.
 In the scenes of hypnotism Miss Harmed succeeds in establishing and maintaining a complete illusion, and sho is ''as graceful as lily on its stalk" in the capital episode of the play, the scene in tho foyer of the Cirque. The actress is draped in classic robes of soft white stuff embroidered in gold, her bare feot are sandaled, and sho carries huge bunch of Easter lilies
 The play will enjoy, to begin with, m immense success of curiosity, and. to sup plement that interest vogue founded upon its own merits. Had the audience to whom it Is now presented been simply re- galed with the entrance of character after character in the guise of the personages with whom the public has been made dou- bly, familiar-for Du Maurier is well nigh unique in supplementing the pen by the pencil-their interest would have pre- sently died away. It was not enough that Trilby and Svengali, Taffy, the Laird and Little Billee and the rest should be made up'' like the now famil- far drawings and descriptions of Du Mau- rier, although that much was imperative. Once the model fer "tho altogether" came in in her singularly picturesque accouter- mcnts, once tho physique and apparel of the other personages were found to answer to preconceiyed ideals the audience settled back to judge the play as drama and not as mere series of living pictures. It was then that the playwright was found to have selected the hypnotic element as his cheval do bataille, and the character of Svongali therefore, became perforce the principal role of the piece.
 The aim of the dramatist is to supply character who does soinething,'' and who whether for good or for evil, brings about results. In this instance Svengall acts, in the sense of executes, while Trilby becomes his instrument and some Of the other characters in the piece either his tool, like Gecko, or powerless to interfere, as in the case of Little Billee, TafYy and the Laird. Tho quarrel between thesc men and the mystical musician is well devised to occur just before his death, and 1t is their action at this junoture that helps to give life and movement to the excellent third act where Gecko's revolt also pre- cipitates the climax of the 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 flasco of tho erst hypnotized heroine and the death in his box of Sven- gali, and of beholding these well remem- bered elements put into action. The effect is very much as though one were assisting at the brilliant debut in public of somo personal friends.
 Say what one will, the pleasure the reader derives from book, great as it is, is less intense than the emotion furnished by the more human and personal incl dents Of an acted play, and when the spec tator who knows his ''Trilby" by heart secs the shattered goddess of song in her gold lowered robes sweeping past the liv- ing wall that soreens from her the ghastly corpse of the lifeless musician, hanging backward over the table, ono experiences a coup du theatre which can only be de-