The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-28
SCORED A SUCCESS.
IMMENSE AUDIENCE WITNESSED
PERFORMANCE OF TRILBY.
Du Maurfer's Hypnotic Tale Makes
a Powerful Drama-AIatinee This
Afternoon and Closing Perform
ance Tonight.

The finest audience of the season, and
one of the finest audiences of any sea
son greeted the first performance of
the Palmer version of ''Trilby" ait the
theater last might. All the wit and
fashion turned out, while beauty filled
a large proportion of the auditorium.
OF course, nearly everyone had read
Du Maurier's fascinating novel and
were prepared to give prompt and deci-
ded judgment as to whether the char
acters were faithfully drawn. We be-
| fleYe they were more than satisfied ex-
| cept, perhaps, with the exception of
the Laird, who failed in some respects,
particularly in that Of dialect, to an
swer to the exact type defined by his
originator.
In a very short time after the cur
tain first rose, the audience was in
! thorough rapport with the perform
ers just as surely as the readers of the
! book become quickly into fellowship
with the same creatures. 1t is one OF
| the most difficult mental tasks to per-
suade ones self that Taffy and the
Laird and Billee and TriIby never
lived, as DIP Maurier assures us they
did not, but were simply creatures OF
his imagination. There is such genu-
inc good draughtsmanship in their
characters that they do verify stand out
from the canvas as perfect examples
of realism, and seem ito us like old
friends whom we have surely known
and loved.
Few who finish the book or see the
play to its end, realize why it is that
they feel such close companionship
with these characters, and it is not
uncommon to have people express won
der at the hold the story and it's peo-
pie take upon them. They admit the
effect and take pleasure in it, but do
not see why so simple a tale with its
confessed improbabilfties should af-
feet them in such wise, nor how the
characters come to exist as positive
Identities far more real than many we
meet in the flesh day by day The
reason seems to lie first in the consum-
mate skill with which the talented au-
thor has drawn types of real charac-
tiers, but most i'm the hearty fIlllness
of human kindness that breathes
around them and draws them close in
to our personal affections. We are
brought quickly into the circle of their
daily domestic experiences and made
ito feel that we are of their very house
hold. After that we share with the
rest their love and tenderness for the
gentle child of Bohemia and are ready
to eXecrate the frightful being whose
baleful influence wrecks her life and
destroys the happiness of all the Others
besides ourselves, who love her.
The praises of the company who rem
der the play have been told so often
that additional commentator from us
would seem superf1uous. Among those
who receive generous applause, after
the two principals, none take better
than Mr. Martinetti as Zou-zou. with
his queer, but characteristic excIama-
tions of "Da, Ia, lalaIar' Miss Ref
ferth's rendition of Mime. Veuard is
also very artistic and true.
Miss Edith Crane seems as though
she must have been the verita.ble Wis.
ion of Trilby that formed itself in THE
mind of the author, and was the mode
of his drawings. In the powerful thirC
act, she and Mr. Lackaye, as Svengali
wrought a tremendous climax that viii
not easily be forgotten by those who
saw it,
! The dramatization has been mos
| skilfully handled and though some ot
the events are different from those il
| the book, an added interest seems tt
have been acquired, especially as +
takes away the foregone conclusions
that would otherwise exist in the mind.
| of those who have read it.
| There will be matinee this after
noon and the final performance tonight
! The sale of seats commences at the
| box office of the tTheater this morning
for Senator Gordon's lecture on Mon
| day entitled 1.-THE Last Days of tIht
| Confederacy.