Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-08

ChicngO's Opinion of His Impersona.
ton of Du Mnurier,s Great Chnracter

ChfcnEO's Opinion of His ImpersOna-
ton of Du Mnurier's Great Character.
Mr.. Wilton Lackaye is receiving high
praise for his impersonation of Svengali
from the Chicago press as was given him
In Boston and New York. "Trtlby" was
presented for the first time in Chicago last
Monday night, and the following extracts
will indicate the opinion entertained by
the critics of that city of Mr.. Lackaye's
mastery acting. They will be read with
interest by his many friends in this, his
native city:
Chronicle-Mr Lackaye's makeup as
svengali is simply an exact copy Of the
familiar pictures. His eyes are the most
prominent feature of his face, from which
they seem in fact to stand out apart. The
long hair and struggling beard are disci-
pHned, as in the Illus ira tons of the book,
by the time he has become an impresario.
The pictorial effect is excellent but It is
nothing compared to the subtlety and dra-
smatic daring of Mr.. Lackaye's acting. The
the creation of this weird, uncanny being,
the evil genius of the play. The character
Is sensibly developed In stages and we are
only confronted with the naked brutality
of Svengali in his last moments. III that
yell of incoherent rage and horror which
precedes his death the depth of Svengali's
villainy is revealed Mr.. Lackaye falls
backward over a table and lies with his
ton till the curtain falls.
Tribune-But Svengali, the hideous. the
marvellous Svengali of Wilton Lackaye is
nevertheless the central and main feature
of the drama. Upon him everything hinges,
even the careless can-can, the drunken
revelry, the weeping group around the ex-
piring Trilby in the Hotel Bristol Mr.
Lackaye's characterization of the dirty
and degraded but ambitious interruptions
and powerful hypnotist must be yielded a
very high place among the representations
of the theater. 1t would be very easy to
thwart the enactment of this difficult role
into the lowest depths of burlesque. But
Mr.. Lackaye is intelligent he care
fully holds himself in hand Throughout, he
SO seduously avoids every pitfall of eX-
aggeration, that it is impossible to resist
the feeling that here is a man who does
not act but Is; and the beholder shudders
with the supplemented Englishman. grows
indignant with the Scot, Quivers with ner-
voUs Little B.llee, and is entranced with
Trilby as the hairy, horrible monster
raises his long arm and points his threat
enng. commanding finger. Mr.. Lackayes
"make-up' is a marvel of frightful i'm
pressiveness, and his death, when he tot
tiers, falls over table, and stares with
immovable eyeids into the audience, is
nothing less than awful.
Record-Mr. Wilton Lackaye's Svengall
was superb. The character of the hideous,
self-centered, cynical, leering hypnotist could
not be better depicted. The makeup is
cleaning at every leer, the smirking mouth
where the teeth look through and the oily
shag of hair and beard. Then there We're
the nameless stealthy, cat-liie motions, the
ceaseless winnowing motions of the hands
as If they forever sought to clutch and
crush some victim. The lines, too, were
we'll rendered and the scene in which the
dying Svengali vents his anger on the
of acting. Mr.. Lackaye's intensity never
rests.