The herald., 1896-02-27
AT THE THEATERS

Los ANGELES sTHEATER.-Within brief
interval this season, Robert Downing,
Louis James, Frederick Warde, and
Thomas Keene have trod these boards. In
many respects Mr.. Keene's production
last night marked a climax of histrionic
excellence. The audience in point of num-
bers was unworthy of the actors reputa-
ton, but their appreciation of remark
ably fine performance was evident enough.
Mr.. Keene was constantly, recalled, and
impcrtuned for speech, but he wisely re-
fused to step out of his character.
Louis XI, as adapted for Mr.. Keene by
Edwin Arden and Arden Smith, is sort of
mixture of Delavigne and Sir Walter Scott,
and evolves a powerful play. although to a
great extent it must be regarded as q one
part piece. This is perhaps fortunate, in
that none of Mr.. Keene's company can be
regarded as sufficiently strong support for
his mastery acting. The whole memory
of the play is stamped with the vivid inn
personation of Keene. His bearing
throughout as the decrepit, eupersti.
tious, lecherous and cruel old rep
fully realistic; the facial express
sions were invariably true to the
emotion of the moment, now that of a
cringing suppliant, then that of a revenge
full tyrant. The death scene was a master
piece of realism and effective acting.
Once, and once only, in the fourth act, the
effect of Mr.. Keene's intensity seems al
most grotesque, when the broken old man
pursues his physician across the royal bed
chamber. still on his knees and travelling
at a very rapid, almost acrobatic, gait.
The most natural piece of acting after
Kee1e was that of Miss Timbermann, as
the comely, but somewhat immodest, peas
ant woman, whose bold eyes catch the
roue's fancy. Miss Timbermann was ex-
cellent.
1t is indeed chiefly charge of unnatural
ness that one feels called upon to lay
against the leading members of the com
pany. Mr.. Hennig is a capable actor; has
fine voice, when he forgets to rant, but
his Due de Nemours was unreal. Mr..
Abrendt is over-unctious as the priest, and
neither Mr.. Milton nor Mr.. Baker manage
to satisfactorily convey the characters of
sonation of the Sieur de Confines is
colorless. Mr.. Lowell often showed
promise as the Dauphin, but did not al
ways fulfill it. The bashful boy was we'll
portrayed in his love SCENES with Marie de
Confines, but he lacked the breeding Of a
prince.
Miss Boyle-Moore has good stage pres
ence and good voice; self CONSEQUENCES
somewhat detIacted from the emotional
effect of her impersonation of Marie de
Confines. In act II, ''the challenge
scene," she rose to some great moments,
but did not seem to grasp at the oppor-
tunities for effective by-plaN sg =
Tonight Richard III is the bill, in which
Mr.. Keene has won so great reputation,
and indeed his very best. Miss Boyle
Moore appears as Lady Anne, Miss Tim
hermann as Elizabeth, and Mrs. Baker as
the Duchess of York.
4 4 4
Los ANGELES THEATER.--It takes keen
eye to see the way to dramatizing Du
Maurier's Trilby, but Paul M. Potter has,
in -FOUR beautiful acts, succeeded in the
task of embodying all the essentials of the
authors work. These who have read the
book must bow their Acknowledgement of
burning alteration of the novelist's theme
to the man who had the courage of his own
conception. The loyalty of the reader
does not in his hours of admiration impel
him mentally to hedge in the book with a
sort of anti-dramatic noli me tangere, nor
does one need to view the possibility of it's
"desecration" on the stage with sufficient
calmness to think of the matter at all. In
the dramatization of the work Mr.. Potter
has wisely adhered as closely as the condi-
tions would allow to its. original purport
and character. The skill with which Mr..
Potter has done his work can be called
nothing less than remarkable. He has far
outdone the realism of the novel in making
oVoLKdll uypuOtlC power uuuoTll6 every
thing in the development of the story, and
in making it the real handspring of all that
happens.
In staging Trilby, Mr.. A. M. Palmer has
taken every caution to perfect the details
of the play. The company, which will pre-
sent the already famous piece here at the
Los Angeles theater for two nights and
Saturday matinee, commencing Friday
evening, February 2Sth, is the best obtain
able in New York, and under the direction
of Mr.. William A. Brady should give a
remarkable performance.
THE EORPHEUM-For real fun-provokinp,
Irresistible comedy show, the bill at the
OrpheuIn this week would be hard to beat.
There is not a dull act on the whole pro-
gram, and some of the specialties are
among the best to be found on the vaude-
vile stage. Walter Stanton, the giant
rooster, keeps the audience in an uproar
from the time he appears until he is van
quished by the little game cock with which
he engages in lively fight. Heeley &
Marba are the best acrobatic comedians
ever seen in the city. Rachel Walker, the
Creole nightingale, lends most refined
charm to the program with her exquisite
singing. The performance attracts large
audiences every night, as indeed it should,
for it is exceptionally meritorious through
out.