The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-22
THE HYPERION.
A Fine Production of "Trelawney of the
 Wells.'

A Fine Production or IreiaWney or the Wells"
 Daniel Frohman's Lyceum stock com pany presented 'Trelawney of the Wells" at the Hyperion theater last | evening. The audience, although larga I and fashionable, was not such as both ] the play and the company deserved. 1 The Lyceum company is the best stock l company in the country to-day and Ar | thur w. Pinero is the leading English dramatist, and the occasion was one of | especial importance. The play was pre- | sented for a long season at the Lyceum | theater last year and much to the sur prise of the theatrical prophets and to | the confusion of the critics it made a | great success with the general public. The excellence of the acting and the unique costuming of the piece doubtless played the most important part in this 1 success, because the comedy seems too whimsical and subtle in it's humor to reach the average auditors apprecia- tion. As for the pictorial effectivenss ss of the hoopskirts and paniers and man teaux of the early sixties, Max Beer bohm in the Saturday Review went so far as to call the comedy only "succes de crinoline" This is unfair criticism, and is an injustice to the humanity of the piece, the expert and felicitous eX- position of human weaknesses and hu- man kindnesses, and particularly the petty faults and homely virtues of that section of the race whose lives are lived in the unreal world of the stage and ,,hp emotions n natppt1V pressed and self-consciously exposed. And the dramatist has kept his humor kindly and wholesome, and withal won derfully acute and perspicuous. The play is singularly clean and free from unpleasant suggestiveness, and the the ater-goers shall perhaps be glad to re- member this when they come to see "The Gay Lord Quex," which is Pinero's latest and, according to report, his most brilliant and indecent effort
 The company which presents 'Trelaw- ney" is perhaps in every respect the most efficient that has been seen here in many years. From first to last the cast is we'll chosen and the performance is as near perfect as things go in these days The cast is not identical with that which presented the piece last year, but the same standard of excel lence is maintained and the same ad- mirable balance remains. The changes in the cast are these: John Mason en- acts Tom Wrench instead of E. J. Nor gan, who has been loaned" for a short time to Henry Miller for 'The Only Way" Grant Stewart as Gadd replaces William Courtleigh, who is with Crane
 ,,,i, ,.+I,,, de Bessie Tyree, who is not acting this year, and William F. Courtenay, who is better Arthur than Harry Wood ruff The result of these changes does not materially affect the tone of the play. Morgans sympathetic personal ity was exactly fitted to Tom Wrench and his whimsicality was preferable to the sincerity of John Mason's very fin- ished study of the part. Mason is a new acquisition to the company, and he will doubtless prove a valuable member, All who saw his beautiful acting in '"Fhe Christian" last winter will readily be- lieve this. Grant Stewart and William Courtenay are fully as good as their predecessors. Olive May had difficult task to take Miss Tyree's place whom the latter had made the most distinct
 
 Init" of her career in the part, and it cannot be said that she fills the roll so completely although she is graceful and spirited Mary Mannering repeats her winning and lovable impersonaton of Rose Trelawney George c. Boniface and Mrs. Walcot are capital in their studies of the old-fashioned bombastic style of acting. Hilda Spong's delight ful temperament is well displayed as Imogen Parrott but it is doubtful if her performance of the last act is sufficient ly exaggerated to fulfill the dramatists intention. MT. Walcot is excellent as the testy chancellor, and Mrs. Whiffen, Ethel. Hornick, Charles Butler and John Findlay are all entirely satis- factory in their roles It is a remarka- ble ensemble performance and one to be long remembered.
 The play has been charmingly printed by Russell the New York publisher, and the illustrations are from photo- graphs of the Lyceum company.