Trilby (play)

''Trilby'' is a stage play by Paul M. Potter based on the 1894 novel ''Trilby'' by George du Maurier. In the play, a young Irish woman, Trilby O'Ferrall, falls under the control of Svengali, who uses hypnosis to make her abandon her fiancé and become a singer.

The play debuted in Boston, Massachusetts in March 1895, where the role of Svengali was created by American actor Wilton Lackaye at the Park Theatre. It was a success in England as directed, produced by and starring Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Svengali, with Dorothea Baird in the title role, opening at the Haymarket Theatre in October 1895.

Background

While touring the United States in the Spring of 1895 Tree heard of the success of an adaptation of du Maurier's novel by Paul M. Potter being performed by the company of theatrical manager Albert Marshall Palmer at the Boston Museum. He sent his half-brother and agent Max Beerbohm to see the play and report back on it. Max Beerbohm stated that the play was "absolute nonsense" and would be a failure in London. Tree dismissed the play from his mind until he had a night free and went to see the play in Buffalo, New York,Hall, John N
''Max Beerbohm Caricatures''
Yale University Press (1997) p. 79 ''Google Books'' with Wilton Lackaye in the role of Svengali and Virginia Harned playing the title role.

Tree immediately bought the British rights to the play and on his return to London mounted his own production, firstly at the Theatre Royal in Manchester on 7 September 1895 and finally on 30 October 1895 at the Haymarket Theatre in London. The two Manchester performances secured British copyright for Potter's adaptation. Tree's company then toured, performing ''Trilby'' at the Grand Theatre, Leeds 11–14 September; at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow 16 and 20 September; at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh 23–27 September; at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool 30 September-5 October; at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin 7–12 October; at the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle 14–19 October; and at the Theatre Royal in Birmingham 21–26 October.Herbert Beerbohm Tree Collection, HBT/00030/3 to 00030/6, Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol

The London premiere on 30 October 1895 was the company's first presentation at the Haymarket since returning from their American tour. Potter's original script was revised for Tree, who himself played Svengali, giving even more significance to the role of Svengali in the play than in the novel. For the lead role of Trilby O'Ferrall he chose the 20-year-old Dorothea Baird, who had made her London debut in 1894 as Hippolyta in '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Tree directed the production. The musical director was Raymond Rôze, and the choreographer was John D'Auban. The play was a huge financial success, and from the profits Tree built Her Majesty's Theatre. Fifty years later Max Beerbohm persisted in his evaluation of the play, telling his biographer Samuel Behrman, "I was right about ''Trilby''."

The play was revived many times, including at the Apollo Theatre in the 1920s. It became so popular that it was travestied, including as ''A Model Trilby; or, A Day or Two After Du Maurier'' (1895) by Charles H. E. Brookfield and William Yardley, with music by Meyer Lutz, at the Opera Comique, produced by the retired Nellie Farren.''The Times'', 18 November 1895, p. 3 In America it was parodied in 1895 as ''Thrillby'', to a book by Joseph W. Herbert and a score by Frank Osmond Carr.

Tree filmed the play in 1914, which was released as ''Trilby''; he was the only member of the original cast to appear. The 1915 American film ''Trilby'' starred Wilton Lackaye and Clara Kimball Young. An adaptation of the novel was broadcast as a BBC
...