Trilby and Other Plays (The World's Classics)

Trilby and Other Plays is a new selection of English plays that had wide success on both sides of the Atlantic. Each achieved its greatest fame through the talents of a particular star performer. In Buckstone's Jack Sheppard, a spectacular and popular adaptation of Ainsworth's much dramatized novel, the rascal hero was played by the comedienne Mary Keeley. Dion Boucicault's The Corsican Brothers starred Charles Kean as telepathic twins and featured the famous stage-effect of the Corsican-trap. Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin became a star vehicle by default when E. A. Sothern improvized the minor role of Lord Dundreary to such effect that his performance became the rage on both the British and the American stage. That President Lincoln was assassinated while watching the play adds an extra macabre dimension to its interest. Finally, Paul Potter's dramatization of the novel Trilby achieved cult status after Herbert Beerbohm Tree built up the sinister Svengali into a mythical force of artistic creativity and evil genius.