3-034-645 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene from "Hinko," at the Queen's Theatre, 1871. London stage production. 'We give an Illustration of a scene in Mr. Wills's noble play, "Hinko," at the Queen's Theatre. It is a long while since the theatre in this country has produced a play of equal merit. The merits are indeed extraordinary. A dashing action, a romantic plot, dialogue always eloquent and sometimes eminently poetic, with many other traits showing the close scholarship and deep conscientiousness of the writer, with incidents and situations novel and startling, ought to command the patronage of an enlightened public. The scene chosen (Act iv., scene 2) shows the culmination of the action in regard to King Wenzel's justifiable jealousy, awakened by the conduct of Countess Blanka (Miss H. Rhodes), when he exposes her before her own guests, and causes Hinko (Mr. Hermann Vezin) to be denounced as the Headsman's Bond. Mr. George Rignold's impersonation of the character of the regal savage is a forcible specimen of histrionic power. The character reminds us of Beaumont and Fletcher's "King and no King;" but we do not think that Mr. Wills intended a conscious imitation of the character'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.