The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-08-22
NARCISS.

The performance Of the play Of the abo,
! name by the Garrick Club at the Varieties The
ter, on Friday evening, was decided success
The play was translated from the German by N
Charles F. Buck, to whom competent critics ha,
awarded the warmest praise for the work.
plot and structure it is very excellent play, br
we would suggest to Mr.. Buck the propriety
Eliminating altogether some of the dialogue, an
reducing other portions to greatly smaller pre-
portions. Parts Of Doris Quinault's lines migf
be well omitted, as also few of those spoken b
the Queen.
Even the speeches of Narciss might in som
cases be reduced-with care, however, as it
necessary to preserve the gst Of all his speeches
in order to consistently develop his character
The language Of the drama is refined. chast
and elegant, tinctured strongly with philo
| sophie tone which only serves to add charm Il
it's beauty. To popular and promiscuou
audience the play would hardly appear above thu
average, but to an intelligent and thoughtful
| assemblage it is one of rare beauty and power
Heinrich Kurtz's History of German Litera
ture speaking Of Brachvogels "Narclss y
says:
"His (Brachvogels) reputation is founded Oh
| chiefly on his = Narciss "a work which, am dst
| substantial defects, possesses much merit" Two
factions stand opposed to each other at the Court
| OF Louis OF France-One in favor of the Queen,
the other In the interest of the Marquse de POM
padour. The latter had so influenced the weak ma
ture Of the King that he was about to divorce
himself from the Queen to marry her. The dis
pensatlon of the Pope had already been received.
The friends of the Queen exert every effort to
defeat the scheme, and fortunate accident
comes to their relief.
While driving along the Boulevard du Temple,
Paris, the Marquise is struck by the appearance
OF ragged looking gan,in, and, with the ex.
clamatiOn, "Narciss! Narciss +" sinks fainting
back in her carriage.
This is rela ed IN the opening scene between
NJ. Grimm and the Marquise dEpinay.
Barjac, servant of the Baron d'Holbach, over.
hears the conversation, and, bribed by friends of
the Queen, communicates the information to
DORIS Qulnault, an actress, reader to the Queen
and devoted to her heart and soul. The incident
OF court gossip, and Narciss accidentally passing
the house OF Il lbach, where Diderot, Grimm,
the Marquise dEpinay and others had gathered
at soiree, is seen, and, by general request called
in
Doris Quinault, divining that there must exist
some connection between him and the Pompadour
and that he might be used in opposing the lasters
scheme to be married to the king contrives to
gain control over him, and he goes with her to
her home. Here she keeps him concealed, await
ing deve lopments. He tells her the story Of his
life; that he was married in youth to lovely
and beautiful woman who abandoned him, and
his life has been one search for her the conyic-
ton that he will find her some day alone keeps
MN from despair. This woman who so aban-
doned him turns out to be the Pompadour.
Meanwhi g the effect OF his appearance on the
Pompadour ls ascrlbed to supposed resemblance |
OF Narciss to one d'Etiol, second husband of the
Pompadour whom, as historical fact, she did J
abandon to make way for her elevation at court. |
The third act intr~ duces the Pompadour still |
suf ring. She te Is de Choiseul that Narciss is |
her husband. ChOiseul had been elevated to the |
Prime Ministry through the influence of the Pom
padour. and he believed that she loved him. She |
tells him that her whole life at Court was
mockery and sham; that she had never loved |
any one. She gives him to understand that she |
seeks marriage with the King only to wipe out |
her disgrace, and announces her intention to re-
turn to Narclss.
This determines de Choiseul az ainst ier. and
ne uses the great secret, known to him alone, to
BRING about her downfall. Under the preterse of |
arranging the festivities for the marriage, a
,lay is put in rehearsal, the main incident of
which is reproduction of the history of the
>mpadour and Narciss. Doris Quinault and
Sarclss play the parts The Pompadour attends
rehearsal. The mutual recognition is lnstan-
aneous. At first, the joy of having found his
wife overcomes every other thought; but as the
'ompadour, he repels and curses her, falls into
M OF frenzy, IN which he describes the horrors
I the French Revolution, and the scene ends
nth the death Of both.
oucn III Dflet ID the story OF the play The :
haracter OF Narcss Rameau, as performed BY
lr. Buck, ranks far above any effort made this :
eason by any of cur amateurs. Ia some scenes :
Q hardly dcted-he ,cds the character. 1t re- /.
uires no ordinary ability to firmly grasp the
aried idiosyncrasies of such part and to faith
lily interpret them, and Mr. Buck deserves he 5
'udest applause tor his success ia accomplish !
lg this. His rehearsal scene in the fourth act !,
as grand triumph: The reading was perfect, H.,
nd tho acting splendid. !
Miss Rose Osborne played the Marauise de .
ompadour with excellent judgment and dis .
limitation. Her last act was very clever piece
acting.
MIR. O'Neill, as de Choiseul, gave us very Il
Eat performance, and if he gave us no reason
loudly applaud any particular portion, he acted
10 entire part in very commendable manner. c
9 regret exceedingly that we have no special S
for Messrs. Braughn and On n
to, in the respective roles of Captain st. Lam "
rt and Count du Barri. Both gen! lemen evil a
need to the audience their lack of any sincere D.
terest in their parts. Both these gentlemen "
9 fine actors, and when we say that they de- t.
rye no special praise, we speak comparatively
icy played their parts fairly, but not near as b
III as they could, in our opinion, have acted ~
EN-. Miss Doyle, as the Queen, was very :.
ppy. She had no particular opportunity for "
POINTS, " and gave us very even performance. g
Altogether, the club have reason to congratu- II
@ themselves on the success Of their enter. n,