New-York tribune., 1880-03-10
SARDOU'S PLAY.
Irs rAureE IN PARIS COMrLETE.


HEALTH AND VOICE.
f,oov Y,,p prnUI,R ooRREsFONDENT or THE rRtDUNEl
P.pIs. Feb 2O-If It were not for the attempt 10
assassnate the Car, the whole town Wouu Do Oh"
IN a commotion about SaIdOn's damned piece'
which is TO be withdrawn next TUESDAY iioin 'he
Erapcais It's failure will greatly reduce the diVi-
depds of the company of that theatre on the DoaIus
of which il was reheaTsed sxty-seVen VilneS' lheIe
is no more fdgety. exactng OF tyranncal dramauc
author than Sardou. He worries actors aud &C
.rasses scene shifters carpenters, decorators and
costumers. near-sighted man, he looks close mo
all the accessories. and is not satisfied with
their distant effect as 1t appears to him through
his lorgnette. When his arguments fah to per-
suade n manager that scenic details should support
microscopic examination, he ends by saving
"Wheneyer the Prince of Wales comes to Farls no
Invariably goes to witness the performance OF any
of nv dramas that are before the public ana oe-
tween the acts he descends into the ooaSSe TO chat
with me and with the players. WouId not DC
mortified to death were his eye TO iaii there upon
such trashy accessories you try to palm on upon
mesv This shuts up the manager, who finishes oy
giving in.
Mr. Perrin, of the Francais. attaches undue i'm
variance to stage accessories and often makes the
frame too rich and heavy for the picture. lie has,
therefore no oounterpolse TO Sardou. who bad IN
every point his wicked WILL" The stage man.
.oer scene psinter aud decorator were sent on
tonr through Switzerland to acquire true local color
for Daniel Rochat." They visited Ferney vol
faifes chateau, in which the drama opens; they III
spected the chalet on the Lake of Geneva of the
Baroness Adolphe ROthschld in the sumptnous
salon of which the second act is performed
Miss Powers, the herOne's maiden aunt.
An absurd Understanding old lady, without
A grain of humOr OF of drOleTy In her composition,
Is supposed to have hired the chalet and to be Vng
there with her AnglO-American nieces, Lea aud
Esther Henderson. and their cousin Charley. From
the draying-room windows of this lacustTine abode
there s in the second act. view OF Lemans blue
waters enlivened by pleasure yachts. The scene
does not change In the third act, in which the
civil marriage Is celebrated, according to the
code in very irreverent manner by Swiss
Mayor In the fourth act we are taken up
stairs. where the bride. who does not yet
consider herself a truly welded wife, is in
a white dressing making preparations for the
night after getting through which. she sits down
TO deSk-a wonder OF marQueterie-to read love-
letter, written previous to the lay ceremony, from
Daniel The free-thnkng, atheistical writer
thereof is presumably sleeping at a friends house
In the neighborhood, where he may sleep every
night until he consents to 20 before the
Rev. Septimus Clarke, Anglican parson
ThrouqIl a chimney glass devoid OF quicksilver there
IL "
10 the draping and arrangement Of this piece OF
furniture NJ SardOu attached the utmost import
apoe II was copied from drawing of a honey
moon chamber Mt hotel at Saratoga, and is IN all
the glory Of white satin and IOsecOlOred fringe and
fassels. The audience spent a deal OF indig-
nation on the luxurious four-poster on the
night on which the play was damned, and
the critics inveigh against the lmpropuety
OF bringing il upon the stage In the NTH act there
I fN~rt f,f N1..Ane no
Aruaud tde rAriege Gambettas opuleut friend. 1t
IS supposed to belong 10 a NJ. fargis. tolerant.
amiable. well-bred freethiuker and Swiss. who s q
rnutr,al friend Of the Aunt Powers. Of the Heuder-
soas and of Daniel Rochat The latter Is Rabagas,
dressed in respectable brOadcloth, rich, embour-
gois6 and the head of governing party. DR..
Bdache answers the purpose to Daniel,
the Atheist orator, tribune, deputy ana
political wire-puller Of the demon OF Socrates.
He IN vulgar fellow, like his principal, and COM
poui1d of Paul Bert Spulerand Ranc, and heaccoup-
uauics Daniel about In his political tours through
France and his pleasure trips through switzer'aua.
ufter the manner of Spuller. 1t Is in Of these
tours that ROchat makes conquest OF Miss HenCef-
NON. whom he met on lake excursion with hAr
MISUNDERSTANDING Aunt Powers. The young lad5
and her sister fast, very FAST ana
have the Objectionable manners Of the worst type
of English professional bellies in the land, albeit
they are intensely Protestant. The fast cO.oIs o'
their Proestautism arose out OF the commeiclai
genius of NJ. Sardou, who, after he had pocketed a
mint OF money in Parts, intended to make another
great haul in London, where the company OF the
Franchise was to have played it next May. Il
was then to be adapted for the English and
New-York stage, where. stannch Protestant
aud an AnglO-American, the author expected
Lea would be enthusiastically received.
Sardou is a very clever man, but poor dramatist
His IN certain brilliancy Of style and IN
the ingenuity of his pOts.which have ever produced
in me the effect of re6us. THIS ingenuity, which Is
accompanied by address IN gauging the public appe-
tite and taste and in pagiarizug from other dram
ssists, enchanted the Idle women Of the Empress
Fou6nie's Conrt They took pinchbeck and dross
for true gold and real diamonds. In my opinion
ssriou Is not the equal of Scribe IN aught but style
and he is very inferior toI shall not say Theodore
Barriere who IN the intellectual order was dis
tart relation of Swift-but of Henri MOnDier.
the creator of M Prudhomme. Shakespeare when he
fuund an old tragedy or comedy and adapted IT,
sphlmated the personages he found therein by the
mower of his genius and the brightness of his wit.
Rsrdou diminished Balzac's Cesar Birolteau TO
make him fit into the coat Of "Plerap in MaisOn
Neuye He reduced "les Paysans" to the propor-
tious of "Nos bons Villageois." Floupin is dimi-
nation of Homais in Flaubert's novel, one Of the
Demoiselles Benoiton, of the Gencourts Renee
Maupern, and "POncle Sam" is pirated wholesale
from Alfred Assolant. -
Sardou has another gift of a secondary order. He
iutuitiveY knows how TO pack house Sardou
always scatters the critics among friends of whom
he is sure whose applause when the Others are cold
will warm them up. He WAS not able TO dispose IN
the Francais of nearly so many places as he would
have had right to give away on the first night IN
nuother theatre. The KEY note was not, therefore,
struck by picked audience, and Daniel Rochat
was proclaimed absurd, wearisome, devoid OF
literary merit and hOmlly IN five
acts aud several charming costumes. Tins