The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-25
PLAYS ABOUT PLAYERS
BY E. J, M'rnRlix.

A known e "KeAns is e familiar as sDavid Garricks is to the English. 1t was written by tho elder Dumas, who was the precursor of Victor Hugo In the departure from classicism and the movement toward romAnticism and independence In play-writlng. The work Ia eccentric and extravagant, and is % repugnAnt to the Anglo Saxon sense that 1t could never got . foothold on our boards. Thackeray. in his esaay on "French Dramas and MelodrAma,s . has shown its filmsiness and ahsuraity. It Is of the stage, stsgy. In the great situation the hero is supposed to be acting when, overcome by sense of his wrongs, the frUnxy that he stimu- lates becomes real, and he pours out his wrath upon his enemies, who have driven him to desperation. These enemies answer him from the audi ence, and play-goers are expected to imagine not only that KeaN and his fellows arc real, but that they them selves are play .goers of a past genera ton. The demand is too difficult to be met, and the spectator experiences . shock, but does not submit to an illnsion.
 The expedient here described was recently used in farce- comedy called "Mam'xelle," which was written for the late Mile. Aimee. The performer was supposed to Dc on . stage within . stage, and interruptions came to her from the audience. The spectators who were not in the secret naturally imagined that the interruptions were genuine and the actress was being in- suited, and when they found that they were tricked they were not disposed to enjoy the hamcr of the device. 1t Is not in human nature for the victim ofa practical joke to laugh heartily, and on the same principle an audience that finds itself humbugged Is not without resentment--thc resentment being generally proportionate to the cleverness of the trick. The play .goer is a sensitive animal, who likes to have his vanity fiAttered and his morality appealed to, but whose stupidity can not with impunity be played upon.
 The defect of "Kean," which only the genius of an actor like Frederic Lemaitre could overcome (and he was acknowledged to be great in the title role) was, that while the author pro- vided double stage, there was only c single audience. This mistake has been avoided in Terriers "Tamerin," 1" another play about player, iD which M. Coquelin will Dc seen during the coming American tour. The hero Is . poor comedian who, playing the part of wronged husband, in the midst of his stimulation learns that his own wife has in reality eloped. A delicate art is required to show the sudden transition from feigned to genuine grief. At the height of this suffering, when the audience is shocked at the vehemence of his passion, the come- dian is informed that the fugitives have been overtaken and the wife brought back repentant. Then comes the second transition, from despair to joy and laughter, and the curtain is rung down merrily on the little comedy that at one time approached % dangerously near to tragedy, the mimic audience, that was startled almost out of its wits, being assured that "it was all in the play"
 In this piece the spectator sees not only 6 stage within . stage, but an audience within an audience. Hence, there Is no clashing of realities and illusions. The actors in the mimic audience are as well worth watching as the actors on the mimic stage. In Paris artists like N Got did not dis dain to play supernumerAries, con- ducs!sg themselves simply as auditors during the representation. Although they had nothing to say, they thor oughly individualized the characters they assumed. They knew that good actor, like 6 good conversationalist, should be perfect listener.
 The close resemblance will be DO. ticed between this piece and "Yorick's Love- only that the latter had s tragic ending and an old English setting. Mr. W. D. Howells took the play from the 9rsn0tsh and if vwaa nreaenfed t,v Mr