Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-13

p%arture, with tears running down his
face, he went into the Theater Franchise
to bid adieu to an artist friend; the
manager happened to be in need of some
one to fill a part and he obtained the
place; and is now the greatest living
French t~cagedian.
Although the French tragedy may not
always please the A~nglo-Saxon spectator
the French comedian, as represented by
Coquelin,a is an unfailing delight. We
saw him in that most charming of plays,
"Gringoire, - the story of a street
singer IN the days OF Louis XII; q play
that touches one to tears and laughter at
the same time and is free from the pas
sion n horror of most French plays.
Coquelin plays the part of the little,
starved Gringoire, with his self-uncon-
scious humor, his poetic raptures, his
ideal worship of the bourgeois daugh-
ter, his childlike purity and goodness,
with an absolute simplicity; there is no
stage effect, no tricks of the art, not an
unnecessary movement; he acts with his
sensitive, mobile face.
We have spent many long delightful
afternoons at the Odeon with Moliere
n Racine and CarneiIle. The Odeon is
supported by government, like the The
atre Franchise. 1t is in the Latin quar-
ter across the river, and the prices are
lower than at other theaters, though the
acting is always good. Once in two
weeks there is a classical matinee for the
especial benefit of the students, when
the best seats are only three francs.
They give q comedy of Moliere's, q
classic tragedy n a lecture, or critluue
upon the tragedy by one of the first lite
rary men in Paris, a different one zach
time. The performance begins at l
O'Clock Il lasts till 5, aud it is the
best investment for three francs that I
know of.
WHAT CAN BE MORE CHARMING
than a Moliere comedy! The gorgeous
oourtiers trip around in their high red
heels, their flowing locks. their silks and
satins and ribbons and flowers, and get
into the most absurdly complicated love-
affairs with dainty, Sevres-china-like
ladies, in the most exquisite of flowing
robes Int curls; the humorous valet also
gets into complications with the wittv
maid, and then everything winds I'D de-
lightfully. 1 think the comedies must
be even more pleasing now than when
Moliere himself played them and Louis
XIV laughed for the fun is as fresh as
ever, N it is only on the stage now that
we can see men dressed like butterflies.
iuttering around in laces and Jewels.
All Paris ia rushing to see Sarah Bern
hardt in Jeanne d'Aro. The play is in
verse, and framed in solemn, sacred
music by Gounod. Suoh a character as
Jeanne d'Aro was a great departure for
the interpreter of Phedre and Theodore.
how would the fascinating, wlllowy. SER
pentine Sarah present the character
of the
SIMPLE, SANITY PEASANT GIRL?
That was a question which has been met
by a new, overwhelming success for the
sardou heroine, and she win appear next
as the Virgin Mary in a Passion play
written at her request and to be PLAYED
during Easter. The success of Jeanne
d'Arc Is largely due to the play itself.
which stirs French patriotism to a frenzy
The first night of its presentation the
audience wept and shouted and stood ON
their seats TO wave their handkerchief
and call 'sBravo!'' and for the two |
months since then the theater has been
crowded nightly with enthusiastic spec-
tators. 1t is 8 glorided, illuminated
Sarah who plays Jeanne dare, and vet
sotender, soexquisitely womanly through !!
outI From the simple peasant girl with
her eyei open to divine visions, she grows
into an inspired leader, speaking words
not her own, conquering king aud army
by the force of her eloquence, till at last !
sue stands upon the pile and as the |