Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-08-15

JANE HADING.
realizing what M. Edmond About once
styled 'Le Theatre Impossible" by mount
ing a series of plays, the productions Of
known or unknown authors who had failed
to secure Il hearing on the regular stage.
lola, Edmond de Goncourt, Count dc
Villiers de rIsle-Adam, Henry Grcvillc,
Theodore de Banville, Francois Coppoe,
Catulle Mendcz and Emile Bergerat-"Cal-
iban" OF The F~igaro-agreed to contribute
to the repertory, which was also to include
unacted works by Victor Hugo and Jules
Wales.
The undertaking, it will be seen, was of
q new sort. 1t was financed by Il hundred
subscribers of $40 each, who, as foundation
members, had the right Of entry, not only
to performances, but at rehearsals. The
amount thus collected was only So. 900, but
the man at the head of the business, NJ.
Antoine, was an ardent believer in his new
scheme.
At first the representations were strictly
private, none but the founders and a few
guests invited by the management being
present at each of the eight annual per-
formanccs, which took place in Il small
theatre in the Passage DIES Beaux Arts,
neal the Place P,gal'e, at Montmartre.
This little stage. which was rented by NJ.
Antoine, is the place where for many years
past imprcssarii usually rchearse the plays
set down on their programme before start
ing on starring tours through the French
provinces. Most of our great Paris ~artistes
havc trod it's we'll known boards.
In November, 1887, the management
transferred its company to Il larger stage,
at a house formerly known az the Theatre
Montparnasse. Here among the best pre-
mieres given were a one act comedy in
verse by Theodore de Banville, entitled
"The Kiss which has since been taken up
at the Comedie Franchise, and a tragico-
burlesque play, the "Wife of Tabarin."
by Catulle Mendes. Subsequent perform
ances included a one act drama adapted
from Zola's "Capitaine Burle'' by M.
Henri Ceard, entitled "All for Honor"
ESTHER Brandes," by M. Leon Hennique,
and a three act play by NJ. Jean Julien,
entitled 1.-THE Serenade." Public attention
was soon aroused by the production of 80
many good things which managers of the
larger theatres had returned to their
authors as unfit for bringing out IN their
boards, and NJ. Antoine's venture proved a
decided success.
About this time Marie Laurent, the re-
nowned comedienne, created at the Theatre
Libre the chief part in u powerful drama
by Leo Tolstoi, THE Power of Darkness"
which had been translated into French by
q Russian. This play, like most of those
which preceded it, belongs to the realistic,
naturalist school. But the crudeness of
the language put into the mouths of the
p"ersonages is in this instance perhaps
more startling than on any previous ocLa.
sion. The picture Of Russian life is doubt
less as accurate as ZoiA's account of coun-
try life in France, and just as sickening.
But this was the first time hat the textual
reproduction of such locution had been
ventured on in public.
And herein lies more especially the nov
city of NJ. Antoine's enterprise. The stage
Of the Theatre Libre is a modern one in ev-
cry sense of the term. The actors and act
resses demean themselves with a natural
hess of name that is rarely, indeed, met
with in a regular theatre. There is no
striving after effect among them, and the
result achieved is all the greater on that
account. There are no cOnventionnlities
to be observed either in word or gesture.
The company is trained to act and speak as
people speak or act, or rs they are supposed
so to do in real life. A spade is a spade
throughout, and if you don't like to hear
things called by their James you have
your own self to blame for going to place
where bluntness is the prevailing rule.
Nor can it be said that there is any dis
play of luxury in the stage mountings. 1t
looks, in fact, much as a play might do in
some amateur performance got up hastily
in a private house, with good light OF
course, drop curtain and the usual side
scenes. Nothing more. Even the cos
tunes are anything but attractive, and in
some cases they are downright ugly.
And yet in spite of all these seeming
drawbacks NJ. Antoine has a house crowd
ed from pit to ceiling with all the most
noted celebrities Of Partisan literary life,
where every syllable tells for good or evil,
because those who attend 60 to listen and
to judge, not merely to seek amusement;
and it is a peculiar audience, too, fastidi-
GUS IN it's tastes, and one not over given to
praise in the abstract nor to applaud with
out reason.
The Montparnasse house was, however,
too far away. M. Antoine thereupon found
q new home for his company in a theatre
hitherto Euown as the Menus-P ~lalsirs,
which Is more central and spacious than
the former. Here the manager essayed a
higher flight than any he had hitherto at
tempted. The curiosity and interest awak-
ened by many of the productions brought
out under his auspices melted him to fresh
exertions. On the evening of Oct. 30, 1855,
the curtain rose for "Lfamante du Christ"