New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-04-29
THE PARIS STAGE.
-FOUR ARTISTS-M. ROSTAND'S "PRINCESSE
LOINTAINE' AND ITS PRODUCTION
BY NINE. SARAH BERNHARDT
THE POETIC REACTION
IN FRANCE AND IN
ENGLAND.


IN FRANCE AND IN
ENGLAND.
Nice. April 10.
There are at this moment on the Paris stage
four artists each pre-eminent IN her own way;
Nine Sarah Bcrnhardt. Nine. Bartet. Nine. Yvette
GuIibcrt and Nine Rosita Mauri. Tn" traveller
who has an evening or two in Paris may be en-
barrassed 10 choose among these riches. but he
reed give himself concern. Circumstances
will probably choose for him; if they do not. he
NAY think himself happy with any one of the
four. This IS not the same thing as saying that
the four or any two Of them. stand on the same
dramatic level. Each is unlike the others
that comparisons are Of no avail. 1t is sufficient
that each stands by herself and has in her own
line no superior. The two whose relations to
dramatic art most similar are Nine Sarah
and Nine. Bartet. but between them also COM
PARSONS would be futile. they generally are
between any two characters Whatsoever. Mime.
Sarah is the supreme dramatic artist of her time,
who has filled the world. America included. with
her fame Nine. Bartets position is more modest.
She IS merely the best actress at the best the
atre in the world. and with that distinction seems
content as she well may be.
Whether Nine. Sarah retains her hold on the
Partisan public IS a question which some of the
smarter set undertook to ask themselves some
time ago Sarah still playing?' murmurs in
his languid way the weary exquisite Of the
Faubourg st. Germain. lie belongs to the class
who grow tired Of the sunrise, which they prob
ably never saw and of the blue sky and or
the breath from that heaven which. as they
sometimes remember. they were taught to be-
Neve in as lying beyond the visible azure. 1t
IS class which has withdrawn itself from the
world lying outside its own world renOunced its
influence. and most of its interests. and, if it
ever gave direction to opinion in matters of
art. gives it no longer For the Partisan public
In its wider sense. Nine. Sarah is what she was
The new play which she produced on Friday at
the Renaissance is one of those pieces for which
the artist cares more than the public. NJ. Rost-
and a writer already known. has evidently writ
ten the "Princesse Lontaine," a four-act piece IN
verse primarily for the satisfaction of his poetic
soul He is a Provenca and has thought 1t
rossihle in these prosaic days to revive. at least
for an hour or two and by help of the illusions
Of the theatre. degree of interest in those
troubadours Of whom Provence once the
home The far-off Princess is, after all. no FAR
Their than Tripoli; home which NJ. Rostand
may have chosen for her from an impulse OF
patriotic pride in the success Of that policy OF
mingled fraud and force by which the France Of
to-day protects" that part Of the world. Bert
rand OF Adutaine fascinated by reports Of her
heautv has made her his heroine, and sung her
praises through the land On visit to the Court
of Sicily he sings of her to such purpose as to IN
fame the soul Of the dying Prince OF SICILY
Joffrov who sets out on a voyage to lay his
homage and his feeting life at the feet OF thlS
Princess Melissindc Bertrand goes with him.
After much peril of pirates, OF muny, or STORM OF
sickness and death. of hunger and thirst they
roach Tripoli. 1t is Bertrand who is sent on
u &c o,I-CI NJ
IL Is Bertrand with whom the Princess falls IN
1--we at sight. He has to fight his way in, kills
tho giant who commands the jailer-guards. with
whom the old Emperor Of Byzantium to whom
she is betrothed has surrounded her. In her
hatred OF the marriage imposed upon her by
practical politics. the Princess has long been
longing for somebody whom TO bestow her
Young affections. She welcomes the wariie
troubadour wounded in his fight with the giant
listens 10 the verses with which he salutes he''
brings him back to life out OF the sWoon INTO
which he falls from his wounds. hears with as
NAV that he IS but the messenger Of another's
love. loves him all the same as he does her'
and the result which follows is the usual result
-, tho French stage Of the meeting OF man and
woman What is less usual remorse follows, and
tho revots against her passion ana ORDERS
bertrand to take her on board the ship where me
Prince Joffroy still fingers. She decks her gaHey
with flowers, as II for an errand Of TRIUMPH
presents herself TO her dying lover. ainanceS
herself 10 him, seals the compact with her Ups
upon his and upon his death in these bilssful
circumstances announces that henceforth thrfe
shall be no love for her on earth save the love
of God.
This. II will be seen. is but moderately dramatic
IN its motive NJ Rostand has. nevertheless ham
died his story with adroitness and there were mo-
nents when the situations were rot merely effect
I've. but startling These are. for the most part
Incidental and not Of vital concern 70 the action;
I'm, the effect is gained Nine. Sarah seemed con-
tent 10 bring out as the author had, the poetic
side more strongly than the dramatic flayea
tentatively, the piece would nave iaiIen nat
Played as It was by this incompatible arust II pc
came possible to accept the story 10 i've IN te NE
OF the period, to believe once more in romance ana
IN the land Of romance. and to let the nineteenth
century for a while take care OF itsclf-whlch II ~
amply able 10 do.
u Is remarkable that both in London ana III
Paris two plays should be produced within Ie"
months Of each other, each founded on iegeHu anu
each attempting to transport the beholder into an
atmosphere remote from that when ne Ordinarily
breathes. Mr. Comyns Carr's King Arthur and
NJ Rostand's "Prncesse Lointaine' are TWO sls"S
OF that reaction against the intolerabe oppression
OF the practical spirit which sooner or later must
come in a much larger form. We cannot i've Dy
bread alone nor satisfy the soul completely by
miracles OF mechanical skill. nor does the tee-
graph or even the telephone bring messages i'""'
heaven. There Is conflict not merely Det"''
science and religion. but between science d"
poetry between science and romance, and also Oe-
tween the Phstine and what is spiritual Or III
the higher sense. intellectual. The first OF hVhs
English actors and the first Of living French ac,-