Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-06-27
A NEW PLAY FOR DUSE.
FROM THE PEN OF THE GIFTED
GABRIELLE D'ANNUNZIo.
1t Is Called "a Dream of a Spring
Morning." but 1t Is ms Dismal
as n Vision of Winter Night
Some Extracts.
From the New York Herald.

sance, with that fine actress, Elean0ra
Duse, In the leading role. The play is en-
titled Dream of a Spring Morning" and
those who are competent TO Judge say that
A. is one of D'Annunzio's best works and
that It is admirably suited for Nine. Duse.
The scene is laid IN an old Tuscan villa.
known as L'Armiranda. This villa has a
great p~ortico, like the gallery in a c~loister;
facing II is a beautiful garden. and In the
distance is a forest. In this secluded home
lives the Duchess Isabella, whose life has
indeed been tragic. Her husband came
home one night and found a young noble
man, named Giuliano, embracing her. He
at once slew the daring youth. whereupon
the duchess went out of her mind. Since
then she has been living in the villa, her
only companion being her young sister,
Beatrice, and her retinue, consisting of two
nurses, Teodata and Simonetta. and a
gardener, named anhlo.
One day Virginia. a brother of the dead
Giuliano, arrives at the villa, and the fol-
lowing striking scene occurs:
Panhlo (singing at the bottom OF the gar
DEMO, love, have patience! The man
who does not love to-day will love to-h0r-
row, and will praise you as his Iord! 10
morrow you will conquer him-the idlot
who does not know how great your pow
er is"
Beatrice Ito Virginia. in a trembling
vOice)-"She has gone into the wood. fer-
haps she viii see your horse. Perhaps she
will notice his footsteps. DO you UNDER
stand? The horse is neighing. II she re-
turns will you stay mere? do you want TO
meet herr? Are you ready? Don't you
think it would be better TO abandon your
sad and uncertain project?'
Virginio ohlled with anguishl| desire to
Beatrice-"she is not coming. Some days
she remains many hours in the wood; she
has a nook there where she loves TO linger.
She asked me TO give her a green dress
She said, Make me a green dress. Of a ten
der color. so that the little new leaves may
not be afraid Of me when l walk in the
forest She Is 50 sweet. Some days she
uses gentle and childish language like this.
Shah we sit down? CTheg seat themselves
on a stone.) How the white roses are
growing. and the narcissi and the hya-
from L'Armiranda through a regard for
You heard him sing? He sings necessarily,
improvising rhymes all the time. But
Sometimes his vigilance is at fault. For ex-
ample, the peoples are bursting into flower
petuous flames. Teodata thinks that we
will have to cut the grass before Il Is ripe;
Have you many flowers at FontelucenteF
VirginiO-"We have many roses"
Beatrice-"Your mother loved flowers 80
much. Does she stun love them?"
Virginio-"She thinks Of nothing now but
, Beatrice|"Doe she still suffer much?'''
Vfrginio-"As much as on the first day"
Beatrice-"DoeS she not IND consolalon
'virginlo-"she does not ask for e%onsola-
O. INI- Al EIN ahhn 10 " w W. - '@N@~
her sorrow, which Is as dear to her as was
the son whom she has lost"
Beatrice-"In this house her name is
never forgotten in our prayers. Daily a
humble and pious thought wings It's way
W~rginioIsshe receives it gratefully and
responds to it."
Reatrice0"Then she does not curse usf"
v~irginio-"Ah! how little you know her
B~eatrice-"Has she Pardo9ed us?" &
- L,r,go orI naufla CREATURE who nv this
long baptism has given ample m OF
Bestrice-"Then everything has been re-
Virginio""in her case no lie could equal
in beauty the terrible truth
Beatrice-"And she knows that you nave
come to L'Armiranda7"
Virefnio-"Yes she knows that I have
come 20 see Isabella. She will kiss my eyes
because they nave looked on her; in the
depths Of my eyes she Will see the imsse
OF Isabella. Don't you understand? she
knows that there IS one sole person in
the world in whose eyes Giuliano Is not
wholly dead; for this person still feels that
living, burning and indestructible- which
drives her mad. Don't you understanu!
She has a desperate desire TO see her, TO
touch her, to embrace her, 10 hold her IN
her arms, to speak to her, to question her,
though she knows well that TO DO so would
kill her, that her heart would stop beating
order to be near her and TO enjoy the IL
fusion of communicating with her, being
EHDaTAIe0 OILY nN hApDAAlAik 0AaNAA CIV
has come back to Fontelucente, which has
been abandoned so many years. Every
evening she goes up to the highest terrace.
looks toward L'Armirande and prays. For
you, too, she prays...
Reatrice-"For me-"
Vireinio-"She knows you sacrifice. She
knows that you have devoted yourself 70
this painful and pitiful work, and that your
life here is that Of a nun. She feels a
me: If Beatrice would like TO come some
day TO Fontelucente.' Do you remember
You used 10 come sometimes to the villa
Beatrice-"T remember"
Virginio-"Will yoE not come some day
20 F~onelucente in order to gratfy my
Beatrice Orembling and blushing)-"Yes,
i will come-some day"
Eirginio-"I will you. II is
not far. My mother will come half way to
meet you. Perhaps at sight Of you she
Beatrice-"Yes, 1 will come some day
when you tell me. Two griefs Will meet
and will recognize eacn other; Perhaps they
the more cruel? Your mother at least
knows that he is at rest In his trmb. And
but that she is stIll living, palpitating, and
bleeding from a wound that Will never be
healed. l know that she is alienated from
me and can never be called back; aye,
though her living eyes summon and i'm
plore me. ! cannot attract her to me-"
BeatTice-"Not any longer. To-day she
has her green dress and she forgets her
trouble. Perhaps she has an nour OF hap
piness. The morning Is so pure that ev-
eryon ~fancies a new birth possible under
its influence"
V~irginio-"Every one fancies thai he is
on the point Of discovering, by some mys-
terious Intuition, the secret of beluty and
Coy. You who live here as though in a
cloister cannot understand this feeling. /
rose at dawn, while the stars were sthl
twinkling in the sky. AT the bottom OF
the valley, which was still stepped In
shadow, 7 saw the sky turn to a rosy color,
as though Aurora were bathing in II; In
nourish my soul. AS this wind passed, I
drank in the essence OF new life, aad be-
meath a thousand melodies from the nests
I heard the deep and holy breathing of the
mother who nourisheS the blades Of grass
and our thoughts. All pain and all desire
were for me converted into force. ineftatDly
agile and audBciOus. And straightway l
urged my horse toward a goal the loca-
tion of which / knew nOt-Whether II were
in my own. heart or at the very end OF
images of my past life were clothed In a
blaze of color that rendered them as I'M
recognizable as statues in the contiagration
Of a temple. And 1 felt no dread of death
On the contrary, II seemed beautiful, as an
immoiation on en- inaccessible altar, and
all the shed blood flowed again through
nv veins and minated my fraternal heart,
impelliug me to love with a new love, a
love more pure and more distant"
BeatriCe-"And this CloiSter was the goal
OF your headlong ride-this cloister, inhab-
tied by madness and grief?'
Virginio-"YoM are surprised? All! you
cannot understand"
The mad duchess now approaches them
furtively, but Beatrice hears her and calls
her by name.
The Mad Woman-"T am not Isabella. The
green things thought l was one of them
selves. I do not brighten them. We were