The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-14
THE PLAY OF THE HOUR.
"CSranO de Bergerac," the Man With
the Terrible Nose.
From the New York Tribune.

been familiar figure In dramatic litera-
ture, wearing many diversified garments
and bearing many names. But he is al
ways the same person, he always appeals
to the same emotions, and he always elicits
the same twofoId recognition-on the one
hand, sentimental homage, and on the
other hand playful ridicule; the former
from those who have preserved their illu-
sions, the latter from those who have lost
them. In the case of Cyrano, he seems, at
first sight to be a new species of lover,
for he is compounded of many simples,
the buiay and the poet the reveler and
the soldier, the swash-buckler and the
gentleman, the lunatic and the fool Pistol
and Romeo, an Admirable Crchton and
Don Caesar de Bazan-and contrary to us
age he is ugly since while his mind is mir
aculous and his soul seraphic, he possesses
dubious nose. Neither complex attributes,
however, nor an uncOuth proboscis, can
obscure his identity. He is the same Old
hero of romance-only he is oddly fashion
ed and equipped and ingeniously involved
and managed. and he bears novel name.
MIR. Richard Mansfield, at the Garden the
ater, is acting him with versatility, Vigor
! ana dash, and the performance has been
| recognized and wilf be remembered as one
| of the most striking achievements of
| busy, fertile and picturesque career. 1t
/
sweetness of voice, and clarity of elocu-
| ton, but it is remarkable for originality,
| variety, brilliancy and force, and it seems
! TO be very generally admired and approved.
Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac as read
| ers are aware, was an actual person. His
| dates are 1620-55 His period of that of
| the French King, Louis Kill He wrote
stories, plays and poems. He is recorded
! as notorious duellist-in the epoch of
! Cardinal Richelieu's edict against duel
| ms. he lived and died in Paris. The
| scene of Mr.. Rostland's drama is chiefly
! laid in that city, in 1910, but it shifts once
| TO Arras, in the Netherlands, then embat-
| tied and beseiged. In 1910 Cyrano was only
! 20 years old. In the play he must be an
! older man 10 Justify his character and
! his conduct. 1t does not appear that the
| drama is built, to any considerable extent,
| upon a foundation of fact. Cyranos fore
| ible interruption of a dramatic perform
| ance is mere ruffianism, but, no doubt, it
| is representative-for ruffianism of that
| kind was common, equally in the theaters
| of England, France and America, down to
much later time than the period of the
| piece. In the conduct of the plot there
| is considerable dexterity, and also there
is some reminiscence-notably of scenes
in Shakespeare and in Gothic too fami-
| lar to need specification. The device by
! which the heroines wedding is precpi-
| tated suggests Sir Giles Overreach's ia
nous injunction, Marry my daughter to
| this gentleman" In "A New WAY to Paw
! Old Debts" II was a good device to
make the unfortunate Cyrano, in a mas
! querade by starlight WOO and win the
| lady, for the handsome youth whom she
| had preferred, but it suits better with the
| stage than with nature-the incident of
| the kiss, in particular, being preposterous
IL was a good device, also to bring the
| heroine to the starving camp of Arras
| and to provide the essentially tragic stu
alton which ensues, when her husband is
slain in the battle, and when Cyrano. still
/ guarding his secret, strives to comfort the
dying man, even at the sacrifice of truth
The hazardous circumstances under which
| Cyrano discounts the obnoxious Guiche
are adroity contrived, and the first inter-
view, and also the last one, between Cyr-
| ano and Christian, contain uncommonlv
| fine dramatic opportunities
The original is written mostly in verse
and some of the verse is felicitous One
| of the most significant passages finely
delivered by Mr.. Mansfield. is a speech
| in which Cyrano enumerates the various
| lnSolent sarcasmS, with reference to his
| nose, which might be uttered by any i'm
| pudent satirist clever enough to think of
| them. Like many French plays, however
| the piece is somewhat loduacious and
prolix Some of its parts are mere feed
| ers and make-weights The moldy satire
| of authors reappear in it-that they are
| impecunious and hungry vagabonds. that
they haunt cookshops and that printed
! copies of their poems are well employed
| when used as wrappers for cakes and
pies. Feeble stuff of that kind was COM
mon in Pope's time. and again in Byron S
! THE Derusal of which as 1 told Won at
| Maestri. 1 owe in great part to my pas
sion for pastry" The piece is variegated
in texture, but as a whole it Is melo-
| drama, aiming almost exclusively at Sit
| uations, and making every element of
| character and nature particularly in the
| heroine, Roxane, who is nondescript and
well nigh impossible), tributary to that
| design. 1t is artificial, and to some ex-
tent, il is insincere; but IL abounde with
) pictures, Incidents, and the tumult of
! physical life, it is animated with move
| ment and saturated with color, il por-
trays ingenious fable, it strikes popu-
| lar chord, and, except for sombre ard
| dreary conclusion, which only on actor
| of the most sympathetic genius could
Vitalize, it is airy and brisk. 1t belongs
| TO the family of THE Three Guardsmen."
| BEL Demonio," and The Dukes Motto"
and probably its sudden vogue. on botn
sides of the ocean, hetokens fresh pros
] perity for dramas of romantic adventure
| Much has been made consequent on the
| huge Nose. That is the prominent fea-
| ture-but 1t is not a pleasant one, and no
| art of an actor can ever redeem it, A
/
more agreeable than big conk and pos
! sibly, if Francesca's Lanciotto had not
| been humpbacked, Cyrano would have
| had a bunch. Defects of personal appear
| ance,-as anybody can see, who will gaze
| upon the married world around him--have
little or nothing to do with the affairs of
! love. Handsome men have heard the
clear and melllfuous No and homely
men have been transported by the whis-
pered Yes John Wilkes, the Agtator,
who was a phenomenon of ugliness, said
| that i'm wooing, he only required fifteen
| minutes start of the handsomest man in
| England; and John Wilkes was a prime
! favorite with women. While, however,
| personal appearance in its bearing upon
| amatory affinities, seems to make no diff
| ference in art-which should not be a copy
| of nature, but a TRANSPORTATION of 1t. The
/ hero of a romantic love story must not
| be physically loathsome. Cyrano might
! have been made to worship, to languish,
| and to suffer-to succumb to love, without
being able to inspire it-just as well with