The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-16

priest, who causes him to pass through
a series OF reincarnati0ns In which he
assumes the forms OF his own butler.
darkey and a Frenchman. and encounters
Eastern hours. who dance and sing tn
the most up-tO-date manner. and hOOnOD
with ordinary mOrtals on the most IA
miliar footing
For several months electrical ensi-
necrs and constructors have been at work
underneath the stage OF tho Drury Lane
Theatre in London putting up a plant
for he purpose Of running the stage by
electricity. IL Is claimed FOR the new
system that when IT IS completed and
I'm working order the whole stage, no
matter how great or complicated the pro-
duction. can be handled by half a dozen
men. At present no less than $50 stage
hands are employed at Drury Lane. Ia
the English playhouses four men are en-
ployed to do one mans work. They re-
celve something like 60 cents a night.
Iris" Mascagnfs new opera, was pro-
duced last week. Iris. the heroine Is
japanese maiden. who is the only sup
port and comfort OF her blind father.
with whom she dwells. She is abducted
by one Osaka the chief of band Of
m0untebanks who forces her TO become
his iUfetffNEs Dut SUM ttitAT ~ H't
leaves her imprisoned in a greenhouse"
Her father entering tho place by acct
dent recognizes her voice and, thinking
that she had left him to follow this life
OF degradation, curses her. In the last
act. broken-hearted and despairing she
throws herself out OF n window, but not
dying Immediately sings OF her unmerited
fate. while in the distance arc heard the
voices OF her father replying in their
different moods 10 her piaintive song.
Sarah Bernhardt now announces that
she will open her season at the Rem Rails
sauce IN Paris with "Medeo." q new
play written for her by Catulle Mendez.
She had intended 10 revive Octave
Feuiller's Julie" but will shelvc II for
the present Indeed IT may be put
aside for a long time 10 come. inasmuch
as Sarah saws the second work Of her
new Partisan season Will be from the
pen Of Jean Richepn. In this piece the
leading character is gypsy, whose
fierce. tempestuous nature ought to tit
Nine Bcrnhardt like n glove. She and
Pichepin are good friends nowadays.
Both OF them, with that excess of
pliability which IN persons of less I'M
p0r'ance would be called fckeness. have
apparently forgotten all about their IT.
tie affair OF the heart which came to an
end when Rlchepin "shook" Sarah thus
breaking all records and causing her to
throw series OF startled and angered
fits.-Leander Richardson. in New York
Telegraph.
Israel Zangwill says that since Shakes
peare's time only two great plays have
been written These are 1.-THE School for
Scandal" and "She Stops 10 Conquer"
Mr.. Zangwill fond that authors of other
countries were writing plays to-day
which were encouraging to those with
interests OF the drama at heart. lie
named Isben whose work gets into the
veins Of his characte;" Echegara, Su-
dermann, ana curiOusly enough, Rost-
and. who would seem TO have nothing
IN common with these writer's. Above
all OF these men, however, ne places
Gerhart Hauptmann rs the most sicni-
fcant figure among the dramatic writer's
OF the time. "Whon / want TO amuse
my servant girl 7 get her an order for
play that contains a steam engine and
a snowstorm. She can see both Of them
by looking out the window. bat takes 4
keen delight in seeing them in the wrong
place. The Greeks dramatsts used 10
pay their actors and train them. The
English actors pay their dramatists and
train them" Mr. Zangwill said that he
once asked Sarah Bernhard why she
Gid not act Rostand's la Samaritaine"
in London, and was told that Il would be
forbidden by the censor. biblical per
sonages are not allowed on the stage"
Mr. zangwil said. except In oratorio.
Eij1h can only appear IN a dress suit"