The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1899-04-15


good deal more alive than carbon de
CastelJaloux." Certain it is that il the
fret act Of M. Rostand's play were
stripped Of lite embellishments, it's buffet
girls and pickpockets and troopers and
lords and ladies, the associations Of the
Hotel de Bourgogne and the atmosphere
OF old Paris, there would be very little
left Of it, and while the playwright's de-
vice Of placing his fourth act on the
battle field is both effective and artistic,
the act has very little dramatic merit
beyond that device.
Undoubtedly the conservatives are
right ip saying that this is a play of
embellishments, of accessories. Even
the famous nose itself is but an acces.
sorry, a trick Of makeup, foil for the
romantic and chivalrous soul which it
disguised. Yet is not the very fact that
this play ia so entirely a play, that it
calls out all the resources Of the modern
theatre, makes such demands upon the
coetumer, the scenic painter, the prop.
erty man, the gas man, and at the same
time exhibits high literary quality the
most encouraging feature shout it?
Does not this fact make it a play OF
the modern the atre, which engages to
satisfy the eye, as we'll as the ear, Mr..
Norman Hapgood to the contrary. A
man with Sardou's stage craft, and a
poet to boot. what more could we ask?
Said Sarcey,"A great poet hae been
born to us, and what delights me most,
is that he is man OF the theatre 1t
was not great poem that we were
wanting, nor dramatized great novel.
but play, an acting play, which, how.
ever much it may be garbled by second
year" French classes and discussed az
to it's literary merits, will still remain a
thing OF the theatre, Of tie property
man, the gas man. Nobody claims that
these elaborate Embellishments make
"Cyrano de Bergerac" great play, only
that they were conceived by a great
imagination. that they engage and slim
ulate feebler imaginations as the author
intended they should. In short, they
complete the illusion Of the theatre. 1t
is a great play because It abounds in
picturesque action, because it is dra.
matte, progressive, from beginning to
end, because it is rich in effect and
novel, il somewhat strained situations,
it il saturated with color and glowing
with romantic ardor, because there are
lines in it that thrill one like the music
OF nightingales, most Of all because 1t
contains an unselfish and chivalrous
passion which inundated itself. That
single conception Of love noble enough
to forego Of a passion which cruciied
itself, Of proud soul content to live in
the happiness Of another, that made the
play great. The play succeeds because
Cyrano de Bergerac failed. After he
has been dead three hundred years and
his ashes were scattered by the Terror.
lists through the streets OF Paris, this
unhappy Gascon again wine fame and
fortune for another man, 80 relentless
and implacable thing is destiny!
"A poet has been born to u.s." Yes.
after all, the literary excellence OF this
play is it's greatest merit; it's chief beau
ties are literary. aud it's brightest dis
tinction is that it was written by poet
and contains lines like these:
"There lies Paris, nocturnal and nebulous;
O1,oe kho h1sso cha doay~d 0fe the ssoOO01ioht