The times., 1899-05-07
cannot but be interesting under the cir
cumstanccs. He says:

cannot but be interesting under the cir
cumstanccs. He says:
sardou. | believe. likes the fcrce and awful
pictures of life. lie has delft repeatedly with
tigeiish women and mgn, and here in his latest
pay he shows yeu the stage dcnsely packed with
maddened. rraniacal sava-cs, snlpping like rahid
dogs and screaming Tor the blood Of somebody
or anybody. The scene is in the hall Of the Sa-
tional Convention, and the members are ras,ed
upon precipitous benches rank above rank like
crazy crowd at 4 baseball game. Robespierre
Is doomed. The poor. sea-green atrabiiiar for
muia of a man, as that reckless phrase builder
Thomas Carlyle, has labeled him, is asking to be
heard in his own defense but he is in a maelstrom
Of enemies and his words are drowned in hurri-
cane of threats and imprecations. At last on
1 vote, he is condemned to die, and then Sur
dou quietly peHerts history by having him draw
a pistol and shoot himself TO DEATH That's
preferable to wheeling guillotne, less
independent and more conscientious dramatist
than Sardou would have felt bound to do. But
after ii il all over-after you have witnessed the
scene in the courtyard of the prison Of Port
Librc. where the and women waiting TO
be called out TO die; after you have seen Robes
pierre, caught unawares in a fearful gloomy cor
ridor of the Prison OF the Conciergerie at mid
night. writhing and shrieking in the presence OF
the ghosts OF his victims, which advance upon
him from every arckway and corridor and shadow.
until he is a covering. iorslken human figure,
surrounded by gray spectres; after you have heard
the harsh wheels of the tuIrbriis ard the cians
of the mothers they torn from their chill
dren-after you have seen and heard the whole
series of heart-rending horrors that made the
Reign OF Terror indecently rude and inartistic,
you feel that drama may be made rougher than
a game OF football, and the air as you 20 forth
into the night feels grateful upon your uncom-
Portable flesh.
For the most part the play OF "Robespierre;
is blrbaric panorama, containing the mere
thread OF story which in itself is purely apoc-
ryphal, concerning. it does. an alleged romance
in the life of the 'ssea-green incorruptible, -
which resulted in giving him illegitima,e son.
This is quite a natural piece of Sardouism but
doesn't to suit the cold, bilious, fsh-iike
nature OF Robespierre Legitimate 4
mean pivot for any dramatic story to rotate upon.
and an ilegitnate Robespierre is impossible
as warm ice. So the little glimpses OF story
in the play arc unsatisfactory. But Irving res
cues Sardou by his magical genius as a producer,
and hides all that is trivial, empty. and false un-
der the fine embroidery of his personal art. You
feel that you are glad not to have missed this
production, and if you in any way interested
in the stage as q business you conscious af-
terward of having learned dozen valuable prac-
teal things from the splendid achievement Of q
master workman.
In this country, where Sir Henry Irv-
ing's friends are numberless. the report
will be the best of good news. There
was something more than ordinarily pa
thetic in the fall of one who had pos
sessed so much power-had done so much
to make histrionic history. There is some
thing equally glorious in his sudden rise.
The success of ''Robespierre" in London.
with its consequent return of power TO two
great old men is a notable event that
will be felt wherever there is art or ap-
probation of art.