New-York tribune., 1899-12-17
A PUXXLING PLAY.r
LIE FAUBOURG" IS QUESTIONABLE, But
ATTRACTIVE.

THE CHIEF SUCCESS OF THE PARIS SEASON THUS
FAR-oTHER CURRENT STAGE PIECES
Paris, November 2s
NE Faubourg." NJ. Abel Hermants new CON.
edy. which was produced on Friday at the
Vaudeville Theatre is the most talked Of play q
the present season. Like Henri Layedan's
"Prince dAurec," and like LA Meute," Ia
Carriere" and Les Transatantiques," it Is in.
tended as a scathing satire Of the ultra fashion.
able society Of the Faubourg St German. Te
Faubourg' is the most perpleXing play that n
Hermant has yet written. Perhaps the most
astonishing thing about it Is that 10 Is not the
work OF two authors, for passages Of real talent
are side by side with absolute chlldlshness II
is badly made inconsistent and superficial
Nevertheless II is brimful of witty dialogue
abounds in piquant caricature and never be.
comes tedious Like a snowy but faulty colt al
a horse fair, it attracts the eye more readily
than does the well proportioned animal, sound
in wind and limb. As lie FauDOurg may soon
be transplanted across the water a brief outline
of its action may be Of interest.
In the first act we are introduced To- a beyy n
Tanagra-like figures Of dukes duchesses
princes. counts and yiscoun,s They exchange
from the Gazette de France and La Crolx'
They are narrow minded and fanatical The
scene passes in the salon q Countess Nandor.
Eperjes. a high born French woman married to
a Hungarian magnate. The husband and wife
have separated, owing 10 incompatb.iity Of ten.
perament. This incompaubility Of tempera.
ment is the leit-motif OF tn play, for N. Her
mant wishes to prove that IN spite of cosmo-
politanism there remains in the blood Of persons
Of different nationality rreconcilabe and hostile
elements, and that marriage between such per-
sons must always end badly The husband
lives at Budapest; the wife lives AZ Paris This
i'll mated couple have a daughter Mile Margit
who embodies the incoherence and antipathies
Of her parents Margt IS emotional sehtimen-
tai and sensual. and, above all. obstinate and
quick tempered. She passes half the year with
her father in Hungary, and the other half /:
spent with her mother in the Faubourg St. Ger
main She has just arrived from Hungary, and
match is arranged with the Prince DEN.
tragues, with whom she imaglnes she is In love
The Prince d Entragues is the elder OF the
Duchess De Verneu.l. lie Is a man Of capricous
temperament and dissatisfied with his surround
ings He is a sort Of Christian Socialist HIS
only happy hours are passed in a little apart
ment in a tenement house at Menilmontant, in
the Workingmens quarter OF Paris, whore he
lives under the name Of VI. ToUchet-a family
name for he is a descendant Of Marie Touchet
mistress of Charles TX. NJ Hcmant here pre-
sents 10 w. another IN sorted pair-a Partisan
seamstress and her N-apolitan husband BI,
this couple may be dismissed. as they have
nothing whatever to do with the action Of the
play.
Almost the very day after their wedding the
Prince and Princess d'Entragues discover that
it is impossible to get on together Margt in
company with dissipated band of her mothers
relatives launches forth into all sorts OF risky
adventures Attended by her cousin Donaten
and the fashionable athlete Edouard Ltang
commonly known as Eddy" she frequenrs the