Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-15

ground floor was reached. ! saw an En-
| glish lady with two young girls about to
enter. One of the girls turned round at
| the last moment with expression of COM
+, ical fright Good gracious auntie'' she
cried, have We to walk upside down.
Even this idea is carried out as far as
possible by an arrangement Of mirrors by
which the people who are ascending appear
| to be descending the steps.
A Lady Thought-Reader.
There is not much in the Manor a
fEnvers In the first story there Is
| little theater with a bar, with American
drinks. The theater is devoted to the SER
vice of a young lady 'thought-read der" who
! with bandaged eyes told the numbers on
coins, and the like achievement which
| seemed to entertain the audience vastly. A
country clergyman was sitting there COM
pietely knocked OUT by these featS
on the roof, or the basement, which was
dehghtfully cool, an enormously fat lady,
known as BABY Gomeau, discourses sweet
music; singing Il am the smile that
wreathes us about" and Come close to my
heart. which. owing to her proportions,
would have been difficult IL not impossible
The admission fee to this place was one
franc, and there was a collection for the
cialrVoyant, and you were expected to drink
hook, forty confines, while listening to
the Baby. The prices at most Of the little
theaters of the street run from one pence
to ten pence.
The Palais de Dance which was not par
'lNoioiiS wen llIeu Wnen L saw II, gave all
that 1t professed to exhibit. There were
characteristic English. Spanish Greek Rus
san and Italian dancers, all wrapped round
win little pantomimc story, and the
dancing was good. The Theater des Bons-
hommes Gulllaume is the theater of MARION
cites, very cleverly arranged and for peo-
pie who like that kind of fun excruciatingly
1unny. The Jardin des Chansons is simply
an ordinary cafe-concert transported to the
Rue de Paris. The singing is not so good
as IN an ordinary cafe-concert of Paris, but,
on the other hand. the visitor can sit in a
cool place, and, If inclined smoke his
pipe The crier at the door yells out this
TACT necessarily, as though ii were the great
attraction To the tagged brain of the
slghtSeer 1t probably is. The Troupe Es-
pagnole consists of sixty children bows and
girls OF ages ranging from six to fourteen
Ihey dance the national dances of Spain in
their picturesque costumes and they are
naLonai geniuses in the art of the light
fantastic toe. l saw one girl of twelve
who danced a cachuca with perfect dia-
olerie of expression and verve. Were any
one or the more noted dancers capable of
such performance she would set two com
tinents ablaze, as this child may vet do. II
was amusing to see the troop of little girls,
the performance over, promenading in their
all alike.
Sparkle to This
The Grand Guignol gives an up-to-date
little piece of Parisanism with the Ameri-
can biograph thrown in. The Theater des
Auteufssais was one of those l Sat out
one OF those bright pieces of sparkling i'm
ag1nation and genuine study of human ma
ture for which Courteline is noted 1t was
like intellectual meringues and champagne
When We come to the Theater Loie Fuller
we are In contact with something more Sc
rious. The Japanese troupe has become a
great success in Paris and when / entered
the theater | found that, contrary to nv
experience of all the other theaters in the
Rue de Paris. it was crowded. The Japan
m 10 in
can follow the incidents with perfect intelli-
gence A young knight, Nagoya who is
fancee to Orihime, is foolish enough one
day to enter the quarter of the Geishas
where he encounters the dazzling beauty of
katsouraghi. He forgets his promise of
fidelity and falls desperately in love with
katsonraghi. This brings him into conflict
with Banza. another knight, who is also
enamored of the frail beauty. A duel en-
sues, but katsouraghi prevents fatalities
Orihme, finding herself deserted by Ma
goya, sets out in search of him, and at
length finds him in the quarter of the
Geishas. She induces him to leave the
place and to escape from Katsouraghi
They repair to a Buddhist temple Kat
souraghi whose jealousy is aroused fol-
lows them to the door of the temple. but
the priests forbid her the entrance In or
der to overcome the difficulty she proposes
to them to dance in honor of the Buddhist
deity. and succeeds SO we'll that presently
she has all the priests themselves indulgine
in a furious saraband. Katsouraghi dis
covers the retreat of the affianced couple
and tries to kill Orihime. A guardian of
the temple arrives in time to save Orihime
and Katsouraghi herself is killed in the
struggle. She dies in the arms of the knight
she loved.
A Strange Mixture.
The play opened with the national dance
of Japan, a mixture of the capering of q
monkey, the war dance of an. Apache In
dian and the antics of a school boy, but
full of spirit and vigor.
The Geisha Of the piece was represented
by one of the beauties of Japan, who is.
l am told, the only woman on the stage in
that progressive state. She is considered
very pretty, with her petite figure her
almond eyes clewed up, her black hair like
horses name brushed out at the sides
and arranged in weird convolutions She
came in dumping and waddling on boots,
which were double, triple and quadruple
soled to a thickness of twelve inches
The play of expression on the faces of
the actors was not the mere elevation OF
the eyebrows or the grimace Of the mouth
or our stage Rage was exhibited with the
whole frame quivering, the eyes rolling
ABOUT and the lips working up and down
with impressive realism of fury. The love
making was done with coquetry, an arch
ness oil glance and sweet innocence on
the part OF the lady that was In itself a
universal language, not to be misunder-
stood OF any, no matter what tongue he
might speak. But the duel was superb
IT was not like the French duel. in which
the preliminary ceremonies are so serious
and final result SO absurd These Japan
csc wanted to get at each other, and kat
souraghi in endeavoring to separate them
displayed the strength and agility Of a
professional wrestler, while the two
knights, with their horse hair bristling
on their heads. leaped and bounded about
the stage like acrObats, and banged away
with their swords like demons possessed.
At the Death Scene.
The death scene was really very fine and
Katsouraghi was terrible in energy and
pathos. There is pristine vigor about
these little Japs that is quite refreshing
after the languid drawing-room deaths OF
our popular tragediennes. Katsouraghi dies
like one who struggles with her whole soul
against death and succumbs at length only
when the spirit is rent out Of her body.
Her death would be great any stage
The acting of these Japanese, which,
though containing much that was gro-
'tesque and exaggerated to eastern minds
but, no doubt, ali in accordance with the
Conventions of the Japanese, was In re-
freshing contrast to the conventions Of our
stage, where the leading lady comes SIM
pering in, smiling at her friends in the
boxes. and where conversation never heard
in human society is carried in voices
never heard in human conversation, and
where, after each act, the leading lady and