Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-11-30
New National Theater.

With rhne, ftnnce and furbeiow,
Who. in the msfyy days Of old. a.,
Made light of all but red wines HOW!
Where ntE are cavalier and beau,
Who joSed with thee in that bright cliIne9
All, Gust@to dust-and none may know
Alas. FOR the feet wings of time
The days of Francois yillon. the poet
vagabond " Pass, 1.-THE prince of all ball
ad-makerss the days of Louis XII, the
crafty. thesperfdious. the treacherous, the
cruel. who laid the foundations of the later
absolute monarchy; the days OF Charles
the Bold of Burgundy; the days when
France was in more than usual turmoil.
and mobiles and peasants alike hated the
king-out of the warp and wool of-the real
and the romantic OF these days has Justin
Huntly Mccarthy made his play of IF l
Were King" to be produced on Monday
evening at the National by E. H Sothern.
Out of the forgotten dust he has brought
PACK cavalier and beau to faunt their ruff
fies and laces, and has swept back the
wings of time, that Villon and his
comrades bold will move again as real per-
sens 1t matters very little that the dra-
matist altered history to suit his purposes.
He makes king mingle with his people
IN dlsguire and raises vagabond to be
grand constable of Paris, but that should be
told in detail
Mr.. McCarthy's story shows how Louis
Ai, going in disguise to a low tavern, hears
Villon declaim a baIlade with the refrain,
II Fllion Were the King of France and,
belng enraged, determines that he must
ole.- But Villon, who has already fallen in
love with Katherine de Vaucelles. noble
lady OF the court and urged on by her,
nights duel with Thibaut d'Aussigny,
grand constable of Paris, who has insult
ed Katherine, and severely wounds him.
The king is delighted, because d'Aussigny
Is suspected of treachery, and he promptly
makes Villon grand constable-fer one
week
At the end of the week he must be hanged
Tor his reasonable ballade unless he wins
the love of Katherine de VaucelleS. Vii
Ion accepts the condition Che has to, pretty
much) and wOos Katherine with ardor and
success But the king has planned a fine
revenge. He himself has been repulsed by
Katherine and at the end of the week he
reveals to her that the grand constable is
only only Francois Villon She spurns the poet
just as he was about to march against the
enemy under Charles the Bold He falters
for minute, but RECEIVERS himself. and,
with an impassioned harangue to his troops,
marches away.
The next day he returns victorious, the
populace aflame with frenzied joy at his
victory and hurting their welcoming cheers
at him. The king, with a harsh smile,
points to the gibbet erected in the square.
Villon will not ask for mercy, but just as
the end Is near Katherine breaks through
the crowd and declares that she will die
for him, or. better still, with him. The
that the prophecy of soothsayer has been
fulfilled, is suddenly moved to mercy and
the story ends with Villon restored to favor
once more.
die at the end of the piece, but receives the
reward due to- every hero of romance the
love of we ladye faire." This latter role
VIII be played by Cecilia Lotus, while the
are as follAws: aeorge w Wilson, Arthur
r. Lawrence, John Findlay, Norman Con-
niers, Henry ]. Carvill. Sydney c. Mather
Rowland Blackstone. Herbert Ayling, Alfred
eric Lotto. Malcolm Bradley, George c.
Baye, j. j. Ryan, William Park, B. B.
Belcher, Charles yane. Francis Powell
Charles Redmun& Fanny |. Burt, Suzanne
Helen Logan, Rachel Crowns Margaret
Corcoran, Nprrna Hobson and others. Add
ed to these will be special ballet for a
bal masquerade over a hundred extras.
Columbia Theater. 81
Louis Mann and Clara Lipman, two stars
of great p4eularity Ia this city, appear at
the COLUMBIA Theatef on Monday evening
next in th Dew play. entitled .The Red
Kspofs g& He'd Ragie,. spietlrfng Boer
life INF the aEnaasvaal, and written by Paul
NJ Pottery The pied, which recently COM
pleted brilliant>six weeks engagement at
the Savoy Theater, New York. was pre-
pared expressly for Mr.. Mann and Miss
Lipnan.s and affords them roles with oppor-
tunities for display ofswork, along both
comic and serious lines. calculated to put
them well forward in the legitimate field,
toward which they have of late been work.
Ing. In THE Red kloof' both players will
display their mettie to excellent advantage,
for Mr.. Potter Is. said to have employed
their possibilities and personalities in a
most interesting way. and at the same
time to have evolved a story moving in its
comedy, its pathos and it's dramatic
strength. Based, as the play is, on Boer
life, 1t Is bound to augment the admirers
Of Mr.. Mann and Miss Lipman, for the
Transvaal is at the present moment the
theater of one of the bitterest wars ever
waged, and one in which the whole world
is interested.
The action Of the play begins in 1895. a
short time before the famous Jameson raid:
and the scene Is laid on and about Red
Kloof farm. the homestead Of painfully
dear old Boer' named Piet Prinsloo played
by Mr.. MANN. This farm is situated in the
Transvaal village of Doppersdorf close to
Majuba HILL where the Jameson raid took
place; and the action springs from the fact
ambulance and base Of supplies, have set
tied on Red Kloof farm, and has deputized
one of their number to study the Mace and
its surroundings, and at the same time in
gratiate himself into old Prinsloos home.
This young fellow, who is a skillful sur
geon, named Rodney Blake, has scarcely
taken up the task imposed upon him. when
he accidentally meets Prinsloo's daughter.
Mona. He at once conceives a passionate
love for her, which she returns In this
strait. finding it no longer possible to be
faithful to his comrades, he begs the girl
to fly with him. She waivers for a while
between her love and her duty to her
father, and then yields, just as Blake has
secretly performed an operation restoring
old Prinsloo's hearing Scarcely have the
lovers got well started for johannesburg
when Mona's father finds the farewell mes
sage left for him by the girl He pursues
the couple, overtakes them, and brings his
daughter home again. arriving in time to
hear the raiders full discussion of their
plans, which they parade openly before
him, believing him to be still stone deaf
The old Boer at once arouses his follow.
ers, and the British defeat at Jameson is
the result. The raid over, Prinsloo returns
home, the joys of triumph marred bv his
daughters attempted flight. siron1
heart interest - maintained the incidents
bringing the story down to the present
Boer trouble. There will be satnrdav
matinee only at the Columbia next weaI
Chase's Theater.
Heading the big bill that commences Mon.
day at chase's Theater will be the