The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
BERNHARDT In CAMILLE"
A Splendid Impersonation of the
Heroine of Dumas.


There have heen shown to American
audiences during the past decade three
great Marguerite Gauthiers-Nethersole s.
Buses, and Bernhardt's Interpretation Of
the Dumas creation, but of the trio. un-
doubtedly the greatest is that of the
Frenchwoman. AS displayed to the evil
d=nt enjoyment and satisfaction Of the au-
dience at the National Theatre yesterday
fternoon-feminine for the most part
naturally-it was a remarkable achieve
ment, veritable triumph over the envious
| assaults of Time considering the number
! of years that have elapsed since the Gal
lician artistic first won renown In the part
To turn back the pages of native dra-
matte history nearly forty years, to the
! period when Matilda Heron presented the
Dumas heroine to an American audience
at the Winter Garden, New York. it is re-
called that an almost universal interest
was awakened in Camille" considered al
the time to be decidedly salacious affair
and it was praised or condemned, accord
ing to the point of view of the critic. But
since the advent of this forerunner OF
what has been termed THE problem play. "
dramas in which women of uncertain moral
qualities have been the central figure.
Camille has ceased to be regarded from
such q strictly puritanical ground, and
has come to be looked upon as a good
specimen of the skillfully constructed
drama with vast amount of human in
terest," and if the approval of yesterday S
gathering at the Bernhard matinee may
be taken as fair criterion, the old play
is still as potent in moving the emotions
as ii was when first produced
In Camille" Dumas has given Bern
hardt enough kindness, generosity, new
love, knowledge of approaching death.
self-sacrifice, and struggling hope, and in
these ample human regions the actress
moves and reigns supreme. The years
that have ripened the great Sarah's art
have also tended to make the earlier
scenes less of a visual illusion, although
they are yet played with all the
witchery of the French woman's matchless
art; still it is in the last act that she
displays complete ownership and author
ity over the theme and her audience. Her
performance is in all essentials verita-
BILE masterpiece, and is, If anything, bet
ter shaded and more highly finished than
ever before. There have been several
new bits of business" introduced. but
they are unimportant, for the most part.
the most noticeable one being the ap-
parent decrease in the more painful symp-
toms OF advancing disease.
VI. CoQuelin was the elder Duval and
made him the eminently respectable old
man, good, honest. severe, the very es-
sence of family virtUe-much the same
sort of drawing he exhibited while in
this country with Jane Hading His work
was notable for minute yeracity and artis-
tie self-suppression. NJ. Deneubourg's Ar
mand was much better than his Mario,
and in the fourth act he exhibited a good
stimulation of genuine passion. The sup
porting company was. as a whole, gen.
orally competent.
The costumes Of the feminine members
of the organization were elaborate enough
to attract not a little attention from the
audience during the first few moments of
each scene. Bernhardts personal sarto-
rial contributions we're much in the ma
ture of what are often termed '"triumphs."
Last night good-sized audience viewed
NJ. Coquelin's remarkably artistic per-
Torrance of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and
bestowed liberal applause upon the splen-
did work of this great actor and his as
sociates Mime. Bernhardt's Roxane com
ing in for q generous share of the appro-
bation.