Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-10-19
Tur crrFEN SEASON.


This week will mark the opening Of the
Iiffen season Much has already been
written and said of the excellence Of
the organization that Mr.. GiffeE will
bring here much is known positively of
the precedents that Manager Giffen has
established, and the many excellences OF
a Giffen production.
At this time ii would be superfluous to
add anything to the eulogies pronounced
on Mr.. Giffen, his methods and his enter
prise 1t is interesting. however. to note
that Under Two Flags is to be the
opening bill. This play was done here
last summer, and was perhaps The most
distinctive tsuccess OF the summer term
Upon this occasion Miss Lucille La Verne
that sterling actress who has SO many
friends in this city, is to appear as Cigar
cite. This role is one Of the most inter
esting ever drawn, and the way that Miss
La Verne will play it Will no doubt arouse
a great deal of interest.
Under Two Flags is one of the strong
est and most picturesque Of contemporary
plays. The Edward Elsner version of
Ouida's famous story will be used. 1t IS
more practical and practicable than the
Potter version employed by Blanche
Bates; it reproduces all the important in
cidents of the book, and the dialogue fol-
lows oGlua S Story very Closely, and IN
many instances exactly.
The drama is in five acts and six
scenes. The first act is LAID IN BERTHE
Cecil's rooms. in London; the others have
Algiers for their locale. presenting Won
derful scope for extraordinary pictur-
esqueness OF scenery and costuming in
the conquest Of Scipio in the Phoenicia
whose loneliness used TO fash in the burn
Ing sea mirrored sun, while her fleets
went eastward and westward for the
honey of Athens and the gold of Spain.
where once all Egypt came down the food
of the flowing Nile and Herodotus unused
under the shadowy foliage looking on the
lake like rungs of water. The temple OF
the sun. where the beauty or lascnath be-
guiled the 1sraelite to forget his sale into
bondage and Punishment: where the Lutte
tan palace Of Julian saw the legions rush
with torches and with wine bowls to sa-
lutte their darling as Augustus. the sledge
hammer and the stucco of the Hausmann
fiat bore desolation in their wake
.UNDER TWO FLAGS
The story Of Under Two Flags" is too
we'll known to need recitation. BERTHE
Cecil and Cigarette are. Oh course. the
two vital characters of the play. as they
ere OF the book. The former is a second
Roland or revivifed Bayard He was a
uaS5ufNe cavalry SOtClti. VINO fGG q dozen
wounds put over his body by the Bedouin
swords in many and hot sliirmishes: who
had waited through sultry African nights
for the lions tread. and had fought the
desert king and conquered; who had rid
Gen thousand miles over the great sand
wastes and the bounSless arid plains. and
slept under the stars with the saddle be-
heath his head and his rine IN his hanc.
all through the night: who had served,
and served we'll in fierce arduous unre-
uniting work, in trying. campaigns and in
close discipline; who blended the vcrve
the brilliance, the daring, the eat, drink.
and enjoy. for tomorrow we die of the
Fronch Chasseur. with something that
was very different and far from TRANQUIL.
Be-tte Cecil went from extremes of lux
Ury and extravaganza as a British
Guardsman to extremes OF hardship and
suffering as soldier in the ranks of the
army OF France. To protect a woman's
honor, and to save mis- brother from dis
grace, he fied from London. when charged
with crime that he never committed
and crossed. unnottced to Algeria, while