Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-22
CONGRATULATIONS
Columbia Theater.

The short engagement OF Eleonora Duse
at the Columbia Theater next week will be
one of the principal events OF the dramatic
season in Washington The famous Italian
actress will return after an absence Of near
ly seven years, and her fame has grown
perceptibly since her last appearance here.
On account Of the great strain imposed on
her by the performances Of the three plays
In which she will be seen here. Madame
Duse had Intended to limit her season at
the Columbia Theater to only four per-
formances. There has been SO great a de-
mand for seats for Francesca da Rimini''
that Madame DuSe has been prevailed upon
to give an extra performance on Thanks
giving night She will appear on that even
ing in Francesca da Rimini" and it will
be the first presentation of dAnnunzio's
latest play in this city.
Madame Duse will begin her engagement
on Tuesday evening. and her opening play
her for the first time in Camille" that
d'Annunzio conceived the idea for his play
and it bears the dedication: ITO Eleonora
Duse of the beautiful hands" The story
deals with the infatuation Of a sculptor for
his model The action revolves around the
struggle between the legal tie to his wife
and the irresistible power of his model
With his love for symbols d'Annunzio has
art. Silvia. the wife. is goodness, and
Lucio, the artist. who prefers beauty to
goodness.
On Wednesday evening Madame Duse will
appear for the first time here in La Citta
Morta" (the Dead City. The tragedy was
written by d'Annunzio especially for
Madame Duse, but on account Of her Illness
it was first produced in Paris by Sarah
Bernhard. This was In 1898. when the
Dreyfus case was reaching its climax and
Italy and France were almost at the point
of war. In such an atmosphere d'Annunzio
sent his play to be judged. Its triumph was
great and proved conclusively that art can
rise superior to the passion Of political par
ties A month later Madame Duse appeared
in La Citta Morta' at Rome, and 1t has
remained one of the principal plays in her
repertoire. The author calls his play "A
modern tragedy" a designation better to
be understood in France and Italy than
here. where the term tragedy has long been
used to denote every sort of play with an
unhappy ending. 1t build be almost as ac-
curate to call it antique tragedy" for few
modern plays follow 50 closely the old
Greek model.
On account Of the change In Madame
Buses plans, the first performance Of
Francesca da Rimini' will take place on
Thursday evening THANKSGIVING night in
stead of Friday evening. as originally an
nounced- Madame Duse will repeat Fran
cesca da Rimini'' on Friday evening and
also at the Saturday matinee. which will
be the last performance of her engagement
at the Columbia Theater. D'Annunzio's
latest play was produced only last winter
at Rome. and it has since been played with
success in all the principal cities of Italy
well in Berlin and in Vienna The
Italian dramatist has made no radical
changes in the story which Dante has out
lined in his Inferno" but. with his poeti-
cal imagination. he has tried to present a
faithful picture Of the Italy of that period
The work is a complete and splendid re-
production of life in Florence in the thir-
teenth century. He has made Francesca
a typical Italian woman of that period fed
on loving legends and on knightiy ballads
woman who loves and fights. Around
her everything hsrmonizes with the age
and thought and sentiment are true. Dante
saw in the episode of Francesca the trag-
edy of love. D'Annunzio. instead, has
treated it as tragedy of hate In all It's
form.
Madame Duse will be supported by
company that is generally conceded to be
the best that she has ever brought to this
country. 1t includes some of the most
prominent players in Italy. The three
plays she will present in Washington will
be produced with all the scenic equipment
that made the original presentations so
attractive.