Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-13

given as a double bill ION special occa-
sions."
The English censor Of plays has exer-
cised his power of prohibition in two re-
cent cases, but only as to the title in one
Of them. He compelled Jane Hsding to
rechristen 9TH Half Virgins for a Lon
don production in French, and she. with
perhaps a spirit of satire, called it Maud"
a name somehow suggestive Of pure inno-
cence. His absolute refusal to license
Maurice Maeterlinck's Norma Wanna has
provoked a discussion that is bound 70
advertise the piece for Mrs. Pat Campbell's
use next season in this country. Actors
and authors wrote to the newspapers In
opposition to the censor and organized
a makeshift society, before whom the
forbidden work was privately" performed.
The published reviews generally approve
the oficial action. what makes the gorge
rise at Norma Vanna,'" says one critic,
lis not merely the crude in~decency OF the
scene in which a married woman pre-
pares to offer herself naked to q bestial
soldier, but as we'll the foul atmosphere
Of the whole play The London Era, a
very conservative journal, thus speaks of
the play:
Perhaps this attempted degradation of
the drama, which has been prohibited in
England, was the >one thing necessary to
illustrate so forcibly the moral irrespon-
vanced" dramatic cult, that many of the
humbug p~retenders who lave set them
selves up as superior beings. win begin to
their case is as deplorable as It is hopeless.
Guido Colonna is the ~commandant Of the
garrison of Pisa, which, besieged by the
armies Of Florence, is reduced to the last
extremity, the sack of the town seeming
imminent. AT this point Prinzivalle, a mer-
canary laadar In. the nav Of the FlOPa0finAa
sends a message that he will spare the city
and send in provisions II Wanna, the wife
of Guido, will come to him for one night,
naked and wrapt in her cloak"
Guido, who has some virtue, is naturally
furious when he hears OF this request. The
individual who should have been most in
dignant. however, consents Immediately to
this shameful bargain. When the English
peerless inquired Of Pauline Bonaparte how
she could have endured to sit for ''the al
together" to the sculptor Cahova, the sister
Of Napoleon. imagining that the overpaf-
ture and not to the exposure. answered,
"Oh, there was a fire In the ROOM
risky Pauline. Thes wife Of GUIDO puts one o
a pair of shoes, wraps herself in a cloak
according to the contract. and repairs to
the tent of the Florentine leader.
In a piece in which almost all the per-
sonages are more or less repulsive rascals
vale is a traitor. and that he has arranged
to sell his employers "as cruelty, as NOR
tally. as possible" In coming to his tent,
v tAAAA 10 aLA al NhC aAl0 BIO
partially opens the upper part of her cloak
to show Prinzivalle the wound. The scene
between the precious pair has a side which
Is slightly comic. Says Prinzivalle: You
are naked under that cloak?" yes" re-
plies Wanna, and then the modest matron
makes a movement to throw OF the
cloak" but Prinzivalle stops her with a
gesture" After this, Wanna becomes less,
for we read later on: She sits down
CLOSELY e s %nTrappsd ~ her cloak" h,u..,,
II appears that he met Wanna when they
were boy and girl, she 8 years old, he IL.
She kissed him.. and she was happy" On
the strength Of this, Prinzivalle has cher
on Vanna's mother died, and Prinzivalle,
being poor. had not pluck enough to pro-
pose to the girl. On finding her, however,
In his power, 1t Immediately occurred to the
creature to put pressure on the woman, in
order to force her to prostitute herself.
fusions about his sentimental and romantic
devotion, inquiries what was his motive in
inducing her to- incur dishonor and dis
grace. To which Prinzivalle answers II
they evaporate in long conversations,
though he. In his turn, makes an attempt
to remove the cloak, a movement which
| Wanna arrests" After further discussion,
she kisses him on the forehead. and they
Where the curTish mob. who were base
enough to prefer the degradation of the
wife OF their general TO a desperate sortie,
applaud her action to the echo. Guido nat
urally refuses to believe that nothing i'm
general In his tent, and treacherously urges
the people to assassinate Prinzivalle. 1t
Is no. quite clear from the text whether
the free lance's' life is saved, or whether
he is quietly put to death by Guido's or
derS.