The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-07-05
Good Plays and Bad
A Group Now on VicW at
Paris Which Touches Real
ism. Dramatic Miniature
Painting, and Themes Long
Since WON Out.

AHalTeS Sont les AHalreS. Inc play
is startlingly realistic for house which
has so faithfully conserved the classic
traditions of the French stage.
few seasons ago Mirbeau's Les
Mauvais Bergers" created a mild sen
sation because of the doctrines II set
forth. Tolstoyism. Ibsenism, and sew
eral other latter-day 'isms'' ran ram
pant through the FIVE acts. He has also
written three pieces of one act each.
two of them comedies. 'LEpidemie,'
"Vieux Manages" lie Portefeuille." 1t
is not necessary now to allude to this
writer's short stories. Some of them,
powerful as they are, have an odor
which is said TO permeate all China
LIE Journal dune Femme de Chambre"
has had a vogue. being in the 10O, 0OOth
in the original edition. It has, / am
sorry to say, been translated "Le
Jardln des Supplies" betrays an ex-
traordinary Imagination, but a malef-
cent one. Mirbeau is read TO better ad-
vantage in Sebastian Roch'' and in
his plays.
Les AfTaires Sont les Affaires"
Cuisines Is Business'D is in the rep
ertory of the Franchise for good. VI.
Ciarette has shown considerable elias
ITCHY in matters of judgment before
this. yet 1 doubt if he ever risked such
piece on the venerable boards of this
Official theater. 1t is not alone its mod
ern note. but the smashing OF idols
clerical. aristocratic, socialistic and
ommercial-wherein this comedy Of
tends. Seldom a performance without
Kissing. cheering, with heated disputes
ir the Hobbies. The night l witnessed
The play. the third act set rival political
Psrties kissing each other. After all our
beloved French cousins take the art of
the theater seriously. 1t is more than
digestive diversion. and little less than
a religion.
The Money God on the Stage.
Mirbeau is not the first dramatist to
put a swindling man OF affairs before the
footlights. lie Sage's "Turcaret' is
mere name today for most students or
the drama. yet IL was considered a dan
gerously true portrait a century ago.
And Balzac's "Mercadet." that play upon
which he built so many hopes. gave his
contemporaries a terrible picture OF a
fnancier. But in Balzac's novels may
be found a regular gallery Of bankers
and spider-like usurers. The figure OF
Nucingen is an imperishable one. Oc-
tave Feuillet's "Montjoye" Is a reduced
reproduction of a Balzac character
brought down to the times of the sec
ond empire. while lola, in "L'Argent,"
expanded his epical gifts Of description
in imagining a scoundrel Spectator.
Nor must Daudet's "Nabob" be for
gotten.
Mirbeau. naturally. is nearer to us
for the present-than his predecessors.
He has gone to the bourse. as did Zola.
and studied his men on the spot Some
persons here hint that Isidore Lecha,
IS a full-length drawing OF the late Le-
baudy, father OF Max Lebaudy. known
on the Boulevard as lie Petit Sucrier"
But others insist that the name Isidore
has it's racial Significance. that Lechai
might have been Katzenstein before the
family moved to Alsace. No matter.
Isidore Lechat is today the most vital
figure on the stage. and as played by
DE Feraudy is superb.
Balzac book, for he is the very incar-
nation OF volitional energy. Twice ar
rested for swindling. twice an inmate
OF prisons. this Napoleon OF finance
manages to escape the law by techni-
calities-which means in France. rs IL
does everywhere. that Justice may be
hoodwinked.
Dynamo, BLACKBOARD, and Napoleon.
Lechat has repudiated his debts twice:
ne is owner Of q newspaper. behind the
types of which he manages 10 manipu-
late the stock market. to float all sorts
and conditions OF shaky companies. 20
swindle at his glorious leisure Not that
he is a man OF leisure. No dramatic
character was ever so active as is Isidore
Jechat A dynamic energy. exhaust
less. terrincally noisy. be stirs all about
him by his torrential flow of converse
tion. his ceaseless unrest He has that
mock air OF hail-fellow well met which
deceives the average man and woman;
and niggard in private life, he throws
money away in public 70 the blaring Of
brass bands and proletarisn shoutings.
I>eehat Is never lovable. though he in
terests. A bigger blackguard never trod
shoe leather. II Is his supreme scamp
hood which piques and startles the spec
tator who follows his fortunes with al
most the regard bestowed upon a great
tragic figure. For this Mirbeau's real
istic art Is the cause.
Half a century ago when the we'll
made play was the end-all Of French
dramatists. such a slice Of real life as
Business Is Business" would have been
publicly and critically booted. Il is
pitchforked on the stagc-this would be
the cry. In reality as a piece OF drama
tic construction this comedy Is not ad-
mirable. II runs to lengths in the mat
ter Of speeches; IL has no beginning. no
end. II might be called "a Day in the
Life Of SwindIer," Just as Mirbeau
called a nasty book OF his "Twenty-one
Days OF a NeurastEenic."
Bold Character Drawing.
! have not explained the breadth and
depth Of the fnancier's politics He is a
Socialist with leanings toward conserva,