The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-26

| cur a sea that Is q sky. moveless flowers
The pair embrace. Death Ia nigh-'thert
is no kissing twice upon the heart OF death.
Finally they are enguHed Rescued. they
die in separate chambers Of the palace
from which the aged King has fed. Voices
are the only actors in the last scene.
Medieval, too, In It's picturesque quality
IL "The Death OF Tintagiles' with It's hve
short acts Of despairing sister love. The
little Tintagiles Is the king that Is to be-
His grandmother. q demented old woman,
suffers from a mania which takes the form
Of aggressive jealousy She Is ancient
on her throne-in what strange land does
she reign2-and she seeks TO assassinate
the poor little boy. Ygraine and Bellangere,
his sisters, thwart her desires for time
but only for a short time. He Is eventu-
ally kidnapped and murdered This simple,
old world fairy story-al OF Maeterlinok
has a tang Of the fairy-is handled ex-
quisitely. The arousing Of pity for the
doomed child Ia almost Shakespearian.
These children OF Maeterlinok are his own
creation. No one. with the exception OF
Dostoisvsky and Hauptmann. approaches
him in unfolding the artless secrets Of the
childish heart. Like plucked petals OF
white virginia. flower, the little soul Ia ex-
posed And there is no faint Of precocious
sexuality as in DostoIevsky's studies OF
childhood Giles Precooes' and others).
Hauptmann's Hannele. among modern
figures of girlhood. alone matches the
Belgian. Hannele IL nearer the soil than
Tinta giles or the little Ynlold.
There seems to be a watch set for the ap-
proach Of the slightest happiness, laments
Ygralne as she holds Tintagiles by the hand.
They live in a tower that stands in an
amphitheatre OF shadows. It Is In the
valley. The air does not seem to go down
80 low. The walls OF the tower are crack
ing. You would say 1t was dissolving In the
shadows There the grandmother queen
resides. They say she Is not beautiful
and that she Is growing huge There IL
something monstrous in this hint Of her
size-as though q black. dropsical spider
sat in the dark weaving the murderous webs
for passing flies Only. the fly in this case
is her grandson In to the 'sickening
castle" 60 the little sad King and his sisters.
Bellangere relates that smothsred voices
reached her In one OF the strange corridors.
They spoke Of child and a crown OF gold.
She did not understand. 'for 1t was hard to
hear. and their voices were sweet Enough.
however. to put the sisters on their guard.
In their sleeping room they bar the doors.
An old retainer IL with them. At the end
of the act a door Is slowly pushed OPEN
They exert all their force to keep IL closed.
The old man puts his sword through the
opening: 1t snaps. The room grows colder
as the door. worked by unseen means
opens. Then Tintagiles utters q piercing
cry. The door closes. They are saved
for a time. Act ". gives US the corr idor
In front Of the room wherein hide the boy
and his sisters. The landmarks OF the vile
old queen chatter. It is near midnight.
Sleep has overtaken the hapless victims.
The landmarks steal Tintagiles. and the
scene ends in screams. But the last act
gives US sensations Of the direst sort, be-
cause its terrors are felt and not seen. 1t
is nearly all monologue. Only an actress
Of superior tragic power could do justice
to this most intense episode A great
iron door Is seen. Ygraine. haggard.
enters, lamp in hand. She
has tracked her darling TO this awful spot.
Il found all these golden curls along the
steps and along the walls; and followed
them. picked them up Oil
OH They are very beautiful. They
say the shadows poison Ali Still
more golden curls shut in the door
Then a tiny knock Is heard-the bruised
fists Of Tintagiles on the other side OF the
door. Sister Ygraine Sister
Ygraine.' he calls. He tells her he escaped
from the monster. He struck her-struck
her! Poe-like he exclaims. open quickly
. for the love OF dear God, sister
Ygraine.' You feel the hideous woman
She Is breathing bshind
me- means the child as the fat, painting
devil reaches him, an obscene shape OF
terror. -She 80 is taking me by the
throat ''".' Ygraine. frantic. without.
hears the fall of a little body and bursts
into despairing invectives. Let me be
punished some other way. 80 There are
so many things that could give me more
pain 80 II thou lowest to give pain
There is a suggestion here OF something
worse than mere strangling.
] confess that the condensed bitterness
and woe and cruelty OF this last act border
on the pathologic. would rather hear
the beautiful symphonic poem OF Charles
Martin Loeffier based upon the poetic i'm
pressions Of this piece-the art Of music
has its gauze veils It gives US the pathos
Of distance. Yet Maeterlinck's death OF
Tntagiles' Is In form and style far above
his previous efforts. His marionettes are
beginning to modulate into flesh and blood,
and. like the mermaid Of the fairy story, the
Is q painful one.
We note this meditation particularly In
'Pelleas and Melisande.' First played in
English by Forbes Robertson and Mrs.
Patrick Campbell. tho play made a mixed
in London; though II may be
that, despite the scenic splendor.
he translation and the acting transposed
% a lower. realistic key this lovely drama
IF souls Mrs. Campbell lie too sdpdnte TO
play Melisande In the key Of virginia. naivete;
indeed. the whole performance gave one
he impression OF conventional romantic
intrigue. .Pelleas and Melisande' Is much
more than that. Save 'Monna Wanna
which is Of totally different dramatic
Is no play Of Maeterlinck's
which Ia 90 saturated in poesy. 30 replete
With romance. The romantic In Maeter-
inck has here full sway. There are cpl
sodes as intense as the second act>of 'Tris-
tan and Isolde One expects to hear
Kim Markets distant tremulo,ls hunting