The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-28
A. BATCH OF PARTISAN PLAYS.
REALISM ON THE STAGE OF THE
COMEDJE FRANCHISE.
Idols smashed in Octave Mirbeau's Por'
trait OF a Swindling Man Of Affairs
ia Rnbouilleuie' Of . Totally Diner'
ept kind-AnatOlc Frances Ensag'
Co.. stttia Enis0de at the nPna ssance.

If Noiere could revisit the glimpses OF
the Comade FRANCHISE. would he be shocked
or not at Octave Mirbeau's "Les Ahalres
Sont les Afraires"? The play is startlngly
realistic for n house which has so falthIully
conserved the classic traditions OF the french
s,age. A few seasons ago Mrbeaus Les
Mauvais Bcrgers' created mild sensation
becauseof the doct rines it set forth Ioistoy
ism Ibsenisu and several other latter-day
.is,n," ran rampant through the five acts.
He has also written three pieces OF one act
each. two of them comedies. IL Epidemic,
aV;eux Manages lie Portefeuille. 1t
il not necessary now to allude to this writ
er's short stories Some Of them, powerful
ma thew are, have an odor which is said TO
nerneate all China lie journal dune
Femme de Chambre' has had a vogue, being
in the 100 ,O0oth in the original edition ~
has. I am sorry to say. been translated
lie Jardin DIES Supplies" betrays an e4-
traordinary imagination, but malef,cent
one Mirbeau is read to better advantage
IN Sebastian Roch" and in his plays.
aIes Affaires Sont les Atfsires" Business
is Business is in the repertory OF the
Franchise for good. NJ, Claretie has shown
considerable elasticity in matters OF Judg-
ment before this. yet ! doubt II he ever
risked such piece on the venerable boards
OF this official theatre. Ii Is not alone its
modern note, but the smashing OF idols
clerical aristocratic. socialistic and COM
mercial- wherein this comedy ohends
Seldom a performance without kissing,
cheering, with heated disputes in the lob
bes The night witnessed the play. the
third act set rival political parties Kissing
each other. After all our beloved French
cousins take the art Of the theatre seriously.
IT Is more than digestive diversion ana
little less than religion
Mirbeau is not the first dranatist to put
a swindling man OF affairs before the foot
lights. lie Sage's, "Turcaret' is mere
name to-day for most students OF the drama
vet 1t was considered. dangerously true
portrait century ago And balzacs
aMercadet,N that play upon which he built
so many hopes, gave his contemporaries
terrible picture of fnancier. But in Bal
zacs novels may be found a regular gallery
of bankers with shady regulations, queer
stockbrokers and spider-lke usurers The
figure OF .Nucingen Is an imperishable one.
Octave Feuillet's "Montjoye" is reduced
reproduction of Balzac character brought
down to the times of the Second Empire,
while lola. in -LArgent,' expanded his
epical gifts Of description in imagining
scoundrel speculator. Nor must Daudet's
"Nabob" be forgotten.
Mirbeau, naturally, is nearer to us-for
the present-than his predecessors. He
has gone to the Bourse. as did lola, and
studied his men OH the spot, Some persons
here hint that Isidore Lechdt is a full-length
drawing Of the late Lebaudy, father Of Max
Lebaudy, known on the Boulevard as lie
Petit Sucrier' But others insist that the
name Isidore has its racial significance.
that Lechat might have been Katzenstein
before the family moved from Alsace. No
matter. Isidore Lechat is to-day the most
vital figure on the stage. and as played by
De Feraudy is superb.
And he might have stepped out Of Bal
zao book. for he is the very incarnation of
voltional energy. Twice arrested for
swindling, twice an inmate Of prisons, this
Napoleon of finance manages to escape the
law by technicalities- which means In
France. as 1t does elsewhere. that justice
may be hoodwinked.
LSCVQt HdS TcpuuAtcu lid 'ucOtS l"NS'
no is owner Of newspaper behind
the types OF which he manages to
manipulate the stock market, to float all
sorts and conditions Of shaky companies,
to swindle at his glorious leisure, Not
that he is a man OF leisure No dra-
matte character was ever active as is
Isdore Lechat A dynamic energy, ex-
haustless, terrifcally noisy, he stirs all
about him by his torrential flow Of CONVEX
sation, his ceaseless unrest, He has that
mock air of hail fellow well met which de-
ceives the average man and woman: and, a
niggard in private life, he throws money
away in public to the blaring Of brass bands
and proletarian shoutlngs
Lechat is never lovable, though he in
terests A bigger Backyard never trod
shoe leather, 1t is his supreme scamphood
which piques and startles the spectator
who follows his fortunes with almost the
regard bestowed upon great tragic figure.
For this Mirbeau's realistic art is the cause
Half a century ago. when the well-made
play was the end-all Of French dramatists.
such slice of real life as Business Is Bust
ness" would have been publicly and criti-
cslly hooted 1t is pitchforked on the
stagezthis would be the cry. In reality
as a piece OF dramatic construction this
comedy is not admirable tr,ms to lengths
in the matter ofspeeches; it has no begin
ming, nc end. 1t might he called "A Day in
tho Life Of Swindler," Just as Mrbeau
called a nasty book Of his "Twenty-one
Days Of Neurasthenic.
1 have not explained the breadth and
depth of the fmncier's politics. He is a
Socialist with leanings toward conserva-
tism-that is. he hunts with the hounds
and runs with the hares His magnificent
cl A.eau adjoins the now impoverished es-
tate of Porcellet The Marquis already
owes. him 10000 francs. lie has a son.
Lechct has daughter. To see aristooracy
and finance united ia his dream. His own
son. the petted one of his gaudy house
hold, is friend Of dukes, has $4,000 auto
mobile. and is a degenerate of the most
approved and modish kind. The daugh-
ter. Germaine Lechnt, is a study only Sec
ond in interest tn her father. After read
ing the play and seeing it twice acted
think that with a stronger, or rather more
suitable, actress than Mile. Lara the. role
would gain enormously, This young lady
has studied her scales assiduously after
the precise methods Of the FRANCHISE. She
has distinction. dignity and plenty of tenn
pera'>ent. but these attributes are canal
Tled in the classic stye and we miss the
fraaforn the to,,fh of m y,l1or raoo.., r,,