The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-10
SARD0U TELLS OF HIS
LATEST DRAMA "DANTE."
Play Ii Soon to BE Produced in London
By Sir Henry Irving-The
Inferno Scene.

Park Nay s.-victorien sardou. the great
French playwright. has just given an ac-
count Of the drama Dante upon which
he has been long at work. and which has
In. debating the facts about his great
work to a correspondent the other day,
aardou went through much of the panto-
typicaly French in his display of emotion.
and seemed carried away at times by the
scenes AMI situations he described. The
BY VICToRIEN SARDOU.
Dante opens with a prologue which
tskes place at Pisa The scene is laid in
no longer young. but not yet old, as he will
be seen in the rest of the piece. meets Pia
del Tolommel, his mistress, whose acQuaint-
snce he made soon after the death of
The two converse in the dim light, but
the episode Is only a brief one, The story
Of Ugolino chiefly fills the prologue. The
tower in which the wretched Count has de
voured his own SONS is shown In the back
Of the stage. Ugolino is dying in his iron
cage. Dante pleads for him with Cardinal
Ruggieri. and thus already appears as the
champion Of the Oppressed.
The Cardinal refuses. e~xcommunicates
Dante for his interference. and casts the
keys of Ugolino's tower into the Arno.
close by.
Ugolino's tower, now disappeared. GER
tainly never stood on the banks OF the
But I wanted to get the incident of the
keys in. I could not tell the audience. Wait
a minute, the scene will be shifted to the
Arno. and then the Cardinal will throw the
keys in.' could /. Now? So 1 just brought
the Arno to the tower. Perfectly
Ter years have elapsed when the curtain
kses IN the first tableau of act i. The
Scene is laid at the foot of the beautiful
brown and pink church of San Miniato. on
the height overlooking Florence. The brown
roofs of the city. surrounding the Duomo;
IN Il, the Powered valley; with NIL, Its =6 "a sasn IN
the distance. right away to the opposite
heights of Fiesoie.
The famous view has been wei renderea
by the scene painter, NJ. Ronsln. A short
episode is the Feast of Spring. with dances,
Giotto appearing among the characters.
The second tableau takes place In the house
The "'dolorato passo' of Paolo and Fran
cesca Is introduced in a rapid scene. Lam
Paolo. both appear, but only to exchange
a few words before they die. The episode
is but, as 1t were, one picture.
The second act contains also two scenes
The first is laid at marshy Maremma- Pia
de! Toiommei. dies of malaria She leaves
Dante a daughter. Comma, who is captured
by the poets enemies and shut in the con-
vent Of Santa Clara
In the chapel of the latter takes place
the second sabieau ,, Of Act II. II VIII be
Dante has come to rescue his daughter
from the 1nquisition. He has got her from
the convent into the chapel. when the sbirri
Dante bids the girl stand up against the
altar, and he places himself in front of her,
behind the curtains. The soldiers thrust
their drawn swords into every corner e the
church. Thrice they lunge through the cur
tains. You know that they must have
wounded either Dante or Comma. but not
{ Z sound betrays the presence OF the latter.
When the sbirrf give up their bootless
leearch Dante steps out, white as death, and
bids the girl fly with her lover, who waits
outside. When she has gone he staggers,
takes up his daughters veil which she had
cropped, tries to bind three wounds which
he received without a cry, and of which the
girl knew nothing, then falls fainting head
long.
Dante is in the graveyard of San Miniato.
on the height, behind the church, by the
tomb of Beatrice. when the first tableau
OF Act II opens. He is full Of pain, bitter
ness and remorse. He is an exile. he is
tracked by enemies, he has been unfaith-
full to the memory Of Beatrice. Their the
shade of Beatrice rises CRYING out upon
Your world she tells him; asee now what
Il on the other SIDE; follow that one" point
ing to the shade OF Virgil, which has ap-
The scene changes to the Inferno. and in
q rapid, e~vervarying vision, pictures, grim.
tragic, CHASTITY, ethereal pass before the
eyes Of the spectators, accompanied by
prove intensely effective.
The fourth act contains one tahleau. the
last Of the drama. The scene Is laid in the
famous Palace of the Popes at Avignon.
Pope Clement v, Bertrand de Got. formerly
! Archbishop Of Bordeaux. has thrown hum
1reds of innocent victims into dungeons,
and they are to be buried at the stake.