Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-27
ORD IYTToNs famous histOrl-

cal romantic play, "Richelieu,"
~ with George Barnum in the title
role. has been chosen to mark the an
niversary week Of the Belasco theater.
The part Of the cardinal is one for
which Mr.. Barnum is eminently fitted
and the production may be expected
to be one Of the artistic treats Of the
season in Los Angeles.
The character has been a popular one
and since It's original Interpretation in
London in 1889 by Macready the part
has been associated with many Of the
greatest names Of the stage. Consid-
ering the limited time for rehearsal
and preparation, even so able an actor
as Mr.. Barnum is to be commended
for his courage in assuming the role.
The character of Richelieu Is COM
plex and many sided and requires
great ability on the part of the
actor to portray with any degree of
correctness and effect. The cardinals
potency of will and courage were not
the sort that can be shown by swag-
ger across the stage; his power was
expresslonless as it was tremendous,
and to convey such an impression
across the footlights is one Of the most
dIf1cult tasks that ever confronts an
actor.
The opening of the play occurs dur
ing the reign Of Louis XIII, king OF
France. at a period when Cardinal
Richelieu had risen high into power,
having gradually but firmly worked
his way up in progressive journey
OF many years. But the weakness or
the monarch and the grand intellect,
coupled with firmness, indeed severity,
of the minister operated to produce a
spirit of discomfort in the court, which
had eliminated in powerful conspir-
acy, not for love of the nation, but
for personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Upon
this state of things starts the play.
Concerning the drama of "Richelleu'
the author once wrote the following:
"The administration of Cardinal
Richelieu, whom despite all his darker
qualities) Voltaire and history justly
consider the true architect OF the
French monarchy, and the great parent
of French civilization, is characterized
by features alike tragic and comic.
A weak king-an ambitious favorite;
despicable conspiracy against the
minister, nearly always associated with
dangerous treason against the state
these, with little variety of names
and dates, constitute the eventful
cycle through which, with dazzling
ease, and an arrogant confidence, the
great luminary fulfilled its destinies.
Blent together in startling contrast we
see the grandest achievements and the
pettiest agents-the spy-the mistress
the capuchin-the destruction of feu-
dalism-the humiliation Of Austria
the dismemberment of Spain.
'Richelieu himself is still what he
was in his own day-a man Of two
characters. If, on the one hand, he is
justly represented as inflexible and vim
dictive, crafty and unscrupulous, so,
on the other it cannot be denied that
he was placed in times in which the
long impunity of every license required
stern examples-that he was beset by
perils and intrigues, which gave a GER
tain excuse to the subtlest inventions of
self f-defense-that his ambition was in
separately connected with a passionate
love for the glory of his country-and
that If he was her dictator, he was not
less her benefactor. 1t has been fairly
remarked, by the most impartial his
torians, that he was no less generous
to merit than severe to crime-that in
the various departments of the state.
the army and the church he selected
and distinguished the ablest aspirants
that the wars which he conducted
the preservation of France, and Europe
itself, from the formidable encroach-
ments of the Austrian house-that, in
spite of those wars, the people were
not oppressed with exorbitant imposts
--and that he left the kingdom he had
governed in a more fourishing and Wig
orous state than at any former period
of the French history, or at the de-
cease of Louis XIV.
1.-THE cabals formed against this
great statesman were not carried on by
the patriotism of public virtue, or the
emulation of equal talent; they were
but court struggles, in which the most
worthless agents had recourse to the
most desperate means. In each. as I
have before observed, we see combined
the twofold attempt to murder the min
lister and to betray the country. Such,
then. are the agents, and such the de-
signs, with which truth, in the drama
as in history, requires us to contrast
the celebrated cardinal-not Disgusting
his foibles or his vices, but not unjust
to the grander qualities Especially the
love of country, by which they were
often dignified and at times re-
deemed.
This historical drama is the concen-
tration of historical events. In the at
tempt to place upon the stage the pic