Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-02-18
Gossip About Plays and Players

tie sagacity OF the bishop, IL not absolutely
realized, are clearly indicated. There are
subtle, fine touches in IL. especially OF &c
clesiastical gesture, and there are vocal in
Elections of peculiar significance; and, al
more suggestive Of old Malice than OF a
Roman Catholic bishop, the figure and
bearing are gracious and venerable. This
is the one interesting character in the play
-embodying manliness, gentleness, kind
ness, sense and a latent tone OF playful
humor. The other parts are feeders An
abominable anatomical picture is display ed
In the first act, which ought to be excluded.
Realism Is not dramatic art, and this at
tempt at IL Is foolish. because no specialist
In nervous disease would decorate his con-
sulting room with picture calculated to
distress his patients. The scenery is APP
propriate-suited to the subject and the
persons-but too new, being deficient of
mellow tone: There was frequent applause,
responded to call for a speech, in which
he was understood to say that Charles
Frohmans heart had been deeply touched,
and to thank God for the acceptance OF
the drama Of argument on Broadway
Il am glad" said DR.. johnson. on a kindred
occasion of mlsdirected devotion that he
has the grace to thank God for anything'"
The drama itself is thus described by
John Corbin:
In lie Duel" Henri Lavedan last April
scored the reigning success at the Coincide
In it's eSbt ana the eoSk Il at hand already
from the sparkling ferment of the Paris OF
To-Day, the Paris in which, now as ALWAYS,
slant into ideas, and ideas into action The
duel which Jevedan represents on the stage
Is that which today and always is waging
between religion and science.
The play Is first and last a symbol-a
symbol conceived In the clearest intel
ngenoe and worked out with consummate
On the face OF Il the action is as simple
as Pilgrims Progress" A woman, the
drugs. falls in love with the doctor who is
attending him, and for strength to resist
him fees to a priest Through three acts
the two men do battle for her, the one to
save her soul The doctor, you see is
aagnosticism, materialism. The able is re-
Note now how acutely the symbols are
conceived The doctor and the able are
brothers, sprung from the same loins,
nourished at the same breast But, you
say by making them brothers. the Ques-
ton OF the reconcilement of science and
religion is begged at the outsetl Not at
All. IL Is only in romance that brothers
love each other. For ten years these
brothers have hated each other, and as
one one OF them EN- says. quoting Euripides, ter
Its earliest centuries religion and knowl-
edge went hand In hand But for how
many centuries have they been in mortal
The slmilitude is pushed even further.
IN his youth the doctor believed he was
IL
II not a commonplace of the historians that
the origin of modern intellectual life is in
eredulous belef-chemistry being the first
porn OF alchemism, astronomy of astrol-
ogyf The able. on the other hand. was in
his youth a voluptuary and given to the
sins OF the flesh. The analogy here is less
exact. but IL is none the less certain that
the medieval church made conscious
and powerfully artistic appeal to the emo
piety is fed by worldly beauty. His study,
the scene of the second act, as furnished
with rare and exquisite treasures-a carved
lures tapestries, masterpieces OF religious
painting and panes of antique stained
glass let into the windows, He himself
remarks that he finds these things essen
tial to the atmosphere of belief
The woman, Duchesse de Charles who
the human and divine. is no less symbolic.
she Is the modern Everyman; though,
being Partisan. she is Of course every
but against love. In her the two opposing
FORCES OF the world and the spirit are
s HOsh b potential mt Educated n the convent
stinct of skepticism in moments of emo
tional stress her hands instinctiveiy clasp
ward; but her mind is the home Of doubt
IN her nrst struggles against her untold
she bv had Ss into church.
when the priest mistook her for intending
COMPRESSOR she allowed herself to be led
into the confessional, and there to tell OF
her temptation. At the end of the first
act after an agonized struggle, she con-
but the second act finds her with the able
whom she now for the first time discovers
to be the doctors brother
throughout the characters of the two
men walk on all fours with the central
symbol. In overcoming the woman's vir-
t1ous resistance the doctor has been keen,
adroit and masterful. Logic and the pas.
sions OF the blood are the weapons OF his
armory. And when he happens upon her
In the abbe's rooms In the act of Confess
ing mis- Jealousy is that of the materialist-
In fact, OF the Partisan materiatist
The act ends with a conflict between the
brothers. the type scene OF the entire