Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-03
PLAYS THE
LABYRINTH.
MISS NETHERsoLE REEVES
DRAMA OF LAST SEASON
HERvlEU WORK HAS PECULIAR
THEME
Play in Some Respects Is Most Inter-
esting Of Weeks Repertoire,
but Difficult to Under
stand
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE

| BY SIDLE LAWRENCE
"The Labyrinth presented at the
Mason last night by Miss Olga Nethersole
and her company. is in some respects
the most interesting play of her present
repertoire, and probably the most difficult
for an American audience to understand.
1t is easy, very easy. to mistake its
import. Regarded as an argument
against Divorce it is unfair for the reason
that the dramatist holds brief for only
one side of the case He shows us the
evils following the legal separation of a
man and woman whose union has been
productive of child But he does not
show us the causes leading up to that
separation. On the other hand, If 1t were
designed, in the original, as a protest
against the French law which .forbids
the remarriage of a man and a woman
who have once Nbeen divorced, surely
American audiences may be pardoned
their failure to regard seriously a preach
ment against, conditions which do not
obtain here, even though the argument
be put in dramatic form.
AS l said, the play is easily misundeN
stood. / did not see it last year, and
with only single presentation in mind
approach the task of serious review
with considerable reluctance. Regarded
merely as an exhibition, of stage craft
the Hervieu drama has glaring faults
Like the same authors awakening,
presented by Miss Nethersole Monday
night. THE Labyrinth" is weakest in
it's beginnings.
Opening Acts Are Dull
In 1.-THE Awakening" the first act was
prosy. In "The Labyrinth the first act
Is not prosy alone, 1t is really dull; and
it is not until the curtain rises on the
third act that the drama makes any
very potent demands upon the imagina
ton of an American audience. In other
words, Yi. Hervieu, seated at his desk,
has written the Introduction to novel
Of Balzacian length and, the introduction
out of the way, has completed his work
in moving short story style, with
climax that is melodramatic enough for
a Main street audience.
Once taking for granted the curious
legal provision which forms the basis
for the plot and having sat through two
acts which are little short of soporific.
the audience receives it's reward. In
the first act Marianne, who has divorced
the father of her child before the drama
begins. promises to marry George LIE
Breuil not because she loves him, but
because she respects and admires him
and because she fees that her son needs
a fathers care. Meantime her first hus-
band has himself remarked.
In the second act, the wife of Max de
Pogis Marianne's first husband, having
died in the interim, De Pogis threatens
to take from her the child, because, as
he explains he Is unwilling to have his
son brought up under the influence of
his successor. Marianne consents that
the child shall pass half of each year
with his father and the father takes
him away.
/ Real Drama Begins
Now all this has been pretty prosy
stuff, but wait. The third act shows
Marianne again under De Pogis' roof.
The child has been desperately Ill. but Is
convalescent. De Pogis comes to her and
seeks to explain away and apologize for
his conduct of five years ago which had
led to their divorce. The woman declines
to listen.
In her room she bolts the doors and
prepares to reire. Then comes a knock. |
De Pogis demands admission He is re-
fused Through the bolted door he calls
the name of the child and then remains |
silent to her agonized entreaties to know
IL the boy is worse. Finally she opens |
the door and the man rushes into the
room.
Then follows a highly dramatic scene |
admirably played by both Miss Nethersole |
and Mr. Mills, in which the woman, at |
the last, confesses her love for her |
childs father, forgets her remarriage and
only her old love, her old
passion.
The fourth act shows Marianne's return
to her fathers home, her confession first
to her mother and later to her husband
of the wrong she had committer, her COM
plete abasement before lie Breuil and
the final encounter between the two men,
in which LIE Breuil deliberately throws
both himself and De Pogis over a preci- |
pice to certain death. Following their dis |
appearance the stage Is empty for half
minute-a minute, maybe Then comes
Marianne, with her son, as yet unaware
of the tragedy The boy picks some
flowers, and she gathers him up in her
arms, holding him tight to her breast 1t
is the end.
Miss NethersoIe's Art
Miss Nethersole, as was to have been
expected, again displayed complete art in
depicting the character of Marianne; and
Frank Mills as De Pogis and Lawrence |
Grant as lie Breuil gave capital renditlons
of their respective roles. The rest do not
much matter, though the minor parts are
well filed Mr.. Mills and Mr.. Grant both |
made the mistake of accepting curtain
call after their supposed death, and the
audience laughed, perhaps glad of any
excuse to relieve the gloom of the play.
The Mason was considerably less than
half filled last night, which is a pity, as
the excellent acting both of Miss Neither