The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-11-01

1.-THE THIEF is Coming.
The Thief, which Charles Froh-
man will bring to this city for the
first time at the opera house, \Cvem-
Der 18th, is from the pen of Henri
Bernstein. one of the most ingenious
and successful of contemporary play
wrights Mr.. Bernstein is already
known for several plays similar in
construction, very similar in nge
nuity and opposition. to The Thief,
but it is probable that for many
year 10 come he will be known in this
country. as ne still is in France, as
the author of The Thief" despite his
more recent plays.
The Thief is in three acts. II OBJ
serves all the unitieS of time, place
and incident. The action takes place
within twenty-four hours First pro-
duced at the Renaissance theatre in
Paris in December, 1907. THE Thief
made an Immediate sensation 1t ran
through the entire season with NJ.
GUitry and Nine. ie Bargy in the Chief
relies. About the foibles, the ana
5ition, the cunning, the love as deep
as human passion and as wide as nJI-
man frailty of a woman, The Thief
is a Woman'S play. But side by side
with the great lesson it contains for
every wife, 1t contains rich food for
thought for every husband. 1t is the
most startling human dramatic dOcu-
ment put on the stage in years.
The company which will perform
The Thief in Pensacola has been
especially selected from among Mr..
Frohman'S players and has been re-
hearsed under his immediate supervis-
ion in New York. The performance
in its effect and action is an exact
duplicate of that given under me au-
thor'S direction in Paris, where the
play ran q year.
No play put on in the last twenty
five years has created the stir and
received such general appreciation as
the play from the French, whose
story runs as follows:
The VOysins, husband and wife, are
visiting DR.. and Mrs. Legardes at
their country home. The LegardeS
have a son, Fernand, who is Smitten
with Mrs. Veysin, and writes her the
most ardent love letters Mrs Voy-
sin, who is young and charming, and
who loves her husband with an I'm
sWerVing devotion treats the young
mans amatOTy attitude lightly, as a
sort of romantic fiutter that will soon
pass away She Is gOOd-natured and
good-humored towards him, but his
attentions have made no other impress
sion upon her than that they are the
outbreak OF a silly sentimentality on
his part He writes her love letters
which he places under the pillow of
the bed in her boudoir and leaves
them around in other places where he
knows she will find them. This letter
writing leads him into a serious diff
Guilty on which he has not at all reck-
Oned. For Mrs. LegardeS has had
some money stolen from her bureau
drawer and as a detective named
Zambault, who is in the house mas
querading as a friend of Mrs. Lee
garjes, has seen ,Fernand quietly
creeping up the stairs to the bed
room, and has also seen him take
something from the drawer in ques-
ton, he openly accuses him of being
the thief. II Is known that Fernand
has had an affair with a pretty actress
to whom he has made presents, and
it looks as if he had stolen the money
20 meet the financial requirements of
the case. The Legardes are astonish-
ed at the revelation, They refuse to
believe the detective. He unfOlds, Bit
by bit, his evidence, and the father al
last is convinced. He sends for his
son. F'erna1d has gone into the
grounds TO recover the letters he
WROTE 10 MIS- NOSSln. she having UOlu
him where he would find them, un-
opened and unread. Mrs. VoySin vol
tnteers to go after Fernand when the
father demands3 is presence. She re-
turns in Q moment with him. To the
amazement of everybody but the de-
tective Fernand confesseS his guilt.
His father, furious at the young mans
disgrace, decides to send him away
for "a period to a distant country
where he can earn and repay the
stolen money. OF course, Fernand is
not the thief. The discovery of the
real culprit and the boys eXculpatiOn
come later on. Meanwhile the prepa-
rations for Fernand's Punishment pro-
coed. Mrs. Voysin's nice kindly talk
in which she told hinf now futile his
passion for her was, as she loved her
husband too dearly to care for anyone
else, has not had the effect of quench-
ing, or in any way sUbduing his love
for her. The relations between hus-
band and wife become painfully
strained. and continue so until the mo-
ment set for Fernand's departure.
Here disclosures are made that put
an astonishing but satisfactory COM
plexion upon all the circumstances,
and the dramStist is permitted TO. car.
~ his story to a happy conclusion.