The Washington herald., 1909-02-07
THIS WEEKS PLAYBILLS
The BeIasco-JuIla MarIOvve.

Miss Julia Marlowe has new play
this season entitled The Goddess Of
Reason. by Mary Johnston. It viii be
seen for the first time in Washington this
week at the BeIaseo Theater.
After much popular success in the field
OF the historical novel. Miss Mary John
ston about a year ago. contributed a
poetic play in FIVE acts and six scehes
to the literary drama. Miss Johnston
set her scenes in and about Nantes.
France. just before and during the Ter
ror. and sang in Elizabethsn blank verse
the love Of a great seigneur Tor peasant
girl and their death together in the wa
ters OF the Loire at the hands Of the
bloodthrsty tribunal OF the Revolution
Before the Baron Of Morbec and Yvette
sank beneath the waves in the Repu-
licar Marriage" OF the Terror. there were
peasant uprisings led by the girl against
Morbec. contrasting pictures OF noble and
vassaI. love episodes, misunderstanding.
jealousy. scenes IN Nantes when it was
decreed there was no God and that Rea-
son reigHed in II s stead. the giving over
OF the baron and q lovely marquise to
the tribunal by the furious Yvette. the
girls reI,iOrse, the rendering Of the veil
OF Misrepresentation between her and her
seigneuT. and her remuneration and de-
fance Of the Revolution Miss julia
Marlowe read Miss Johnston's play. de-
cided that II could be adapted 10 the
use Of the thcater. and secured the au-
thoT's permission TO act It.
Miss Marlowe has staged the drama in
the one way Il should be staged-ss
romantic. spectacular play. reproducing
the vast and turbulent human maeNtrom
know as the French Revolution Mss
Marlowe IS said 10 give a superior idea
OF the fury and The savagery OF the Ter
rcr; the sristOcrats laughing and giving
plays while Death stalks among them;
the hrutalized street crowds; the vense-
ful tribunal. with its iterated and reiter-
ated sentence. Death the Ca Ira. the
.carmagnole. and the 'Marseillaise." all
done with unusual viyidness and reality. As
a spectacle. vivid, animated. and stirring.
and throwing into high relief the eK-
tremes of the times. The Goddess OF
Reason" II is declared. fulAils the ex-
pectati0ns OF the producers-the Messrs.
Shubert and Miss Msrlowe-and justihes
their belief in its adaptabiliJy TO the
theater
As the peasant girl Yvette and later
the Goddess OF Reason, Miss MarlOwe en-
lists all the craft Of her beautiful elocu-
ton to give the lines emphasis and har-
mony familiar % most people IN the
blank verse Of Shakespeare. and By a
flexible voice beyond the hexibility OF any
other American actress bestOWs mood
and character upon the verse OF her
impers0natcn OF Yvette. Miss MaTlOwe.
Il IS said. makes her a warm human fig
ure. fun OF feeling and fervor, poetic n
conception and execution. pathetic, sym
pathetic. and attractive. with the wOmanly
atfractiveness with which she unfsiliugiy
endows AL characters
No larger production have the snuberrs
and Miss MarloWe ever staged The play
hss Eve massive scenes fun Of color and
animation and well-iriIled mo0s. the
scene before the tribunal being alive with
penetrating realism The acting con-
pany numbers fifty and the auxiliary
forces employed 3n the bigger scenes
number more than TO-