New-York tribune., 1917-12-16
demands the intimate theatre.

THE recitation Of emotional mar
rative found an especially IA
Il vorable nilieu in the highly
rhetorical drama of the romanticists.
French romanticism, in spite Of all the
elements It has In common with gen
eral European romantioism, is in many
ways a classic phenomenon, product
Of classic French rhetoric. The nara
tive is inlaid with picturesque, enthu-
siastic words like so many transparent
Jewels. Throughout there is strain
ing for whatever is strange and for
oign TO produce a romantic impression.
The setting Of "Barberine" is the
Hungary Of King Matthias Corvin at
the time Of his wars against the Turks.
Remote both in time and place, the
scene was the Ideal Of the romantic
school. The passage Of narrative in.
the play which is particularly dis
tinctive is that in which Sir Uladisias,
a fortune hunting knight, relates 70
the young Baron Rosenberg the cir
.cumstances Of his pursuit of a princess
who is guarded by the giant Molock
and sixty slaves.
Uladislas-Imsgine what an under
taking II was! Fancy getting into an
inaccessible castle built upon rock
against which the waves were break
ing; and there was the ever-ready
guard Here is. Lord Rosenberg,
what imagined. But listen, pray.
Rosenberg-By the Holy Virgin, man,
I am keyed up 70 the highest pitch! I
am all a-fre
Uladislas-I took boat, and reached
the open sea. was wearing a certain
talisman which a friend of mine,
Bohemian sorcerer, had given me.
With its help flung myself into the
waves and / was dashed ashore exact
ly like a drowned man.
The knight reeounts further how he
threw the giant into the sea and
drugged the guards with the help of
one Of the princess's maids In the
same traditional manner are the reci-
tations which Rostand put into the
mouth OF Cyrano, the encounter with
the hundred cutthroats at the Tour de
Ncsle, and his voyages to the moon.
The employment of narrative has not
disappeared entirely, however, from
modern realistic drama In Pinero's
"Iris" the heroine narrates the history
Of her decline. Another noteworthy
instance is found in Hervien's ia
Course de la Flsmbeau." This Is a
womsn's thrilling confession of steal
ing her mothers securities and dis
astrous attempt 70 hypothecate them
for the benefit Of her daughter
The dramatic effect Of highly emo
t.onal narrative is probably under
rated in the modern theatre. To quote
the inevitable william Archer, "Scenes
Of violence and slaughter were ban
'ished from the Greek theatre, mainly,
mo doubt, because rapid movement was
rendered difficult by the hieratic trap
pings Of the actors, and was altogether
Foreign 10 the spirit Of tragedy; but
80 can scarcely be doubted that the
tragic poets were the less inclined TO
rebel against this convention, because
they extracted specifically dramatic
effects Of a very high order out Of
their messenger scenes Even in the
Lrt1 1aI 1r
description Of Hippolytus dragged at
his own chariot wheel, or Creusa and
Creon devoured by Medea's vel OF fire.
On tho Elizabethsn stage, the murder
OF Agamemnon would no doubt have
been subjected TO our faithful eyes
like the binding Of Gloucester or the
suffocation Of Edward II; but who shall
say there is less specifically dra-
matte effect In Aeschylus's method Of
mirroring the scene in the clairvoyant
ecstasy Of Cassandra?"
THE representation Of one Of Alfred
Il de Musset's plays suggests a COM
parison Of the man himself with the
mannequin named after him on the
stage Of another theatre. In devising
a comedy Of Nine. Sand and her
contemporaries Philip Moeller exer-
cised his rightful prerogatiye Of Civ
ing a wide berth to the rocks Of trag-
ody which fringed his course. Emil
nently justified as he was. the fact
remains that IN the second act Alfred
deliquesees into rather a tame cat. He
appears TO wish nothing more from his
mistress than a saucer Of milk. II
strikes him as a lark to be superseded
by an Italian physician. and possibly
because he is supposed TO be discreetly
drugged he eayesdrops 'eheerily be-
hind his bed curtains while Nine.
Sand is intriguing with the sawbones.
From this point the passionate poet