A PASSION PLAY!

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9244, 22 December 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A PASSION PLAY!

" L'Amante du Christ," a one-act mystery in verse, by M. Rodolphine Darzens, has been produced at Paris. The play is one of the most daring pieces of realism ever put on the French stage. The Saviour appears in flesh and blood, with long flaxen locks flowing over His shoulders and attired in snow white raiment, The part is excellently acted by M. Mo vis to, who compared favourably with the famous Meyer, who acted the part of Christ at the Oberammergau Passion Play. The divine words which fell from the lips of this Menus-Plaisirs Saviour were heard by all present — and women, journalists and boulevardicrs—with profound respect and emotion. At times the sensation was painful. M. Mevisto had the tact to conceal himself and decline to acknowledge the vociferous applause which was accorded him at the end of the play, thereby leaving the audience under the mystic impression he had created. The play is a vivid transcription of the story of Mary Magdalen. . She throws herself at Christ's feet and washes them during the meal with Simon the Pharisee. Christ and the Magdalen aro represented as loving each other in an ultra- Parisian way, and with all the realism which Zola, for instance, might throw into such a situation. " L'Amante du Christ" is well acted. The verses are clear, terse, and epigrammatic. The work will certainly have a " success of curiosity."