DIVORCE AS A LITERARY MATERIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8282, 14 June 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

DIVORCE AS A LITERARY MATERIAL.

; A Paris correspondent writes :—" Divorce" i bids fair to be as fruitful a source for French dramatists as the breach of the Seventh | Commandment lias hitherto been. When M. Naquet's Bill became law. the fear was expressed lest the dramatist's occupation j should be gone. What were they to do witliout the complications to which the impossibility of obtaining a divorce gave [ rise? 11* en out jrris lent- parti, and with j their wonted ingenuity they have extracted t abundant material out of the operation of | the very iaw which threatened to arrest their activity. I referred the other evening to the " Vie a Deux ' as being constructed on the same incident as " Divorcons." A new piece, entitled "Manages Parisiens," brought out this evening at the Nouveauttss, has tor all its drama!in per,tome, people who have been either divorced or have been mixed up in divorce cases. It might aptly lie called called "Less divorces on reniarions-nous." Pont-Gaudin, a man of middle age, was not fortunate in his married life, and he is now enjoying to tho utmost extent his freedom from the ties of matrimony. ,So, when he happens to meet at Nice Oatinard the youth to whom ho owes his liberty, his gratitude to his benefactor knows no bounds. So far from having any desire to kill his fortunate rival, lie is deeply indebted to him for having given him an excuse to get rid of his former "better halt. ' (Jatinard has just arrived at Nice for his honeymoon, having left Paris immediately after the marriage ceremony. When he confesses that his bride is also a lady who had divorced her husband, PontOaudio tells him he thinks he might have given his wife the preference. It appears that, although the newly married woman had divorced her sjkduso, sho still entertained a sneaking kindness for him, and itwas only by taking his character away that Gatinard at length succeeded in persuading her to be his. Another couple are also living at tho same hotel, a certain M. deFaverolles with Madame. The lady is none other than Pont-Gaudin's divorced wife, while the gentleman used to be the husband of the just-married Madame Gatinard. The conclusion may be imagined, but the means by- which it'is reached are sufficient to keep the audience in good-humour during three acts. The original Madame de Faverolles being Madame Gatinard in name, the divorce on which sho insists from her second husband removes all obstacles to her re-union with her first. As for Pont-Gaudin, he offers to forgive his wife, but her remorso impels her to decline. The couples take their partners for a quadrille as the curtain falls, Gatinard performing a cavalier mid. The piece, which is of the orthodox Palis-Royal pattern, is literally crammed with good lines, and there is no doubt that the bright wit of tho author, M. Albin Valabregue, has enormously helped him in his well-deserved success. The acting, without being in any way remarkable, is fairly up to the mark, the ladies Alesdanies Davray and Darcour.t being more satisfactory than their male partners; but the fun of the comedy is due in a greater measure to the sparkling dialogue than to its interpretation.