"LE CHRIST: MYSTERY PLAY IN PARIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8878, 14 May 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

"LE CHRIST: MYSTERY PLAY IN PARIS.

A STRIKING PERFORMANCE. " LeChrist," a sacred drama by M. Charles Grandmougiti, which has been recited at the Salle des Conferences, was produced at the Th&ltre Moderne, Paris, recently. The treatment of such a subject with scenery and other accessories in a city like Paris certainly marks an era in dramatic art, and, quite apart from the text, " Le Christ" will undoubtedly raise much comment. The fact that Lent is the season chosen for the venture will have something to do with its success. JESUS AND MARY MAGDALEN'. The author has divided his work into five short acts or tableaux. In the first of these we see Christ with His mother returning to Nazareth after a weary journey over the hills. Jesus is afterwards insulted by the Nazarenes. The house of Mary Magdalen, overlooking the inland Sea of Galilee, is the next; tableau. The first penitent of tho i hristian era is a refined woman, spellbound by the divine majesty of the Saviour. She dismisses ZtSnon, one of her lovers, with sorrowing disdain, and then anxiously awaits Christ, who has promised to visit her. Tho scene is full of solemn pathos. The Son of Man repels the admiring- human love of Magdalen, and after having spoken words of consolation absolves her. "I will follow Thee to death, O divine Master," says Magdalen with bowed head and on bended knee. "To life eternal," gently replies the Saviour—and the curtain falls. THK TRIAL BEFORE PONTIUS PILATE. The next two scenes are laid in the Garden of Olives and in the Prajtorium of Pilate. A pretty bub rather jarring love dialogue between the shepherd Said and the shepherdess Ai'ssa precedes the continu ance of the solemn drama. Jesus enters with Peter, John, and James. The three Apostles sleep, and the agonised soliloquy in which human doubt and divine prescience are intermingled begins. The voice of tho angel comforts the God-Man, and He awakes His Apostles to witness His betrayal and arrest. Judas and the soldiers come forward, and the traitor's kiss is given, and the Master is roughly hurried off. We find him again before the wellmeaning but vacillating Pontius Pilate. The trial scene is novel in its arrangement. The unthinking crowd murmurs outside. Magdalen appeals to Pilato in favour of the Divine Defender of the afflicted." Mary lifts up her hands in sorrow to the judgment seat. Even Judas Iscariot despairingly tries to avert the effects of his perfidy. Ail is of no avail. The voice of the people is for Barabbas, and the Roman Prefect condemns Christ to be crucified as a male factor. "THE SIMPLE MAJESTY OF THE GOLGOTHA." The last tableau is singularly striking. Given the favourable surroundings of Oberammergau, those who have seen the Passion Play in the Bavarian mountain village will be impressed (says a correspondent) by the simple majesty of the Golgotha of a Paris theatre. When tho curtain rises the house is darkened and the figures are already upon the three crosses. The dying curses of the impenitent thief are followed by the sweet sorrow of the sinner to whom Christ promises pardon and Paradise. The scoffing soldiers draw lots, and Magdalen, with tho grief-stricken Mary, take their leave of the Crucified One. Then comes a final soliloquy, and the tragic poem comes to an end. M. Delaunay, the son of the celebrated Dolaunay, was* the Christus of this new departure, and to him is due the successful creation of a thorny and difficult role, _ Mdlle. Sanlaville, as Mary Magdalen, declaimed the verse of M. Grandmougin with a delicate pathos which went straight to the hearts of a rather critical audience. To Mdme. Orcelle a word of praise is due for her refined presentment of the mother of Christ. Tho music was the one drawback of the piece. The author would have been better seconded had the orchestra played selections from the great masters who have handled this august subject, with an occasional extract from the simple Gregorian psalmody of Holy Week.