THE LATEST PARISIAN PLAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10133, 16 May 1896, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE LATEST PARISIAN PLAY.

Thk Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph has the following:— After a good run, " Amsntß" has.beei) withdrawn from the boards of Madame Sarah Bernhardt'? theatre, the Renaissance. It was replaced by "La Figurante," a comedy in three acts, by M. Francois de Curol, an author of the Theatre Libre School. The idoa of the play is unfolded in the first act, where we see Henri do Renneval, a rising Deputy who aspires to enter the Cabinet and become Minister for Foreign Affairs, trying to shake off the shackles forged round him by the jealous and monopolising Madame de Moineville. This lady is a political bluestocking. She takes a deep interest in the rise and fall of Ministers, the debates in the Chamber, tho gossip in the lobbies, the Parliamentary wire-pulling, and general elections. Her passion for Henri de Renneval is, however, the dominant note of her character. She clings to him when he would willingly break off the liaison and havo no more to do with her, and when he talks of possible marriage she almost makes a scene. Madame de Moineville has a husband, but he does not count for anything in her social reckonings, He is a palaeontologist immersed in the study, of fossils and the preparation and perusal of roientifio pamphlets. This elderly gentleman allows his wife to do exactly as she wishes, and he pays more attention to his niece Francoise, who is living under his guardianship. De Renneval has, in talking of marriage to. Madame do Moineville, spoken vaguely of his desire to have a wife who shall be only a jigwatltt nob of the theatrical order, bub a Woman who is to assume the role of his wedded partner before the outer world only. Madame de Moineville seizes on the incongruous idea with the quickness of a gambler playing his last o&rd, Her niece Francoise, whom she suspects of having found one of her loveletters, will do as a figurante. De Renneval can marry the girl, who, in the eyes of her aunt, is a nonentity, and the lover may Still be retained by the monopolising matron. Francoise, who has been eating her heart out ' with ennui, and who is secretly smitten no doubt by the young Deputy, consents to marry him. Her uncle is also satisfied, and, after the arrangement has been made, tbe niece gives the lost love' letter back bo her aunt. The second act is full of fire and fury, the husband being madly in love with the wife, who is only supposed to a mere dummy in his house" hold, and who pots him to the. torture. Then there is the Scene between the aunt, the niece, and the lover, Francois* crying Out that she knows all, and Madame de Moineville furious because she has been supplanted. Finally, Francoise Is turned away from her husband's house, bar,aunt having gained a victory, but, after another scene between the two women, a reconciliation is effected through the agency of the old uncle. Francoise is thus supposed-.to have attained matrimonial, happiness, after having passed through an ordeal in which she required unexampled meekness, patience, and perseverance...., . , ,