SARDOU'S "ROBESPIERRE" AT THE LYCEUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11056, 6 May 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

SARDOU'S "ROBESPIERRE" AT THE LYCEUM.

j A NEW PLAY, ) The London Daily Mail gives the following a dotails of what promises to be ft most notel worthy and ambitious and exciting play, j M. Sardou strikes at first, in a beautiful t glade in tho Forest of Montmorency, the I note of bloodthirsty conspiracy and strenuous emotion. Here we learn, when the curtain rises, how, before the beginning of the action of tho piece, Robespierre (Sir Henry •Irving), tho young and handsome, had seduced tho noble Clarisso de Mauluoon (Miss f Ellen Terry), and then had gone away,_ not knowing that a son, Olivier (Mr. Kyrle Bellew), was born to them. This son was r adopted by Do Maulucon, whom Clarissc had afterwards married. Robespierre is now engaged to Cornelie Duplay. Wo hear him described as cunning beneath his affected simplicity; lie assumes poverty of living and elegance in his dress. [ Dogged tenacity and terrible craft are his characteristics, added to a power of rhetoric and a tremendous belief in his own genius, which leads him to regard the vilest means as justifiable so long as they sustain his power. Yet tho author paints a softer side of his character, with a tender love for the son lie learns too late is his, and for the woman he wronged. Inoidentally wo learn how Mr. Vaughan, a member of the English House of Commons, | has come to see Robespierre, doputed by I Fox, Sheridan, and other leaders of the ■ English Opposition, to strive to put an to tho war between England and France. ' This offer Robespierre refuses, in a long ' speech of exultation, in which he tells how 1 ho wishes to regenerate his country, to [ found a new State and a now religion, with I j himself as Sovereign Pontiff. To accom- - plisb this more beads must fall, the heads r of those members of tho convention who ■ oppose him. Clarisso and Marie-Thcrese, her niece > (Miss Winifred Fraser), who is in love with 1 ; Olivier—now 20 years old— arrested on , suspicion of conspiracy against tho Repub- ' arrested by order of Robespierre liim--1 I self, who, however, is not aware of their r ' identity, for ho has not seen them, and . Clarisso is living under an assumed name. ' | We see them next, in prison, a very ani- ; mated, gruesome, and dramatic scene. Tho , ■ aristocrats are amusing themselves by all i sorts of recreations; the young ladies are ! rehearsing, on a mock guillotine, their forthi j coming execution, that they may die gracei i fully when their time comes. The Recorder , arrives and selects the next victims—wives i ' are torn from their husbands, little children . from their mothers; a series of pitiful inci--1 ! dents. Brutal gaolers drag them away to : ; tho tumbril waiting without. 1 In the Feto of tho Supremo Being the stago is thronged with spectators, the scene ' is smothered in decorations, with tho tricolour flaunting everywhere. We hear ad- , vancing tho sounds of drums and bugles and the dull roar of cannon. The musicians approach and the crowd joins in the music. Drummers, buglers, cannon bellowercd and beflagged, standard-bearers, white-robed women crowned with roses, Young Republican warriors, the Four —Childhood, Men and Women, —march to the blare of music and the deafening shouts of the onlookers. Towards the end comes Robespierre, bravely attired, carrying trophies of the harvest, followed by splendidly uni- | formed members of the Convention; and ' after him the car of tho Goddess of Agri- | culture, drawn by oxen. Robespierre ad- ; vances alone, burning incense, to an accom- ! paniment of harps.' The crowd hangs on ! his words. All savo Olivier, who howls at j him and reviles him. Olivier knows of the ! arrest of his mother and his sweetheart by j Robespierre, but he does not know that tho j man who has thrown them into prison is his ! father. Tho mob threaten and hustle him, ! but he will not be silent, and is dragged away by command of Robespierre to gaol. In the next act we find Robespierre among tho bourgeois family of his betrothed, snarling because at the Fete yesterday ho was not proclaimed Dictator. He sends for tho young man who howled curses at him, and lie means to mnke of him a terrible example. A love song written by Robespierre is sung while the newspaper criers are shouting outside the names of the latest victims of tho guillotine. Olivier is brought in and Robespierre cross-examines him, but Olivier, dreading to disclose the whereabouts of his mother and Marie fear that Robespierre's vengeance will fall summarily upon them—refuses to speak. At last, Robespierre begins to suspect the truth—that tho fiery and rebellious youth before him is his son. They are left alone, and the manner of the despot changes. He seeks to win tho confidence of the boy; he forgives his gibes and his sneers, and tries to reassure him. But ho does not breathe a word of their kinship. Ho begs Olivier to tell him the assumed name of his mother, that he may save her life. Olivier, still suspicious, resolutely refuses. The anguish of Robespierre grows more acute—even now she may be on her way to the scaffold, and it is her son who is sending her there. But Olivier will not speak. This should be a powerful and an affecting scene. In tho fourth act Clarisso and Marie are free, for Robespierre has discovered them. In a dramatic scene between Robespierre and Clarisse he essays to justify his actions of state, and tells her that lie longs to show mercy, but dare not. He dreads that the Committee have condemned Olivier unknown to him. Outside the tumbrils are trundling along with their cargo of victims. Olivier's father, mother, and sweetheart stand watching at the window, in terror lest among the condemned they shall see tho boy. Robespierre himself dare not save him, openly— lie would be helpless if Olivier passed by on his way to the guillotine. But Olivier does not come. We next pass to the Conciergerie. Here Robespierre has a terrible vision; he is haunted by the spectres of his victims, of the Queen, of Danton, and the rest. Then conies the meel/ing of the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre has arranged that Oliver shall be set free, and Oliver is here, listening to the enemies of Robespierre, who are urging him to kill the despot. The second scene shows us the Assembly, already described by us. It is one prolonged uproar; shouts, screams, yells of defiance fill the air. The voices of the speakers are drowned, with difficulty they are prevented from flying at each other's throats. The President's bell rings in vain. They are arranging for the downfall of Robespierre, who stands vainly striving for a hearing. They keep him from the tribune, they howl him down. Olivier is here, watching. The confusion grows worse confounded. Babel ensues. Then comes the end—but what that end is shall be left, so far as we are concerned, till the first night for discovery. It is a fitting end to a play which gives promise of thrilling drama, much pathos, and colourful interesting always*