The Revue at the Paris Theatres

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 12, 24 March 1906, Page 42

The Revue at the Paris Theatres

In many' of the Paris theatres there is at the end of the year the revue, an amusing recapitulation of the most striking events of the past year. The revue admits of no plot. It simply gives us the impressions of a supposedly new arrival in Paris, who, however, is very Parisian in his bearing and in his language. He is called the compere. The companion who escorts him is always selected for her statuesque'proportions. She is known as the commere, and carries, as a mark distinctive of her office, a long, gilded cane. It is she who explains to him all that they see in their promenade through Paris. These two are the only characters that remain upon the stage from the beginning to the end of the piece. The others often do little more than appear, give some bit of information, sing a couplet, and leave the scene. Sometimes, various monuments, public institutions, or new inventions are personified. just as in the Middle Ages there were shown the vices and the virtues in the Morality plays. An actress, clad in a manner symbolic of her part, announces that she is the eour des comptes; another the fair of Neuilly; another the flower show or the traction electrique. The idea is not new in France. As long ago as 1620 they used to play, at Rouen, a tragedy upon the death of Abel. One actor represented the blood of the victim, dressed- entirely in red. and from time to time was wheeled across the stage in a small chariot, crying. “Vengeance! Vengeance!”

In some of the revues there are .five or six hundred figurants, as the FoliesBergere: in others, there are frequently but three or four; but even with this small number, they cleverly arrange to describe the principal events of the year. In this class is the Theatre Royal, recently opened in the Rue Royale. where the review “a I*Agraeh de Dieu." as the words a la grace de Dieu are pronounced by the natives of Auvergne, is a reference to the mystification of the Parisian magistrates, just lately, by a vagabond .who fell intn their hands and pretended to understand nothing of what was said to him. He spoke a language which the most learned polyglots could not recognise, and to which he gave the name ‘agraeh.” He explained by drawings that he came from America; that he had passed through New York and Boston. The primary elements of the dictionary of “agraeh” had already been collected when it was discovered by M. Bertillou's Service anthropometrique that the mysterious unknown was a Tyrolese who had already been condemned by a .French justice, and who had recourse to this subterfuge tn avoid further expulsion* One-part, traditional in all reviews, »s that called I'aete des theatres. Here are represented the leading actors of the day—the elegant M. Le Rargy, the enigiiiatiy Polaire, the merry Jeanne Cranier, the willowy Rejane. This last

has found a wonderful imitator in Chepfer, who, in his plain black suit, without the slightest make-up, succeeds remarkable in assuming the facial expression and the mannerisms of the actress. There is, however, an imitation even more complete—that of Mary Ando by Mary Audo herself, the maid of Mme. Valentine Merelli, who accompanied Gallay in his flight. Freed from prison, she has surprised the public by her appearance in a revue. Aside from the theatrical world, certain prominent Parisians are pictured; for example, the celebrated sportswoman, Mme. Dugast, who narrowly escaped drowning during the races of the canots automobiles; Thery, the winner of the cup in the courses d’automobiles; Jaluzot, the former director of the “Printemps,” whose unfortunate speculations in sugar caused enormous losses for many people; the cantiniere of a regiment of dragoons, who gained a million francs in the lottery, and who, as a consequence, received so many letters asking aid that she has published them in bookform.

We see also in all the reviews the fetes organised by the Duchess d'Uzes, in the gardens of the Tuileries, une reconstitution of the time of Louis the Fifteenth, with the famous cabaret “Ramponneau” of “les Porcherons,” where the grandes-dames of the day did not disdain to stop for an instant at some table near the gardes francaises, seated before a jug of vin bleu in company with a soubrette. In. this revue the duchess herself is. not mentioned, it is true, but, at the moment yyhen her name is about to be pronounced., a blast of hunting-horns is heard,, this being sufficient indication, as every one knows her fondness for the .hunt. At the same moment there appears in her place—his favoris, after the fashion of the Second Empire, being formerly a shade darker than >ature had made them, now left to whiten as they will —the director of the most aristocratic paper in France, M. Arthur Meyer.

M. Antoine, the director of the Theatre Antoine, lias recently had some disagreements with the dramatic critic of the “Echo de Paris,” who had written very strongly against one of the plays produced there. M. Antoine demanded indemnity from the paper, and compared his theatre to a commercial house, which had the right, he declared, to claim damages from those who injured its trade. To punish the director for his desire to place intellectual work in the ranks of merchandise, the “reviews” show him clad in the white coat of a grocer coming to take a lesson in jiu-jitsu. These “reviews” in Paris at the close of the year are, in short, a kind of Aristophanic comedy, where are introduced boldly upon the stage any contemporaries who may have acquired a certain notoriety. These personages are sometimes in the theatres, and can see themselves depicted to the world, which must indeed be a curious sensation. Such, however, is the poor little glory that modern life gives. M. Thiers said that he never really believed himself popular until he saw himself as a ginger-bread man at the fete of St. Cloud. But. however flattered a writer or a politician may be at the distinction accorded him by a place in the revue, he is never completely satisfied with the actor who impersonates him. It is the sentiment expressed by Felix Lepelletier St. Fargeau, when, several days after the murder of his brother in the Revolution, he went to see “L’Assassiriat de Ifepelletier,” in which he was placed upon the scene beside the murdered man. He was greatly annoyed that the actor jOhenard, who represented him. !was not better dressed, and he exclaimed to M. de Pressac in the next box: “What trousers! What a bearing! This Chenard ought at feast to imitate me properly.” . It is not only in the daring personalities, in the vivid realities, that the revue can be compared to a comedy of Aristophanes; that resemblance lies also in the boldness and the freedom of expression. The revue does not yet go as far as did the-theatre of -Athens, but it is journeying in that direction.