PATRIOTISM IN THEATRE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 275, 12 April 1913, Page 10

PATRIOTISM IN THEATRE

PAitlS STildihU li\ UAii iu-IA.-.IA.S

Piirii, Fchnury in. "Tyess!" said a l.erniaii i |oarii.u;.-L with complex satisfaction, There is no more dilliculty. Von Tirpitz, Franz-losepli '' J found myself alone with him. It is a curious peculiarity that in Paris just now, whenever the accent and the topics of the man who is talking to you become char acteristicaliy <>'cnuaii, the. Jittle crowd of French friends round you always melts away. I used up most of the rest of the entr'acte explaining that J had known the (Jerman journalist for liftoen years, and that he was as unlikely to be a spy as M. l'oincare himself. 1 also

noticed that several of my French friends found it quite necessary to assure, several other people of my bona tides. Friends of tJeriuaiis are not popular just now in Paris. We were at the dress rehearsal of Henri Lavedan's play, "Servir," at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, on Friday evening. This twoact play has been the cause of a breach

between the author and the French national theatre, the Coinedie Francaise. It was read and admired. It is an admirable little play. Then a whisper went round the reading committee, "Dare we produce such a play at this theatre? Will international complications not ensue?"

The play was refused. Lavedan, in a rage, withdrew from the Francais "Le Marquis de Pirola," and all his other plays, which have for some years been among the big successes of the repertoire. And on Friday evening "Servir" —the play of which the reading committee of the Theatre Francais refused —was produced at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, with M. Lucien Guitry in the leading part.

You know the thrill which the most peaceful of us feel at the rattle of a drum. We may laugh at ourselves because we feel lumps in oiir throats when, at the Coronation we stood and listened to "God Save the King." But we felt them. And in Paris, during the last few months, the rattle of drums and the sound of the national anthem have been in the air!

! Oh, I know! There are ironists who I have noticed that Frenchmen do not I stand up bareheaded to listen to the j '■Marseillaise." Frenchmen have always laughed at their own emotions. Be- ! sides, the national anthem in France i just now is not so much the "Marseillaise" as the March of "Sambve et Meusc." I was surprised by the outburst of enthusiasm over passages in -La Flambee" which became "The Turning Point" in English, I believe. "Alsace." at the Theatre Re.jane. which is distinctly and emphatically a play to excite feeling against Germany, creates and fosters a blaze of enthusiasm every evening. In "Servir," M. Lavedan declares war. The scenes on Friday night at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt reminded one of 1870. Here is the peroration of one of the many newspaper articles which appeared in the Paris papers next day: I -The ovation went higher and further, towards the glorious rag of .three colors, the relic of 1870. In truth, in very truth, the time is near!" WHAT DOES IT PORTEND? "Servir" is a stow of patriotism, told in two acts and with wonderful force. The curtain.fell .and pandemonium broke loose in the auditorium. Nobody yelled "\ Berlin!" but the words were in the air, and the drums rattled distinctly in the mind of everybody present. Nobody wants war—naturally. >obodv ever does want war. I have seen France and Frenchmen seething with excitement manv times before, but each time there was a sense of helplessness mixed with the war spirit which made the rage that of an angry child which will do itself hurt because it cannot overcome the stronger enemy. Thi, time a sense of readiness, ot strength, of power, of hope, and the strong craviiii.' over present for the two |„*t province* underlie The excitement, T do not. know how near the danger may he ~f'a war between France.and Ger„,:,„v One thimr T '1" - llfnv - T,, ° s ,',ivit nf war is rt l.ro:iil here in France, and is beeomi'U' move and more intense .".vevv moment.' The rattle "f drums is i„ the spring i-ii-.-Toln, X. Baplmol.