DEATH ON THE STAGE OF F. FEDERICI.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2453, 31 March 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

DEATH ON THE STAGE OF F. FEDERICI.

A Weird Scene. [From the Melbourne Leader.] Tiik performance at tho New Princess's Theatre on Saturday night, March, 3rd, wheu the. production of Gounod's Faust in English was given for tho first time, terminated with the death of one of the artists in a strangely tragic manner. Nothing more weird and melancholy than this unlooked for and highly-sensational occurrence has been recorded in connection with the stage. An episode so sad and dramatic it would be difficult to meet with in any field of romance, and the circumstance of its happening is but a verification of the oft-repeated saying that " truth is stronger than fictiou." The story of Faust in itself is one of the strangest in the literature of any nation, and this conception of a wonderful and gifted imagination lends itself to dramatic purpose with most unquestionable advantage. That a man impersonating the part of Mephistopheles should sing the act throughout the whole of the play, and at the last moment, after the " tag " has been spoken, and while ho is descending with Faust amid stige fire and flames, turn the migic fcene by his own death into one of tratne reality, is a possibility dreadful to contemplate. And yet, this is what occurred at the termination of Faust, on Saturday niirht. Mr F. Ffderici, the popular baritone of Messrs Williamson, Garner and Mus-tovo's company, after playing right through the production, died, it might be said, as the act drop descended. With his red cloak wrapped round Faust, he stood with Mr I; uimano upon the trap by which ho sinks from view, and just as the rostrum reachod tho level of the cellar floor he fell forward upon tho shoulder of a workman, and never spoke again. From tho collar he was carried into the green room, where every effort was made to restore animation. Dr. Willmott, who was quickly called in, assisted by persons attached to the theatro, persisted in their endeavours for upwards of an hour, but neither the galvanic battery nor the administration of other restoratives could call the unconscious actor hack to life. The beating of the heart became more and more feeble, and tho man was dead for several minutes before tho sorrowful fact could be reilised. The se-ne in the green room was weird and impressive. The dyitiir actor, in tho red costume in which a few moments before he had stool up as the representative of his Satanic Maje-ty, lavstretched upon tlv? floor, with his wife and anxious j friends about, him, trying to restore him I to life. Some of his fellow artists, who ; had not divested themselves of the fancy costumes of the play, were gathered round his prostrate form, fairer but incapable of l'L'uderinir help, watching the doctor workin ur, and anxious to catch some sign of returning consciousness. In the minds of all the remembrauee of the part the dying actor had played must have been uppermost, whilst the crimson hood, the pointed shoes and cap lying near hiiri on the floor, could only seem a grim and ghastly mockery. Mr Fedcrici's death is to be attributed to disease of the heart, from which it is said he has been more or less suffering for the past nine year.'. The end was accelerated by the nervous excitement under which he must have laboured whilst preparing fur and subsequently performing a part that must have cost him much anxiety. Whilst the performance was yet i-ft progress the excitement kept him up, but directly it was over, and he had spoken his last line, the reaction set in, with the fatal result already recorded. The trap by which the descent of Faust and Mephistopheles to the infernal regions is made is worked on a slot running on an inclined plane, so that the characters disappear gradually, and in a slanting direction. As he was disappearing from view, Mr Fedcrici was seen to put up his arm before his eyes in a feeble manner, which seemed to indicate that he was completely worn out. The rostrum on which he was standing was just reaching the cellar floor, who i the gasman, following the movement of the trap aud working the steam pipe by which one of the principal stage effects is produced, noticed him lean forward as in a faint. The next instant lie had fallen on the mail's shoulder, and was dropped gently to the floor. Mr Laumanc, who was also on the trap, but kneeling, fell ofF a distance of some two feet, but sustained no injury. He walked to his dressing-room, not thinking that anything serious had happened tohis companion. Mr Federici, after being laid on the floor, merely opened his eyes, looked up and closed them again. Tho men in the cellar at once carried him up to the green-room, where lie received every attention. Dr. Willmott gave a certificate to tho effect that death resulted from disease of tho heart, and Dr. Void therefore did not think that the circumstance called for a coroner's inquest.