"LE CHRIST:" A MYSTERY PLAY IN PARIS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3115, 2 July 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

"LE CHRIST:" A MYSTERY PLAY IN PARIS.

+ A STRIKING PERFORMANCE. "Lβ Christ," a sacred drama by M. Charles Grandmoujrin, wliiuh lias been recited at the Sillies do* Conferences, was produced at thu Theatro Moderne, Paris, ivcontly. The treatment of such a subject with scenery and other accessories in » city l'ke l'aris certainly marks an crn in dramatic art, and quite apart from the text, " Le Christ " will undoubtedly raise much comment. The fact that Lent is tho season chosen for the venture will have something to do with its success. .IESITS AND MARY MACDAT.KN'. The author has divided his work into five Rhort acts or tabli;a\ix. In the first of these we poo Christ with His Mother returning to Gulileo after a weary journey ovor the hills, .lesus is afterwards insulted by the Nazarenes. The house of Mary Mngdalon, overlooking the inland Sen, of Galileo, is the next tableau. TI)D first penitent of the Christian era is a refined woman, spellbound by the divine majesty of tho Saviour. She dismisses Zenon, one of her lovers, with sorrowing disdain, aud then anxiously awaits Christ, who has promised to visit her. The scone is full of solemu pathos. The Son of Man repels the admiring human love of the Magdalen, and, after having Rpoken words of consolation, absolves her. " I will follow Thee to death, O Divine Master," says Magdalen, with bowed head and on bended knee. "To life eternal." gently replies the Saviour—aad the curtain falls. THE TRIAL BEFORE PONTIUS PILATE. The next two scenes are laid in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Prtetorium of Pilate. A pretty but rather jarring: love dialogue between the shepherd Said and the shepherdess Aissa precedes the continuance of the solemn drama. Jesus enters with Peter, John and James. The three Apostles sleep, and the agonised soliloquy in which human doubt and divine prescience are intermingled begins. The voice of the angel comforts the GodMan, and He awakes His Apostles to witness Hia betraval and arrest. Judas and the soldiers come forward, and the traitor's kiss is given, and the Master is roughly hurried off. We find him again before the well-meaning but vacillating Pontius Pilate. The trial scene is novel in its arrangement. The unthinking crowd murmurs outside. Magdalen appeals to Pilate in favour of the " Divine Defender of the afflicted." Mary lifts up her hands in sorrow to the judgment seat. Even Judas Iscariot despairingly tries to avert the effects of his perfidy. All is of no avail. The voice of the people is for Barabbas, aud the Roman Prefect condemns Christ to be crucified as a malefactor.

" THE SIMPLE MAJESTY OF THE GOL' GOTHA."

The last tableau ie singularly strik-. ing. Given the favorable surroundings of Oberammergau, those who have seen the Passion Play iu the Bavarian mountain village will be impressed (says the correspondent) by the simple majesty of the Golgotha of a Paris theatre. When the curtain rises the house is darkened and the figures are already upnn the three crosses. The dying curses of the impenitent thief are followed by the sweet sorrow of the sinner to whom Christ promisea pardon mid Paradise. The scoffing soldiers draw lots, and Magdalen, with the s;rief-stricken Mary, take their leave of the Crucified One. Then comes a final soliloquy, and the tragic poem comes to an end. M. Delaunay, the son of the celebrated Delaunay, was the Christus of this new departure, and to him is due the successful creation of a thorny and difficult role. Mdlle Sanlaville. as Mary Magdalen, declaimed the verse of M. Grandinougin with a delicate pathos which went straight to the hearts of a rather critical audience. To Mdme. Orcelle a word of praise is due for her refined presentment of the mother of Christ. The music was the one drawback of the piece. The author would have been better seconded had the orchestra played selections from the great masters who have handled this august subject, with an occasional extract from the simple Gregorian psalmdiJy of Holy Week.