II, Theaterstücke 4, (Anatol, 8), Anatol, Seite 352

Scenes from "The Affairs of Anatol, an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzlers episodes, with Mr. John Barrymore as the principal figure
Pierre Lotis Chinese Spectacle and The Affairs of Anatol
HOSE who like to spend an evening inviting
of a Frenchman unless at the very end, perhaps. An.
to another always sincere at the moment just as did
their souls with the sight of exquisite Chine
American might have made it happy and the Manchu
the young man in Flauberts novel. The Sentimental
costumes, of Chinese scenes elaborated in the
prince would have won the rebel empress he fell in
History.
old-fashioned manner that is to say, in the literal,
love with from afar and had to conquer before he could
His quick imagination endows them with all sorts
rather than the impressionistic, manner shown last
tell her so.
of qualities and feelings which the simple creatures
winter in Sumurun with music filled with the light
The Frenchman has the grace to make the beautiful
never dreamed of once he held the hand of a beau
clashing of cymbals and dull throaty bim-a-bongs, and
princess yield her heart, but not her life, to her con¬
tiful giri from the circus and played the piano to her¬
enough dramatic current to carry it all those looking
queror. She takes poison at the last, and it is to a
and watched the lamplight on her hair and knew that
or an evening of this sort will have a good time at
pale and lifeless shape, seated on the throne of the
that moment would never, never be forgotten by her,
The Daughter of Heaven.
Manchus, for whom the gongs sound and the Man¬
although a couple of years after, when she did see him
As a play, this adaptation from the French original
chus subjects kneel. Miss Viola Allen is the queen
again, she had no notion who he was, but guessed finally
of Pierre Loti and Judith Gautier is at least as inter
and her intelligently used and beautiful voice added
that he might be the man she met in Petersburg
esting as "The Garden of Allah," and as a very refined
much to that unhappy lady's charm. Nearly everybody
There are five different women in these five epi¬
three-ring circus, even more brilliant and expensive. It
whispered to his next door neighbor that "The Daugh
sodes, and through them we get different views of
seems safe to say that embroidered Chinese robes, as
ter of Heaven was a great chance for opera.
Anatol. The disillusion which such a sentimentalist
dazzling and really beautiful as these, were never be
inevitably encounters, and the rather absurd figure he
CLIMPSES OF A SENTIMENTAL YOUNG MAN
fore seen in a Western theatre. There is a sort of
cuts in consequence, is the note most accented, and
temple scene, too, lit by moonlight which appeared to
HE Affairs of Anatola sequence of episodes by
yet do you know," as Anatol murmurs on his wedding
many at the first performance to be the best theatre
Arthur Schnitzler, paraphrased by Granville Barken
morning (a sudden homesickness for the life he was
moonlight they had ever seen. And there is a scene
and now presented by at the Litte Theatre
giving up had taken him back to the opera after his
on the battlements, during a battle, with a Chinese sol¬
is a light but agreeable entertainment, fitted for an
bachelor dinner the night before, one of his old flames
dier wigwagging a torch against the night, tons of
audience which has dined pleasantly, drifted in leisurely
has come home to breakfast with him, and he can't
masonry tumbling down as the shells explode and the
fashion to the theatre, and brought thither a readiness
bear to tell her he is going to be married), do you
defeated garrison finally burning themselves up on a
to accept for the moment the continental habit of treat¬
know, there's something pathetic about this.
wonderfully realistic funereal pyre. Of its kind, all
ing love" as an activity apart and sufficient unto itself,
The quick transition from farce to a sort of trag
this is magnificent, quite
and not as our own literature assumes necessarily as¬
edy just a touch and away again is, one presumes
Those who hope to feel here that peculiar haunting
sociated with marriage
much more delicately and poignantly achieved in the
charm which steals over the reader of almost anything
Anatol is an artistic philander. He has a vast and
original dialogues than we can get it here, twice re¬
Pierre Loti writes will be disappointed. You would
versatile appreciation of the charms of women and of
moved, as it is, by a rather British translation and the
scarcely suspect that the original play was the work
the moods they can inspire, and he drifts from one
somewhat alien personalities of our own actors. Young
(Concluded on page 34)
The Manchu Emperor, the rebel Empress, and one of the crowds in Pierre Lotis dramatic spectacle, A Daughter of Heaven