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Sarah Bernhardt as Cleopatra
So long advertised and postponed so frequently,
"Cléopâtre," the new play by Victorian Sardou
and Emile Moreau, was performed last (Thursday)
night at the Porte-Saint-Martin Theatre, Paris, in
the presence of a vast audience, which included,
among other celebrities, the Earl of Lytton.
The authors have made many important changes
in the arrangement of the play as written by
Shakespeare. The tendency has been to simplify,
and whole scenes have been cut out.
The title-part was taken by Mdme. Sarah
Bernhardt, who was enthusiastically received.
The scenery, the costumes, and the accessories of
the piece are costly and beautiful, and the verdict
of the Parisians appears to be favourable. The
unprecedented pitch to which anticipation had
risen has not, it would seem, been altogether
realised by the reality. Antony does not kill him-
self; he is stabbed by Octavius's orders, and ex
pires in the arms of Cleopatra, who then places the
asp on her breast, and this being a slow death, she
slowly laments, and falls dead across Antony's
body. The death (says the Times correspondent)
is not dramatic. The little green serpent is dis-
gusting rather than striking, and the wind-up is
not thrilling. Still, the piece has fine passages.
and the unrivalled actress has brilliant flashes
wherever the mediocrity of the situations is not
against her. The play is not evenly good, but has
deficiencies too glaring to be ignored. It would
be unfair not to praise the stage music of M. Xavier
Leroux, as also not to state that at the fall of the
curtain the authors' names were warmly applauded,
while Sarah Bernhardt, visibly affected by so heroic
an effort,was enthusiastically acclaimed.
The cast was as follows : — Mark Antony,'M. Ph.
Gamier; Demetrius, M. Bouyer; Kephrem, M.
Darmont ; Derctas, M. Rebel; Thyrseus, M. Lacroix;
I the messenger, M. Herbert; Cleopatra, Mdme.
Sarah Bernhardt; Octavia, Mdme. Laura Fleur;
Iras, Mdme. Lamart; Charmian, Mdme, Simonaon.
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