Show A FAMOUS DRAMA < The Successes and Failures of L S rdous LaTosca LONDON NOW LOOKING AT IT lfI < Bcrnharrits Triumph In Paris and Fanny I Davenports Experience i New iork Short I Story of the Plot Victorien Sardous play La rosen is said t be tho great masters masterpiece In Paris when in 18S7 Sara Bernhardt took the title role of Floria Tosca at its first production pro-duction tho critics went wild over it Their enthusiasm was immense their praise unlimited unlim-ited But when nearly a year later Fanny Davenport produced it in New York city the American press assailed the play with a great vigor as had been displayed by tho Frenchmen in praising it It was indecent it was an insult to religion it was too hor tr t4z 7h l iN i J91 i i MRS BERNARDBEERE AS LA TOSCA rible for the stage thay said But in each caso the result was the same the theatres were le teach performance In Paris great audiepces gathered to sets what could call forth such praise in America the curiosity curi-osity of the people was aroused to sec what was worthy of such wholesale condemnation For some reason the play was not given in London until the present season but recently Mrs BernardBeere has brought it out in the Engliih metropolis Stoical John Bull has not gone t either extreme in speaking of tho I piece raptures are not in his line The Eng lish critics say little of Sardous work but they proiao Mrs BernardBeere A condensedjstory of the play follows A young artist Mario Cavaradossi is painting in church4n ROle Cesaro Angelotti a political po-litical prisoner who has escaped from the I Castle St Augelo rushes in and begs Cavara d bi to save him Mario swears to do so and dressc > vCesare in womans clothes taking him in that disguise from the church to his studio JLIaion Scarpia regent of police traces the fugitives but by the tinio he has reached Marios studio they have fled to the lattors country house the location of which i i known only to its owner and his mistress mis-tress Floria Tosca Scarpia decides to work on La Tolas jealousy tp discover its whereabouts where-abouts and tells her in order to do this not that her lover lias fled with a man in wo mans costume but that he has run oil with a woman La Tosca is roused to a paroxysm of jealousy jeal-ousy and goes to Marios villa followed but without her knowledge by the police She finds Mario and overwhelms him with reproaches re-proaches Mario reveals tho truth and points to Angelotti still half attired in female costume t cos-tume La Tosca grasps the situation at once and the lovers fall into each others arms At that instant a noise is heard outside the villa It is the police Tho lovers conceal Angelotti in a grotto just a tho police force aU entrance La Tosca and Mario swear that i they do not know where Angelotti is and Mario is taken to an adjoining room leaving Scarpia and La Tosca together Scarpia saysTell Tell me where Angelotti is and you will save Mario Cavaradossi from a mauvais quart dheure L Tosca exclaims What is happening behind that door Scarpia replies with cool malignity ObI merely thisMario Cavaradossi is reclining in I an easy chair his legs and arms arc tied fast wit steel chains a band of steel with three sharp spear headed points encircles his forehead fore-head an executioner stands over him grasp ing in his hands a screw each turn of which drives the steel points into his forehead The torture will bo most exquisitely excruciating unless you by ono word reveal Angelotti La Tosca hesitates pale ashes and hesitts as asles trembling trem-bling Then Mario with superhuman effort in faint accents exclaims Tosca you know not where Angelotti is you can disclose nothing I Tournez shrieks Scarpia Then a terrible wail of paina cry that I seems to como from the very soul of a dying nInais heard It is a frightful cry that I seems to veil the universe with misery and desolation La Tosca yields and ngelloti is dragged I from his hiding place but he is dying from poison self administered Cavaradosai appears I ap-pears with blood dripping from his forehead a frightful sight La Tosca tries to embrace em-brace him but he seeing that she has betrayed be-trayed his friend pushes her aside whereupon where-upon she falls fainting Scarpia places La Tosca and Mario under arrest aret I < o I I P I f o I h9i J1 J 1 j I I ICL 7 II I lfh 11 f j II l i 1 I j I I t I i J I f v J FASITY DAVENPORT AS LA TOSCA Tho fourth act is laid in Scarpias palace I The regent sends for La Tosca and tells her j that her lover has been be sentenced t be shot in the morning i but if i La Tosca will accept his caresses he will save Marios lie and give the lovers a passport to tho frontier He I says however that in order to apparently orer apparenty obey orders he will have the soldiers muskets I I loaded with blank cartridges They will fiit > at Mariowho must fall and fefoh death La Tosca overpowered by her love for Mario consents < Scarpia places his arm around her but she revolts from his caresses Notwith I standingher j promises sho seizes a knife and sfabs binvtothejieart j Intljq fifth < the murderpZ S apia i still undiscovered La Tosca tells the cap tain of the gad that she ha peformed cp he part of the engagement and pore carry out Scarpias orders about the feigned execution and escape Mario Cavaradossi isled led out and the soldiers fire He foils Tha soldiers retire leaving La Tosca alone with the body Sho exclaims Mario come All is ready I I have our r passports l Thevcarriagb is hero Iu a hour i we shall have crossed the frontier I w I Tosca were lies When she realizes tnat Mari Ma-ri is dead she jumps over the parapet into the Tiber and the curtain falls And this i the play which has delighted France disgusted America and t which England mr tie now giving a kind of I pleased toleration 0 |