Servir

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

This is a serious, well-written but very talky, problem play, dealing with the conflict between the duty of patriotic militarism and the love of husband for wife and of father for son. The father, Col. Eulin, bitterly disappointed at having been prematurely retired, has no interests in life beyond those connected with the army, in which he has lost his eldest son and in which the other two are serving, the second satisfactorily till news comes of his death in Algeria, and the youngest reluctantly, as his bent is scientific, and he has a horror of warfare. The latter, Pierre, confides in his mother - a pathetic figure in her bravely-born-sorrows - that he has invented a marvellous explosive, the formula of which he will not sell even to his government, but has determined to destroy. This she persuades him to entrust to her charge; but when they go to find it they catch the Colonel stealing it - an effort which he defends on the ground that since he may no longer serve in the army he serves his country as a spy, in which capacity he has discovered his son's secret and proposes divulging it to the authorities for use in the imminent war. The clash of convictions with regard to duty in the matter leads up to a striking argumentative scene between the Colonel, Madame Eulin and Pierre, which is, however, not very conclusive and has no very dramatic issue. The long-winded discussion seems less likely to interest an English than a French audience; but it is wholly void of offence and is Recommended for license. Ernest A. Bendall.