Great War Theatre

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

A sad little play of the war. Irene, Comtesse de Merisande, has one son at the front, her other son, having been rejected once, is going before the board again. She suffers from a malady of the heart and is talking with her doctor and an old friend when two telegrams arrive. One is from her husband to say he cannot come to Paris for a week. The other she makes sure is to say her son Bertrand has been killed. She refuses to open it, because she has heard the doctor say a shock will kill her and her one dieters is that if her other son, Michel, is taken he can go with happy thoughts of her. She is persuaded at length, and the telegram proves to be from her brother-in-law Col. Gerrard to say that Bertrand has been wounded and that he, Gerrard, is coming to see her. She imagines this to mean that Bertrand is dead. Then michel comes in joyful, like a good Frenchman, at having been taken at last. There is an affecting scene, Irene being resolutely cheerful, and he goes. Col. Gerrard arrives to find her unconscious and dying. Bertrand, he says, is not dead but is doing well. But he is persuaded not to tell her, lest she should die unhappy at not being able to go with him, and so he says Bertrand died without pain, and so she dies. It is touching, thought to an English way of thought some of the emotion is little strongly complicated, even the simple issues of life and death. Recommended for license, Ernest A. Bendall.

Licensed On: 3 Apr 1916

License Number: 164

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British Library Reference: LCP1916/7

British Library Classmark: Add MS 66128 R

Performances

Date Theatre Type
10 Apr 1916 Coliseum, London Amateur Licensed Performance
Read Narrative
"It was a sweetly pathetic piece of acting and showed Mmme. Bernhardt at her best." (The People, 16 April 1916) The cast included: Sarah Bernhardt, Mlle Seylor, M Normand, M Denebourg, M Montpass, M. Baert. Other acts on the bill were: Florence Smithson (singer), Mlle Odette Myrtil, Fred Lindsay, Hymack, Mex.
20 Apr 1916 Grand Theatre, Birmingham Professional
Read Narrative
'The superb acting of Bernhardt weaved a magic spell' (Birmingham Daily Gazette, 22 April 1916)