Sous La Lumiere Rouge

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

This is another horrible play, and it is almost incredible that in such dreadful times as these there can be any demand for artificial horrors. I do not think a license would be given to the play if it were English; however, since we have the Grand Guignol here I suppose a certain latitude must be given it and I hesitate to recommend rejection - though I do not believe such plays would be tolerated in Paris at the present time. A young man's mistress has just died. The Medecin des Morts, after a very cursory examination of the corpse, endorses the verdict of the local doctor that she died a natural death and orders the burial for the next morning. The young man, after an affecting conversation with a friend about his dead love, takes a photograph of her. When he develops it he finds that the eyes, which had been closed, are open in the photograph. This is after the burial and he naturally concludes that she has been buried alive. The next act takes place in the cemetery. The young man has obtained an order for exhumation. The coffin is brought in, but so far as I understand the corpse, when disclosed, is not seen by the audience. The face and hands are found covered with blood and it is obvious that the young man's suspicions were correct. It ends, oddly, with the young man's consenting not to look for himself and without any further attack on the Medecin de Morts: I thought something must be missing, but it seems this is not so. There is to be said in favour of the piece that it has a serious object, in a way, if such an abuse as the too casual inspection of the dead exists in Paris. But the horror remains. It must be understood that the audience must not see the corpse in Act II. Even so, it is only with doubt and extreme reluctance that it is recommended for License. G. S. Street. P.S It must also be understood, if the piece is licensed, that nothing is to be added to the end of the script as sent in. The final words are: Phillippe. Non, Il ne faut pas, il ne faut pas.