LA CITTA, MORTA City of the Dead)), a modern tragedy in five acts and in prose, by Gabriele d'Annunzio, performed for the first time in Paris at the Renaissance Theatre, 21 Jan. 1898. Although every effort was made to expose to the best advantage the artistic of the tragedy, Sara Bern hardt playing The part of the blind Anna with ail her rare skill and intelligence, the play was not a success. It has been played in England and in America, but received rather coldly, and for several reasons, one of which may be said to be its lack of dramatic action; for it is more a lyric poem in dialogue, or a succession of descriptions artistically composed, than a drama as understood.
The scene is laid in Argolis, near the ruins of Mycenz. The dramatis persons consist of five characters; an archaeologist of a most fervent type, Leonardo; his sister, Bianca, Maria, a young woman, endowed with ex uberant health and beauty and possessing rare personal charm, who accompanies the archwolo gist and shares his keen interest in his excava tions and discoveries; Alessandro, a poet and scholar, ever inspiring and helping Leonardo in all he undertakes; Anna, the wife of Ales sandro, who is blind although not from her birth. This misfortune gives Anna's mental vision a sensitiveness and acuteness which makes up in no small degree for her loss of sight; lastly, a nurse, an attendant of Anna, whose informing role suggests somewhat the part filled in a certain measure by the old Greek chorus. As in the plays of Sophocles and Euripides and of Racine 's (Phedre,) it is fate or destiny that controls the incidents of the tragedy and hangs heavily over the participants. In the air itself, breathed by the archeologist and the poet in their passionate search for the tomb of the house of Atreus, is rank poison emanating from the crimes committed by the Atriche. So atrocious is the curse over this ill starred house that, as Alessandro tells his wife some direful traces must still remain in the dust trampled by the sons of Atreus. This
gives the key to the trend of events.
That a tragedy having the three mainsprings of its action in incest, adultery and fratricide, even with a Greek setting, should be received coolly by Anglo-Saxon audiences is readily understood. That it received such acceptance as it secured is due in a measure to the remark able acting of Eleonora Duse, who impersonated Anna. The tragedy has been* the subject of much diverse criticism. It is better adapted for reading than for representation. However re pellent the subject may appear, enwrapped as it is in a sullen and depressing atmosphere, the tragedy itself is unquestionably a highly artistic production. The author not only possesses the inherent qualities ascribed to the Latin and Italian temperament, but the old pagan strain reveals itself in utterly ignoring the convention alities usually adhered to more or less by writers in general. Moreover, his accurate knowledge, gained on the spot, of ancient his tory and literature, together with unusual poetical gifts make up a combination producing a result that has rightly attracted the attention of the literary world. Revolting as may be his remorseless brutality, especially to the non Latin temperament, it is impossible not to recognize an artist exceptionally gifted and a literary production quite out of the ordinary. A translation of