The performance which, for its reopening, L'Oeuvre is
presenting tonight, transferred through the attentions of M. Lugné-Poë
into the welcoming surroundings of the Marigny, comprises three
interesting plays - one of which, Le Jaloux, the programme tells
us, is by M. Antoine Bibesco.
The author of Le Jaloux is, in reality, Prince Antoine
Bibesco, secretary of the legation of Romania. For the first time he is
performing the role of writer, and has no other ambitions for the present
other than the glory of being one of the reputed citizens of the Republic
of letters.
The piece that, for his debut, he is going to present to the audience
of L'Oeuvre - so difficult, indeed, more literary and better
informed - comprises three acts "of biting observation", as M. Lugné-Poë
told us yesterday.
"I know certain scenes in this play," continued the founder of L'Oeuvre,
"which will surely reveal to the public a dramatic author, one
of the best school. It seems to me, by putting Le Jaloux on the
stage, that I am witnessing once again the times now long distant when L'Oeuvre
was staging the emotionally psychological plays by Sée and Coolus. And
yet, it does not call them to mind. Rather there is in it a little of that
vibrant and sorrowful humanity that one meets in the theatre of
Porto-Riche. And yet, in Bibesco's work there is a very great simplicity
of manner: three acts and scarcely more than three characters... In that
it is a complete triumph...
A triumph. Heavens! That was enough to pique the curiosity of a
reporter. There is always, it is true, some pretension behind the wish to
"create something psychological" in a writer - even something close, and I
am reminded of the words of Pushkin: "The soul of others, you see, is a
dark forest." But to chat with the person who was unknown only a moment
ago - especially if he has had heaped upon him writer, artist, original -
what delightful pleasure! ... What has led M. Antoine Bibesco to write for
the theatre; what are his ideas in matters of dramatic literature; which
masters does he relate to and what does his own art consist of? So many
interesting questions; so many responses worth hearing and that the
debutant of today provided me with, yesterday, most amiably. When I asked
him the reason for his preference, between all forms of literature, for
the theatre:
"I think", he told me quite simply, " that that comes from my love of
life. I will not discuss the well or ill founded disdain that many
literary men profess today for the theatrical arts - disdain that Goethe
(the greatest dramatist of the XIXth century, be it said for
your questionnaire by the way) and Dickens did not share. But in the end
the fact remains that it is only in the theatre that the illusion of life
is the most perfect. However moving a novel may be, one is never moved to
tears reading in the same way that one can be moved to tears in the
theatre. I have the greatest admiration for Tristan Bernard's very
original novels. But I never laugh as much reading them as hearing one of
those masterpieces into which he has managed to pour all his delightful
wit being performed."
M. Antoine Bibesco's favorite authors are M. Paul Hervieu and M. de
Porto-Riche. He is enchanted by "the rigorous talent, the Sophoclean
tragedy of the one, the impassioned talent of the other, and his Racinian
tragedy."
"I certainly would not have the boldness to say" he concluded, "that I
could be seen as their disciple. But whether they consent to it or not,
those are my masters!"
And we could find worse! ... About his play, and about its performances
at L'Oeuvre, the young author furnishes us with some interesting
information:
"Why is my Jaloux about to be performed at the Oeuvre?
For a very simple reason - which also has some psychology behind it. This
is it: Without knowing Lugné I sent him my play; two days later it was
accepted. If I waited six months I would have been sure of it being
performed in one of the Boulevard theatres. But there is no good fortune
like immediate fortune. By desiring for too long for the realization of a
desire, you risk finding yourself in the realization of something you have
ceased to desire. And the works themselves do not like to wait. They are
not sufficiently certain of a long life not to be impatient of being born.
As for Le Jaloux, what is it? You will find out this evening.
You will find scenes dominated by a sentiment that I feel very deeply
about, the fear of judicial miscarriage. There it is a case of a judicial
miscarriage in affairs of the heart, the most difficult of all to put to
right. "Nothing in the theatre is as tiresome as a jealous man", Guitry
declared to me not long ago when I told him a little bit about my play. I
confess that such a judgement delivered by the eminent Director of La
Renaissance has not discouraged me; I remembered L'École des
femmes and then thought of Othello... People can tell me this
evening whether or not I was wrong! In any case, whether or not I have a
successful première, I have had successful rehearsals, which I was
delighted with. I do not know whether I am able to touch the public. But I
have made my interpreters weep... I continue to be very touched by that."
With for his interpreters, the author of Jaloux is, in any
case, very satisfied: Mlle Devoyod, M. Burguet and M. Georges Saillard
have fully understood the profound intentions of the work and will defend
it as is fitting. So, what is there to worry about? And, firm in his
integrity as a writer, M. Antoine Bibesco goes into battle, a smile on his
lips, and with perfect tranquility. "Victory," as Marbot said, "always
comes in taking by the scruff of the neck those handsome young boys who
laugh in the face of bullets."
Serge Basset.
Written by Serge Basset but incorporating material provided by
Proust.
Created 15.03.18