3-078-264 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sarah Bernhardt as Joan of Arc, at Her Majesty's Theatre, 1890. London stage production. '..the roasting of Madame Sarah Bernhardt [as she reappears] after her severe illness, in the character of Jeanne d'Arc...The scene is not terrible, but ineffective, and at a quarter past midnight few have energy to protest against the cremation of poor Joan of Arc. Even the actress, worn out, cries piteously for the descent of the curtain. The play is...a succession of historical but undramatic tableaux...Gounod contributes the music...[but] there is not the semblance of a laugh or the ghost of a smile from the time the curtain rises until it falls. As an essay in dramatic elocution the performance of Madame Sarah Bernhardt is, no doubt, very fine, and in portions of the first tableau she was seen at her best; but it is to be feared that the new French Jeanne d'Arc will only be a succés de curiosité. It is easy to account for the triumph of the play in Paris. It suited the national temperament...As the play stands, there is "no offence in it" to shock our insular prejudices. We cannot contravene the truth of the martyrdom of Joan. The only serious fault that can be found with the play is that it is no play at all, and somewhat dull as a musical diorama'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.