cque's comedies, as in the old Greek drama,
destiny, not man, is the chief actor, the real but unseen protagonist.

Becque was not a prolific writer, and when he died, in 1899, it was
remarked that he had spent the last ten years of his life in comparative
inactivity. But during these years his young and ardent disciples had
spared no effort in putting their master's theories to the test. It had
occurred to a gifted and enterprising actor-manager, named Andre
Antoine, that the time had come for trying dramatic experiments in a
continued and methodical manner. For this purpose he gathered around him
a number of young authors, and produced their plays before a select
audience of subscribers, who had paid in advance for their
season-tickets. The entertainment was a strictly private one. In this
way Antoine made himself independent of the censors, and at the same
time was no longer obliged to consider the requirements of the average
playgoer, as is the case with ordinary managers, anxious, above all
things, to secure long runs. At the Theatre Libre the most successful
play was not to be performed for more than three nights.

The reform attempted was to consist in the elimination of what was
contrary to nature in Dumas's and Augier's comedies: of the _intrigue
parallele_ or underplot, of the over-numerous and improbable incidents
which followed the first act and taxed the spectator's memory to the
verge of fatigue; and, lastly, of the conventional _denouement_ for
which there was no justification. A true study of character was to take
the place of Sardou's complicated fabrications and Dumas's problem
plays. The authors would present the spectator with a fragment of life,
but would force no conclusion upon him at the termination of the play.
The reformation in histrionic art was to proceed apace. The actors and
actresses of the preceding period had striven to give full effect to
certain witty utterances of the author, or to preserve and to develop
their own personal peculiarities or oddities. Antoine and his
fellow-artists did their best to make the public realize, in every word
and every gesture, the characteristic features and ruling passions of
the men and women they were supposed to represent.

It was in the early autumn of 1887 that the Theatre Libre opened its
doors for the first time. It struggled on for eight years amidst
unfailing curiosity, but not without encountering some adverse, or even
derisive, criticism fro