The Dreyfus affair play has again been withdrawn at the Nouvelle Ambigue Theatre (as foreshadowed by the J.T.A. yesterday) as a result of the violent demonstrations which followed its return to the stage there on Friday and Saturday, after its first withdrawal about three weeks ago for the same reason.
The Manager of the theatre has addressed a letter to the author, M. Jacques Richepin, in which he writes that indignant as he is because of the threats and violence of the objectors to the play, he finds himself compelled, however, to stop the performances in view of the unceasing clashes which it is occasioning. I know I shall lose your friendship, he adds, but it is impossible to continue the performances.
The young Royalist, who was caught with a tear-gas bomb in his hand, and was thrashed by some of the members of the audience, and had his trousers pulled off, is bringing an action against the General Secretary of the Pacifist Ex-Soldiers’ Union, who led the attack on him. Four of his companions are being proceeded against for assaulting a police sergeant.
M. Richepin, the author of the Dreyfus play, announces that he will produce the play again at another theatre in Paris, under the protection of the Pacifist Ex-Soldiers’ Union.
When the play was withdrawn three weeks ago, Madame Richepin announced that it had been done without the consent of her husband, who was ill at the time. The League for Combating Antisemitism and the Pacifist Ex-Soldiers’ Union issued statements protesting against the withdrawal of the play, on the ground that it was a surrender to violence and intimidation, and declared that they would take steps to have the play revived at another theatre.
Pierre Dreyfus, the son of Colonel Dreyfus, the central figure of the Dreyfus affair, when approached by the press for a statement on the withdrawal of the play, said that he could not make any statement but he seemed to be pleased that the play had been withdrawn, suggesting that his father and his family had not liked the revival of the old controversy which it had started.
Maitre Torres, the famous Counsel who obtained Shalom Schwartzbard’s acquittal on the charge of killing Petlura, also wrote about a year ago (in March 1930) to Dr. Bruno Weil, Vice-President of the Central Union of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, who is an authority on the Dreyfus case, on which he has written a book, to tell him that Dreyfus, whom he had approached with regard to the production of the Dreyfus play, was anxious to forget his terrible experiences, and would rather not have the play produced in France, because it would revive the old controversy.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
