Adrea

Adrea (1905), a play by David Belasco, John Luther Long. [Belasco Theatre, 123 perf.] Adrea ( Leslie Carter), a 5th‐century princess on an Adriatic isle, has been passed over in the line of inheritance because she is blind. As a result she is deserted by her betrothed, Kaeso ( Charles A. Stevenson), who marries her sister Julia ( Edith Crane) instead. The wicked Julia, however, tricks Adrea into marrying the court jester, Minus the Echo ( J. Harry Benrimo), by telling her the groom is Kaeso. Adrea learns of Kaeso's disloyalty and Julia's treachery when she regains her sight and becomes queen. She kills Kaeso but then blinds herself again and puts Kaeso's son by Julia on the throne. Sculley Bradley has compared Adrea with Belasco and Long's collaboration of two years before, The Darling of the Gods, noting that both “are romantic tragedies in each of which a beautiful high‐born woman, in revolt against the outrages of society and fate, gives all for love and counts the world well lost. Both of these plays present a never‐never world, while their language, though passionate and often poetic, is so highly stylized as to intensify the sense of unreality.” Many critics felt Adrea was Carter's finest performance. Apart from some revivals that immediately followed, it marked her last association with Belasco, as it did for Long.