Paul Kauvar; or, Anarchy

Paul Kauvar; or, Anarchy (1887), a play by Steele MacKaye. [Standard Theatre, approx. 100 perf.] Paul Kauvar ( Joseph Haworth), a commoner who has risen to high rank in the French Revolution, is repelled by its swift drift into terrorism, and he attempts to harbor, under aliases, the Duc de Beaumont ( Edwin Varrey) and the Duc's daughter, Diane ( Annie Robe), whom he secretly marries. The notorious and duplicitous Gouroc ( Wilton Lackaye) betrays the Duc and makes it seem that Kauvar wittingly issued the death warrant. To show his innocence Paul prepares to take the Duc's place at the guillotine. Both the Duc and Paul escape, but Paul is later captured by royalists. After disguising himself as the royalist general, whom he allows to escape, he is reunited with Diane just as news arrives of Robespierre's death and the end of the reign of terror. This summary only hints at the complications of plot in this gripping if far‐fetched melodrama. To some extent the play was inspired by what MacKaye perceived as the unfair trial and execution of the Chicago anarchists in 1887. It was tried out as Anarchy, but the title was changed to avoid charges that MacKaye was trading on headlines. George Odell recalled, “Its reworking of old material, lovers in danger, villains, sansculottes, swirling, shouting mobs led by the customary mad woman revolutionist, fascinated the public for the best part of the season and came back, later, into the friendly domain of the combination houses. It is the remarkable handling of the mob scenes, with Lillie Eldridge as the shouting terror, Scarlotte, that I chiefly remember.”