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George SAND

Manuscrit autographe complet de la pièce de théâtre "Mario"

1856, 16x24,5cm, 14 feuillets cousus.

Exceptional original autograph manuscript of the play Mario by George Sand, produced in the theatre on her estate in Nohant. In a round hand with a few passages crossed out and some pencil notes. 14 sheets in blue ink, in their original brown paper covers, with an ink title to upper cover and the note Comedy in two scenes , as well as the label "N°63 D".
This theatrical outline of the Handsome Gents of the Bois-Doré was played in the intimate setting of the "Great Theatre at Nohant" by friends of Sand. The theatre, created in 1849, worked to the rhythm of the life of the proprietors of Nohant, who were at the same time the creative force, actors, and spectators of this great theatrical experiment. The writing and premiere of this piece mark a period of veritable renaissance for this "family theatre" whose activity had almost ceased with the death of Sand's granddaughter on the 13 January 1855. In the autumn of 1856, Nohant emerged from a long period of mourning and its theatre was heavily reworked - steps were added and Bolard painted some sumptuous sets. A new theatrical season began on 8 September, the costumes for the piece being carefully prepared by the members of the household; this piece was played for the first time on 27 September 1856, then 30 September, and a final time on 27 October. Upset by the very meager success of three plays at the beginning of the year, Sand took a step back from professional theatre; her adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Théâtre-Français was almost called off after the first performance. The theatre at Nohant thus addressed an audience of initiates and friends, where improvisation took pride of place and which was no longer a sort of "theatrical laboratory" for plays in Paris, as it had been for so many other famous pieces by Sand in the 1840s.
This chivalric comedy is the story of the adventures of Mario, the son of an old Marquis under the reign of Louis XIII, and was heavily inspired by an anecdote that Sand had read, the L'Histoire du Berry by Louis Raynal. Mario is thus a unique testimony of the comedies and vaudeville pieces that were played for the guests at the estate in Berry; a sketch, a "scenario" as noted in its guestbook, full of brilliant amateur thespians. Sand lays out the names of the protagonists on the first leaf: her son Maurice played the old Marquis d'Angis, who became the Marquis de Bois-Doré in the novel, Marie Luguet, 12 years old and the granddaughter of Marie Dorval, gave a masterful performance as Mario (Sand even called the little girl "Mario" in her letters), while the evil governess Clorinde was almost certainly played by her mother. The Bohemian was played by Manceau and the lover by Sand.
The manuscript, which sometimes owes more to a novel than to a play, gives a description of each scene, studded with a few pieces of dialogue. A number of corrections are crossed out with a thick line by the author, while her son Maurice divided the text into scenes numbered 1 to 12 and filled out the dialogues in pencil (" Ah ! said Algénib, hasn't Mr d'Angis sent back the Master-at-Arms?") and stage instructions ("He exits with Mario, in tears "). The sketch - one of the nicest played at Nohant - was, according to Sand, a "huge success" (Agendas, 27 September 1856). Sand dedicated herself in December of that year to the editing of the Handsome Gents of the Bois-Doré, broadening out the piece's historical theme - the wars of religion, the great Condé, Louis XIII, and Richelieu. The novel itself would later be adapted for the theatre by Paul Meurice, with a premiere in 1862 in the Ambigu-Comique. Sand dedicated her last great role to her old friend the actor Paul Bocage, who gave a noted performance of Sylvain de Bois-Doré (inspired by the character of the old Marquis d'Augis in the manuscript).
Rare and handsome witness to the birth of one of Sand's novels, and also to the golden age of the experimental theatre at Nohant.
 

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