Sapho (play)

Sapho was a 1900 American play by Clyde Fitch, based on an 1884 French novel of the same name by Alphonse Daudet and an 1885 play by Daudet and Adolphe Belot. It was at the center of a sensational New York City indecency trial involving the play’s star and producer/director, Olga Nethersole. The play was not an exceptional success but the incident is considered a notable step in the transformation of American society’s attitudes regarding gender roles and public depictions of sex in the 20th century.

British actress Olga Nethersole asked prominent American playwright Clyde Fitch to adapt Sapho, telling the story from the point of view of the lead female character rather than the male character as was done with the original novel and play. Nethersole produced, directed and starred. The play’s official billing is Sapho, a play in four acts by Clyde Fitch. Founded on the novel by Alphonse Daudet, with scenes from the play by Alphonse Daudet and Adolphe Belot.

Sapho is a so-called “problem play”, centering on a woman who has love affairs with men to whom she is not married. Nethersole had already added two such dramas, Camille and The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, to her ongoing repertoire.Sapho’s lead character, Fanny LeGrand, seduces a naïve man named Jean Gaussin. In the scene that caused the most furor, the two characters ascend a spiral staircase together, presumably toward a bedroom though that is never shown or stated. In the end, LeGrand leaves Gaussin to reform and marry the father of her child.

The play has 23 characters, plus “Danseuses” (dancers).

After out-of-town tryouts in Chicago and other cities,Sapho opened in New York at the old (1882-1904) Wallack’s Theatre on Broadway and 30th Street on February 5, 1900.Reviews were negative and the press predicted it would flop. The show’s notoriety kept it going however, and it ran in New York for a total of 83 performances in 1900. From 1901 through 1913 Nethersole took it on tour to cities throughout America, as well as London and Australia. She brought the play back to New York in 1905, 1908, 1910 and 1913, in the later years sometimes just playing the third act. The play remained controversial, with municipal authorities in some cities continuing to ban performances entirely or insisting on changes in dialogue or costume.

Actors playing Jean Gaussin in the Nethersole productions included Hamilton Revelle (February through May 1900), G. Harrison Hunter (November 1900, and 1910), Slaine Mills (1905), and Winnington Barnes (1913).

...
Wikipedia