The Sign of the Cross (play)

The Sign of the Cross is an 1895 four-act historical tragedy, by Wilson Barrett and popular for several decades. Barrett said its Christian theme was his attempt to bridge the gap between Church and Stage.The plot resembles the novel Quo Vadis of those same years, as an unofficial adaptation of it, yet Barrett never acknowledged this.

It was the basis for the 1932 film adaptation directed by Cecil B. DeMille: the first DeMille sound film with a religious theme.

Much as in Quo Vadis, Marcus Superbus, a Roman patrician under Nero, falls in love with a young woman (Mercia) and converts to Christianity for her. As in Quo Vadis, Poppea, Nero's wife, is in unrequited lust for Marcus. At the end, Mercia and Marcus sacrifice their lives in the arena to the lions. This ending is in complete contrast to Quo Vadis, in which Marcus Vinicius (not Marcus Superbus) and Lygia (not Mercia) survive and presumably live happily ever after, and Nero and Poppea are the ones who die.

It was originally produced by Barrett at the Grand Opera House, St. Louis, Missouri on 28 March 1895 (with Maud Jeffries as Mercia). It was first presented on Broadway at the Knickerbocker Theatre in late 1895. Barrett presented it in England with great success, starting in Leeds in September 1895. He brought it to the Lyric Theatre, London in 1896.

Ben Greet, an English actor-manager, formed a Sign of the Cross Company, one of three companies that he managed. It toured Britain and America for many years.

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