Are You a Mason? is a

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

in 3 acts by

Leo Ditrichstein Leo Ditrichstein (January 6, 1865 – June 28, 1928) was an Austrian-American actor and playwright. Biography He was born on January 6, 1865, in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary. He was educated in Vienna and was naturalized as an American citizen ...

, who in turn adapted it from a German play, ''Die Logenbrüder'' (''The Freemason''), by Curt Kraatz and

Carl Laufs Carl Laufs (1858-1900) was a German playwright who concentrated largely on creating farces, notably the 1890 work '' Pension Schöller'' which he co-authored with Wilhelm Jacoby Wilhelm Jacoby (1855-1925) was a German playwright, who concentrated ...

. The play was performed at the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

in 1901.''The Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund'',

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, 9 September 1901 The play has been adapted for screen: * ''Are You a Mason?'' (1934 film), a 1934 British comedy film * ''Are You a Mason?'' (1915 film), a 1915 silent comedy film A 1922 adaptation was planned for

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...

but was dropped due to the

Virginia Rappe Virginia Caroline Rappe (; July 7, 1891 – September 9, 1921) was an American model and silent film actress. Working mostly in bit parts, Rappe died after attending a party with actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who was accused of manslaughter a ...

murder scandal.

References

1901 plays Plays adapted into films {{1900s-play-stub