''The Gay Lord Quex'' is an 1899 comedy play by the British playwright
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (24 May 185523 November 1934) was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor.
Pinero was drawn to the theatre from an early age, and became a professional actor at the age of 19. He gained experience as a supp ...
. It depicts the vicissitudes of a reformed philanderer attempting to embark on monogamy. The original production provoked controversy, some critics finding the plot at best questionable and at worst immoral.
The play premiered at the
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...
, London, on 8 April 1899, and ran for 300 performances. It was produced by
John Hare, who also played the title role. Others in the cast included
Charles Cherry,
Frank Gillmore
Frank Parker Gillmore (May 14, 1867 – March 29, 1943) was an American playwright and a stage and early film actor. He was a founder and former President of Actor's Equity.
He was born in New York City to John Parker Gillmore and his actre ...
,
May Fortescue
May Fortescue (9 February 1859 – 2 September 1950) was an actress, singer and actor-manager of the Victorian era and a protégée of playwright W. S. Gilbert. She was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1881 to 1883, when she left ...
,
Irene Vanbrugh
Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE ( Barnes; 2 December 1872 – 30 November 1949) was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession and sustained a career for more than 50 years ...
and
Mabel Terry-Lewis
Mabel Gwynedd Terry-Lewis (born as Mabel Gwynedd Lewis) ( 28 October 1872 – 28 November 1957) was an English actress and a member of the Terry-Gielgud dynasty of actors of the 19th and 20th centuries.
After a successful career in her twe ...
. The play was revived in the
West End in five productions during the 20th century and has been adapted for the cinema, radio and television.
Background and original production
By 1899 Pinero was established as a leading playwright, with a series of long-running plays from the mid 1880s onwards. His works ranged from
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 ...
s such as ''
The Magistrate'' (1885) and ''
Dandy Dick'' (1887) to more serious pieces including ''
The Second Mrs Tanqueray
''The Second Mrs. Tanqueray'' is a problem play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It utilises the "Woman with a past" plot, popular in nineteenth century melodrama. The play was first produced in 1893 by the actor-manager George Alexander and despite cau ...
'' (1893) and ''
Trelawny of the 'Wells'
''Trelawny of the "Wells"'' is an 1898 comic play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It tells the story of a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society.
Synopsis
''Trelawny of the "Wells"'' te ...
'' (1898). Although most of his stage works had been critical and commercial successes, Pinero wrote ''The Gay Lord Quex'' in the wake of a conspicuous failure, a "romantic musical drama", ''
The Beauty Stone
''The Beauty Stone'' is an opera, billed as a "romantic musical drama" in three acts, composed by Arthur Sullivan to a libretto by Arthur Wing Pinero and J. Comyns Carr. The medieval Faustian story concerns an ugly, crippled girl, who dreams of ...
'', written jointly with
J. Comyns Carr
Joseph William Comyns Carr (1 March 1849 – 12 December 1916), often referred to as J. Comyns Carr, was an English drama and art critic, gallery director, author, poet, playwright and theatre manager.
Beginning his career as an art critic, Car ...
to music by
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...
; it closed in July 1898 after only 50 performances. By contrast, ''The Gay Lord Quex'', which opened at the old
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...
on 8 April 1899 and ran until 9 February 1900, achieved 300 consecutive performances. After the London run, Hare and his company took the piece on tour in the British provinces and, in November 1900, to New York, where it played at the
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588.
Building the theatre
In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...
.
Original cast
*The Marquess of Quex –
John Hare
*Sir Chichester Frayne, ''Governor of a West African country'' – Gilbert Hare
*Captain Bastling –
Charles Cherry
*"Valma" otherwise Frank Pollitt, ''a
palmist
Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those wh ...
'' –
Frank Gillmore
Frank Parker Gillmore (May 14, 1867 – March 29, 1943) was an American playwright and a stage and early film actor. He was a founder and former President of Actor's Equity.
He was born in New York City to John Parker Gillmore and his actre ...
*The Duchess of Strood –
May Fortescue
May Fortescue (9 February 1859 – 2 September 1950) was an actress, singer and actor-manager of the Victorian era and a protégée of playwright W. S. Gilbert. She was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1881 to 1883, when she left ...
*Julia, Countess of Owbridge – Fanny Coleman
*Mrs Jack Eden – Mona K. Oram
*Muriel Eden, ''her sister-in-law'' –
Mabel Terry-Lewis
Mabel Gwynedd Terry-Lewis (born as Mabel Gwynedd Lewis) ( 28 October 1872 – 28 November 1957) was an English actress and a member of the Terry-Gielgud dynasty of actors of the 19th and 20th centuries.
After a successful career in her twe ...
*Sophy Fullgarney, ''a manicurist'' –
Irene Vanbrugh
Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE ( Barnes; 2 December 1872 – 30 November 1949) was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession and sustained a career for more than 50 years ...
*Misses Moon, Huddle, Claridge and Limard, ''her assistants'' – Laura McGilvray, Doris Templeton, Victoria Addison and Marion Dolby
*Patrons, servants, etc.
::Source: ''
The Era''.
Plot
Sophy Fullgarney is a
manicurist
A manicurist or nail technician is a person whose occupation is to style and shape a person's nails. This is achieved using a combination of decorating nails with coloured varnish, transfers, gems or glitter.
Basic treatments include manicures a ...
whose clients include the Countess of Owbridge and the Duchess of Strood. The former is elderly and kind; the latter is younger and romantically inclined. They are both also clients of "Valma", the professional name of the
palmist
Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those wh ...
Frank Pollitt; he practises in the next door premises and is Sophy's fiancé. Sophy is the
foster-sister of the beautiful Muriel Eden, and is set against Muriel's intended marriage to the notorious middle-aged roué, the Marquess of Quex. Sophy does not believe that he is, as he claims, a reformed character and believes a more suitable husband for her foster-sister would be the charming young Captain Bastling.
[Plot summaries in "The Gay Lord Quex", ''The Era'', 15 April 1899, p. 13; and "The Gay Lord Quex", ''The Graphic'', 15 April 1899, p. 462]
Lady Owbridge invites the other characters to her country house, where the Duchess, an old flame of Quex's, insists on his drinking a farewell glass of champagne in her room after dinner. It is a wholly innocent rendezvous, but would appear highly scandalous if others knew of it. Sophy spies on them, and is discovered. The Duchess hastily departs, leaving Quex and Sophy to confront each other. To avoid a scandal he attempts to bribe her to remain silent. He is impressed to find that her motives are not mercenary and that she is simply determined that he shall not marry Muriel. He points out that he has locked the door, and that if Sophy is discovered to be alone with him in a bedroom her fiancé would assuredly break off their engagement. Any scandal she causes will therefore be as damaging to her as to him. He convinces her that he is truly reformed and she promises not to stand in the way of his marriage to Muriel.
[
Quex is concerned that the handsome young Captain Bastling is a rival for Muriel's affections. Sophy tricks Bastling into revealing that he is as dissolute a philanderer as Quex used to be. Muriel sees how untrustworthy he is, and prefers the reformed Quex.][
]
Revivals
The play has had several West End revivals. The first was at the Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...
in 1902, followed by productions at Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...
in 1905 and the Garrick Garrick may refer to:
* Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name, the most famous being:
** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor
* Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David ...
in 1908, Sir John Hare's farewell production of the piece, in which he played Quex to the Sophy of Nancy Price
Nancy Price, CBE (3 February 1880 – 31 March 1970), was an English actress on stage and screen, author and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, silent films, talkies and ...
. A production at His Majesty's in 1923 was directed by Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unoff ...
and starred George Grossmith Jr. as Quex, Irene Browne
Irene Browne (29 June 1896 – 24 July 1965) was an English stage and film actress and singer who appeared in plays and musicals including ''No, No, Nanette''. Later in her career, she became particularly associated with the works of Noël Coward ...
as Sophy and Viola Tree
Viola Tree (17 July 1884 – 15 November 1938) was an English actress, singer, playwright and author. Daughter of the actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree, she made many of her early appearances with his company at His Majesty's Theatre. Later she appe ...
as the Duchess. In 1975 Sir John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
directed a production at the Albery Theatre Albery is a name. It may refer to:
;People by given name
*Albery Allson Whitman (1851−1901), African American poet, minister and orator
;People by surname:
* A. S. Albery, British politician
*Bronson Albery (1881−1971), English theatre directo ...
, with Daniel Massey in the title role, Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
as Sophy and Siân Phillips
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''.
Early life
Phi ...
as the Duchess.[Kingston, Jeremy. "The Gay Lord Quex", ''The Times'', 17 June 1975, p. 11] An American production in 1917 was presented at the Thirty-Ninth Street Theatre, New York, with John Drew Jr.
John Drew Jr. (November 13, 1853 – July 9, 1927), commonly known as John Drew during his life, was an American stage actor noted for his roles in Shakespearean comedy, society drama, and light comedies. He was the eldest son of John Drew S ...
as Quex and Margaret Illington
Margaret Illington (born Maude Light; July 23, 1879 – March 11, 1934) was an American stage actress popular in the first decade of the 20th century. She later made an attempt at silent film acting by making two films with Adolph Zukor's Famo ...
as Sophy.
Reception
First production
The original production of the play sparked controversy. Some commentators objected to the plot. ''The Pall Mall Gazette
''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed int ...
'' praised the acting, found the plot implausible, and thought some playgoers would find the piece in questionable taste. '' The Standard'' regretted that at times the theme of the piece was "not very wholesome", but judged the best parts of it striking and effective. ''The Morning Post
''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''.
History
The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...
'' expressed minor reservations about the moral tone of the play, but was otherwise full of praise, making comparisons with Sheridan's
Sheridan's is a liqueur first introduced in 1994. It is produced in Dublin by Thomas Sheridan & Sons.[«Sheridans ...]
''The School For Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777.
Plot
Act I
Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sna ...
''. ''The Graphic
''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...
'' expressed no moral qualms and judged the play "brilliantly successful". '' The Era'' was also untroubled by the plot, finding that it hinged on "a moment of genuine ethical exaltation"; it concluded, "Mr Pinero's genius is as strong as ever". ''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 ...
'' commented that intellectually Pinero stood alone among British dramatists, and praised the "undeniable humanity and interest" of the piece, but wished it had sprung from something loftier than "a combat of wits between a ''roué'', who has to shuffle out of a discreditable past, and a young woman who, though it be for a good motive, has descended to immodesty and mean cunning".
The Bishop of Wakefield, who had not seen it, denounced ''The Gay Lord Quex'' as "The most immoral play that ever disgraced the stage of this country". The theatrical newspaper ''The Era'' promptly ridiculed the bishop and pointed out that the play depicted a formerly wicked man renouncing his old ways and turning to constancy and virtue.
When the piece opened on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, '' The New-York Evening Post'' concluded its review, "There should be no question of the success of Mr Hare's venture. He has an excellent company, and a play which, for unconventionality, deft workmanship and real interest, stands out as conspicuously as gratefully in the dreary wastes of the contemporary drama."
Revivals
The revivals in the 20th century received mixed notices, both for the play and the players. Reviewing the 1923 production the dramatic critic of ''The Times'' praised the play: "The dramatist, you feel throughout, has a story to tell, means to tell it for all it is worth, and will never let you down.["The Gay Lord Quex: Revival at His Majesty's", ''The Times'', 4 April 1923, p. 8] The critic found Grossmith's Quex rather too self-effacing, but praised the two principal actresses.[ In '']The Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Ivor Brown
Ivor John Carnegie Brown CBE (25 April 1891 – 22 April 1974) was a British journalist and man of letters.
Biography
Born in Penang, Malaya, Brown was the younger of two sons of Dr. William Carnegie Brown, a specialist in tropical diseases, ...
ridiculed Dean's decision to update the action to 1923, but praised the author's "narrative power … a triumph of talent and a rare good tale". The theatre critic of ''The Observer'' felt that the piece lacked subtlety, but was not without dramatic effectiveness.
Reviewing Gielgud's 1975 revival, Robert Cushman wrote in ''The Observer'' that the standard description of the play as a society drama was wrong, and that it was in fact "a social comedy with farcical interludes". Cushman praised Pinero's accomplished plotting and what he described as very funny dialogue, but found Dench's Sophy and Phillips's Duchess more completely convincing than Massey's Quex. In ''The Times'', Jeremy Kingston, took a different view of Pinero's work: "the reason for choosing this play to revive is baffling".[ In '']Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'', Sheridan Morley
Sheridan Morley (5 December 1941 − 16 February 2007) was an English author, biographer, critic and broadcaster. He was the official biographer of Sir John Gielgud and wrote biographies of many other theatrical figures he had known, including ...
commented that Gielgud had rightly been trying for years to get the play revived. Morley continued: "the play is less than perfect, which is to say it's marginally worse than ''The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
'', but still more stylish and more intriguing than any comedy I can think of written between Wilde's and ''Private Lives
''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...
'' which is all of forty years".
Adaptations
The play was twice adapted into silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
s: a British one in 1917, directed by Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He a ...
, with Vanbrugh reprising her role, and an American one in 1919, directed by Harry Beaumont
Harry Beaumont (10 February 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including 20th Century Fox, Fox, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, Goldwyn, Metro Picture ...
, starring Tom Moore.
An early television production of excerpts from the play, directed by Royston Morley
John Royston Morley (25 August 1912 – 14 October 1991), was a British television producer, director and writer. He was among the earliest television producers, and also trained new producers for the BBC and in Australia.
Life and career
Morley ...
, was broadcast by the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in April 1938.
Morley also directed the BBC's first post-war television production of the play, with
as Quex (1947). Later BBC television versions were transmitted in 1953 with
.
(1973).