Publisher's Synopsis
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934) was an English playwright and, early in his career, an actor. Drawn to the theatre from an early age, he gained experience as a supporting actor in British provincial theatres, and from 1876-81 was a member of Henry irving's company based at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Pinero wrote his first play in 1877 and seven years later, having written 15 more in the intervening period, three of them highly successful, he abandoned acting and became a full-time playwright. He first became known for a series of farces, of which The Magistrate (1885) was the longest-running. During the 1890s he turned to serious subjects, such as seen in The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893) which deals with a woman with a scandalous past, a popular theme in late 19th century melodrama. The play opens with upper class widower Mr Tanquerary meeting with disapproval from his friends at the news of his upcoming marriage to Mrs Paula Jarman, a lower class woman with a known sexual past. An attempt is made to foster a bond between Tanqueray's daughter, Eillean, and her new stepmother but when Paula learns that her stepdaughter's fiance is the man who ruined her many years ago, she reveals her knowledge to her husband who prevents the marriage, thus alienating his daughter. This alienation pervades the whole family, leaving each character alone and angered, but when Eillean learns the truth behind her disappointment she feels pity for her stepmother. She goes to her in hope of a reconciliation, only to find Paula dead, apparently by suicide. The play was regarded as shocking when first performed, but ran well and made a large profit. It also made a star of Mrs Patrick Campbell on the strength of her performance in the title role.
