Great War Theatre

The Little Grey Home In The West

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

This is a very crude domestic melodrama inspired by the usual spy-motive of the day. Jessie, wealthy young owner of the 'little grey home' on the coast has two lovers, the wicked captain and the gallant Lieutenant of the two torpedo-boats. The former is peculiarly under the thumb of a German-Jew at whose instigation he attempts to secure some secret despatches, which are to be sold by him to the German government. The papers are confined to the Lieutenant for conveyance on his submarine, which is pursued and sunk by his rival. Thanks however to the aid of a comic A. B. The Lieutenant escapes with the despatches, the struggle for which is continued on land and involves the hiding of them in the comic sailor's sweetheart's undergarment. The pair subsequently exchange clothes, with the result that in a grotesque court martial ("on board a German man o' war!") The disguised girl finds an opportunity for imitating the familiar triumph of Blackeyed Susan. By strained means an absurdly happy end to the nonsense is achieved; and there is no harm in any of it providing that the ‘undergarment' business (act II, p.29) is kept within the bounds of decency. Under this condition the puerile piece is Recommended for license. Ernest a. Bendall.

Researcher's Summary:

Performed as 'A Little Grey Home in the West'

Licensed On: 10 Nov 1914

License Number: 3007

Author(s):

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British Library Reference: LCP1914/32

British Library Classmark: Add MS 66080 N

Performances

Date Theatre Type
23 Nov 1914 Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne Professional Licensed Performance
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'If it were possible for a good title to make a good play there is no doubt that Mr. C. W. Somerset would have scored all along the line. For thanks in part to the enormous popularity of Hermann Lohr's song , a better title it would be difficult to imagine. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to treat the play at all seriously. It is either melodrama run riot, with all the improbabilities of this type of play turned into glaring absurdities, or else it is an intentional burlesque on melodramatic methods. As the latter Monday's audience evidently regarded it. If they were not thrilled they were certainly amused, and, as laughter is a very desirable antidote to the depression of the times, possibly the anonymous author's object was attained. We being to suspect him of being in a jocular mood soon after the rise of the curtain, when, although the time was 5a.m., he dismissed one of his characters to do some shopping. And so all through the play. The dramatis personae are familiar'. The Stage, 26 November 1914.
30 Nov 1914 Gaiety Theatre, Hastings Professional
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Advertised as 'the Great Naval Play...special sensational and realistic effects, including the terrible submarine ... Special prices to all non-commissioned officers and men of His Majesty's Forces in uniform' (Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 28 November 1914). 'We hardly know whether it should be described as melodrama or comedy, so we have adopted the comprehensive title, melodramatic-comedy, which seems to fit the case' (Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 5 December 1914). Reported in The Stage, 3 December 1914.