Great War Theatre

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

This playlet begins as a comedy and ends as a "thriller" of the Grand Guignol order. A man and his wife, wandering out of their house into an adjacent wood to hear the nightingales, find themselves in a mysterious one-roomed house, through the open door of which they have entered. He tries to strike a match: she quarrels with him over his slowness in relieving her frightened anxiety. Presently there arrives the owner of the place, apparently an escaped lunatic, who catches the man unawares, slips a noose over his neck and ties him to a staple in the wall, while he then ties the woman, who has half-fainted while watching his sinister proceedings. The mysterious stranger then displays a collection of knives, one of which is, he says, poisoned, and has been used by him to murder the treacherous friend, whose picture hangs on the wall. While handling it, he manages to cut himself and thus to cause his own death, after a manner as objectless as the rest of his strange doings and odd talk. A pretentious would be dramatic puzzle, innocuous but irritating. Recommended for licence. Ernest A. Bendall.

Licensed On: 12 Dec 1916

License Number: 638

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British Library Reference: LCP1916/30

British Library Classmark: Add MS 66151 N

Performances

Date Theatre Type
18 Dec 1916 Her Majesty's Theatre, Dundee Unknown Licensed Performance