Mrs Dane's Defence

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Mrs. Dane's Defence is a society play (though it has some characteristics of a melodrama) in four acts by the British playwright Henry Arthur Jones.

Contents

[edit] First Performance

The play was first performed at London's Wyndham's Theatre on October 9th, 1900 and ran for 209 performances. The original cast included Charles Wyndham as Sir Daniel Carteret, Mary Moore as Lady Eastney and Lena Ashwell as Mrs. Dane (her performance in this play was the starting point of Lena Ashwell's career). The play was well-received and also toured – with different cast – through the US (from Dec 31, 1900 - Apr 1901).

[edit] Structure and Setting

The play is divided into four acts. The first act takes place at the blue drawing room at Lady Eastney's, at night. The second act features the same scenery but takes place two or three weeks later. The setting for the third act is the library at Sir Daniel Carteret's on the following Wednesday afternoon. The last act is set in the same room on the following Saturday evening.

All of the action takes place at the imaginary village of Sunningwater, set about twenty-five miles from London.

[edit] Plot

The story focuses on Mrs. Dane's betrothal to Lionel, adopted son to Sir Daniel who is a famous judge.

Rumors have been spread in Sunningwater that young widow Mrs. Dane is actually Felicia Hindermarsh, involved in a tragic scandal following an affair with a married man in Vienna. Before Sir Daniel gives his consent to the marriage of his son to her he wants to get at the truth of matters, ultimately to clear the rumors and reinstate Mrs. Dane's reputation. Together with others, such as Lady Eastney, he starts looking into Mrs. Dane's past, using his experience as a judge to guide him.

Mrs. Dane can produce plausible evidence of her identity and everyone involved is quite convinced of her innocence. Yet in the end Sir Daniel's professional approach leads to the unveiling of the real identity of Mrs. Dane in a famous cross-examination scene.

Sir Daniel goes into this scene practically convinced of her version, only wanting to get some final detail. A slip of the tongue by Mrs. Dane (when she says "We had governesses") reveals the presence of a cousin she has tried to conceal. This gets Sir Daniel set on the right track and he follows up skillfully and mercilessly, finally drawing the confession out of her that she is indeed Felicia Hindermarsh and has taken on her late cousin's identity.

The truth is kept secret, though (mostly due to Lady Eastney's intervention), and Mrs. Dane's reputation in Sunningwater can be reinstated. Nevertheless, they all decide she should leave the village after her marriage with Lionel has become impossible and she complies.

[edit] In Perspective

The play follows under the late Victorian/Edwardian tradition of plays by playwrights such as Arthur Wing Pinero, which feature a "fallen woman", also known as "woman with a past", who must be punished for past actions. Instead of dying or committing suicide, like many of the women in these plays do (as in Pinero's famous play The Second Mrs. Tanqueray), Mrs. Dane is merely exiled to her hometown and the marriage called off.

[edit] Reception

Mrs. Dane's Defence was mostly well-received, though the morals promoted must have been seen as backward by the young, more liberal audiences who were attending performances by George Bernard Shaw or William Archer.

There are a number of cinema versions of Mrs. Dane's Defence; the first (a black and white silent movie) was released in 1918, directed by Hugh Ford, starring Pauline Frederick as Mrs. Dane, Frank Losee as Sir Daniel and Maude Turner Gordon as Lady Eastney. Another black and white movie was produced by A.V. Bramble and released in 1932, starring Joan Barry as Mrs. Dane, Basil Gill as Sir Daniel and Evelyn Walsh Hall as Lady Eastney.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Jones, Henry Arthur. Representative Plays by Henry Arthur Jones in four Volumes, Edited, with Historical, Biographical, and Critical Introductions, by Clayton Hamilton: Volume Three. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1925.