DANDY DICK
A PLAY IN THREE ACTS
By
ARTHUR W. PINERO
AUTHOR OF "SWEET LAVENDER," "THE TIMES," "THE CABINET MINISTER,"
"LADY BOUNTIFUL," ETC.
All rights reserved. Performance forbidden, and right of
representation reserved. Application for the right of performing this
piece must be made to the publishers.
BOSTON
_WALTER H. BAKER_
Copyright, 1893, by
ARTHUR W. PINERO
_All rights reserved._
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
"Dandy Dick" was the third of the farces which Mr. Pinero wrote for
the old Court Theatre--a series of plays which, besides giving
playgoers a fresh source of laughter, and the English stage a new
order of comic play, brought plentiful prosperity to the joint
management of Mr. Arthur Cecil and the late Mr. John Clayton. But a
kind of melancholy interest attaches to "Dandy Dick," for this play
was, as it were, the swan-song of the old theatre and of the Clayton
and Cecil partnership; and it was the piece in which Mr. Clayton was
acting when death overtook him, to the general grief.
The production of "Dandy Dick" may be considered as something of a
_tour de force_ in its way. "The Schoolmistress" was at the end of its
successful run, and Mr. Pinero was under contract to supply its
successor by a certain date, when Mr. Clayton one day went down to
Brighton, where the dramatist was then at work, to hear him read the
two completed acts of the new play. To Mr. Clayton's consternation,
however, Mr. Pinero announced that he was dissatisfied with his work,
and proposed to begin an entirely new play, as he had a more promising
idea. But time was pressing, and a successor to "The Schoolmistress"
was an immediate necessity. However, Mr. Pinero's idea of writing a
play round a dean, who, while being a paragon of dignity and decorum,
should be driven by an indiscreet act into a most undignified dilemma,
appealed to Mr. Clayton, and hastening back to London with the
sketches for the requisite scenes, he left Mr. Pinero to set to work
at once upon the new scheme. And within a few weeks, indeed by the
time the scenery was ready, the new play was completed, the rural
constable of a village adjacent to Brighton having suggested the
character of Noah Topping.
"Dandy Dick" was produced at the Court Theatre on January 27th, 1887,
and, meeting with a most favorable initial reception, it settled down
immediately into a complete success. The following is a copy of the
first-night programme:--
ROYAL COURT THEATRE,
SLOANE SQUARE, S.W.
_Lessees and Managers:_
Mr. John Clayton and Mr. Arthur Cecil.
Programme
THIS EVENING, THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, _At_ 8.30 _punctually_,
DANDY DICK.
AN ORIGINAL FARCE, IN THREE ACTS,
BY
A. W. PINERO.
THE VERY REV. AUGUSTIN JEDD, D.D. MR. JOHN CLAYTON.
(Dean of St. Marvell's)
SIR TRISTRAM MARDON, Bart MR. EDMUND MAURICE.
--th Hussars,
MAJOR TARVER { quartered at } MR. F. KERR.
MR. DARBEY { Durnstone, near } MR. H. EVERSFIELD.
St. Marvell's
BLORE (Butler at the Deanery) MR. ARTHUR CECIL.
NOAH TOPPING (Constable at MR. W. H. DENNY.
St. Marvell's)
HATCHAM (Sir Tristram's groom) MR. W. LUGG.
GEORGIANA TIDMAN (a Widow, MRS. JOHN WOOD.
the Dean's sister)
SALOME } the Dean's Daughters { MISS MARIE LEWES.
SHEBA } { MISS NORREYS.
HANNAH TOPPING (formerly in MISS LAURA LINDEN.
Service at the Deanery)
ACT I.
AT THE DEANERY, ST. MARVELL'S.
(Morning.)