Three Lancashire Plays: The Game; The Northerners; ZackBrighouse, Harold
General
Three Lancashire Plays: The Game; The Northerners; Zack
Brighouse, Harold
English drama -- 20th century; Lancashire (England) -- Drama; Political plays
(1) Stanley Houghton--"The Works of Stanley Houghton," three volumes
(Constable & Co.); "Hindle Wakes" (Sidgwick and Jackson); "The Younger
Generation," "Five Short Plays," "Independent Means," "The Dear
Departed," "Fancy Free" (Samuel French, Ltd.).
(2) Allan Monkhouse--"Mary Broome," "The Education of Mr. Surrage"
(Sidgwick & Jackson); "Four Tragedies" (Duckworth & Co); "War Plays"
(Constable & Co.).
(3) Harold Brighouse--"Hobson's Choice," "Garside's Career" (Constable &
Co.); "Dealing in Futures," "Graft" (Samuel French, Ltd. );
"Lonesome-Like," "The Price of Coal," "Converts," (Gowans & Grey, Ltd).
(4) Judge E. A. Parry;--"The Tallyman and other Plays" (Sherratt &
Hughes).
(5) J. Sackville Martin--"Cupid and the Styx" (Samuel French, Ltd.).
THE GAME
A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS
CHARACTERS
Austin Whitworth.
Edmund Whitworth.
Leo Whitworth.
Jack Metherell.
Hugh Martin.
Dr. Wells.
Barnes.
Elsie Whitworth.
Florence Whitworth.
Mrs. Metherell.
Mrs. Wilmot.
Mrs. Norbury.
ACT I
_The Action of the Play takes place in a Lancashire town on the last
Saturday in April between the hours of one and five in the afternoon._
_Austin Whitworth's house in Blackton was built by his father in 1870
and the library is a stately room. The door is on the right. Centre is
a deep bay with a mullioned window and padded window seat. A brisk fire
burns in the elaborate fireplace, with its high club fender. Shelves
line the walls. All the furniture dates from the original period of the
house, and though the chairs may have been upholstered in the meantime,
they would repay fresh attention. Solidity is the keynote of the roomy
but its light wood and bright rugs save it from heaviness._
_The time is one o'clock on the last Saturday in April. A painting of
old John Whitworth is over the fireplace._
_In the armchair is Edmund Whitworth, a prosperous London solicitor. A
bachelor, his habit of dining well has marked his waist-line. Pompous
geniality is his manner. In his hand is a sheet of notepaper which, as
the curtain rises, he finishes reading. Sitting facing him on the
fender is Leo Whitworth, his nephew. Leo is twenty-one and dresses with
fastidious taste y beautifully and unobtrusively. He is small. Just now
he awaits Edmund's verdict with anxiety. Edmund removes his pince-nez
and hands the paper to Leo._
*****
Edmund. I like it, Leo.
Leo. Really, uncle? I asked you to be candid.
Edmund. Yes. I do like It. It's immature, but it's the real thing.
(_Rising and patting his shoulder patronizingly._) There's stuff in you,
my boy.
Leo. You're the first Whitworth who's ever praised my work. The usual
thing's to laugh at me for trying to be a poet.
Edmund. A prophet in his own country, eh? Perhaps they don't know very
much about poetry, Leo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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