Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
London : Samuel French, 1946.
Description
Classic Literature. Drama. Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: Though today he is best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan, British author J.M. Barrie was a playwright with wide-ranging interests and an irreverent sense of humor. The Admirable Crichton is a witty send-up of clashes between the social classes in turn-of-the-century England..
User reviews
LibraryThing member deckla
Firstly, this would be quite difficult to produce, because there are too many characters. Second, there are too many tedious stage directions (yes especially for the acting edition). Third, the trajectory of the play is muddied. Crichton is a proper butler, รก la Downton Abbey. Lord Loam, his
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master, has a notion that the underclass is just as worthy as the upper class, and has a tea for his servants every month to prove it. Crichton despises this charade. In the second act, however, Loam, his daughters, Crichton and a few more of the household retinue are stranded on a desert island, and because Crichton is the only one who can assure their survival, he becomes the lord of the party. When the party is rescued a few years later, the upstairs denizens, as they return to their previous London roles, no longer entertain ideas of "equality" and Crichton, having proven himself to himself, resigns. What is the point, here? The play certainly doesn't upend the class system--or even challenge it. Drawing room comedies are the worst! Show Less
LibraryThing member mbmackay
A quick return to a play last read at school around 50 years ago. A satire on the topic of class in society - the butler and the Lord trade places when shipwrecked on a Pacific Island, where the butler's abilities allow the group to thrive in the wilderness, followed by some uncomfortable times on
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return to England. The scenario is clearly dated, but one could imagine an updated version set in society today where rank is not inherited, but where the children of the well off are given a healthy nudge forward in life, compared to their poorer fellow cohort members. Show Less