Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), the most popular farceur of his day, established himself as a serious dramatist with The Second Mrs Tanqueray in 1893. Much admired for its philosophical insights and craftsmanship, it was a huge commercial success and as much a milestone in British theatre as Caste had been in 1867 and Look Back in Anger was to be in 1956. Paula Tanqueray is that most familiar of all Victorian stage characters: a woman with a past, but she has been given more depth than usual; not the depth you might find in a drama by Ibsen but still, nevertheless, a complex and spontaneous character with many contradictory facets. Ostracized by society, especially by the women, who are particularly hard on her, she behaves badly. When she discovers that her stepdaughter has fallen in love with one of her ex-lovers, she redeems herself by doing what every respectable theatregoer would have expected a fallen woman to do in such circumstances. The role was created by Mrs Patrick Campbell who became famous overnight and the play, dealing openly, as it does, with sexual double standard, created something of a sensation, lambasting men for “leading a man’s life”.
Stephen Unwin’s production, with strong performances by Laura Michelle Kelly and James Whilby, offers not only a rare opportunity to catch up with one of the best Victorian society dramas but is also an effective retort to all those who mistakenly think only Pinero’s farces are worth reviving. I hope somebody will now revive Pinero’s His House in Order (1906) which is another of his major serious plays and it hasn’t been seen in London since 1950.