Part 1

Transcribed from the 1911 T. Fisher Unwin edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

THE MASTER of MRS. CHILVERS

AN IMPROBABLE COMEDY

IMAGINED BY

JEROME K. JERMONE

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LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN ADELPHI TERRACE

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COPYRIGHT 1911 BY JEROME K. JEROME IN THE U.S.A.

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(All rights reserved.)

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THE FIRST ACT SCENE: Drawing-room, 91, Russell Square. TIME: 3 p.m.

THE SECOND ACT SCENE: Liberal Committee Room, East India Dock Road. TIME: 5 p.m.

THE THIRD ACT SCENE: The Town Hall, East Poplar. TIME: 10 p.m.

THE FOURTH ACT SCENE: Russell Square TIME: Midnight

THE CAST OF “THE MASTER OF MRS. CHILVERS”

AS IT WAS PRODUCED AT THE ROYALTY THEATRE, LONDON, ON APRIL 26TH, 1911, UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MESSRS. VEDRENNE & EADIE.

Lady Mogton MARY RORKE Annys Chilvers LENA ASHWELL Phoebe Mogton ETHEL DANE Janet Blake GILLIAN SCAIFE Mrs. Mountcalm Villiers SARAH BROOKE Elizabeth Spender AURIOL LEE Rose Merton ESME BERINGER Mrs. Chinn SYDNEY FAIRBROTHER Geoffrey Chilvers, M.P. DENNIS EADIE Dorian St. Herbert LEON QUARTERMAINE Ben Lamb, M.P. A. E. BENEDICT William Gordon EDMUND GWENN Sigsby MICHAEL SHERBROOKE Hake H. B. TABBERER Mr. Peekin GERALD MIRRIELEES Mr. Hopper STANLEY LOGAN Mrs. Peekin ROWENA JEROME Miss Borlasse CATHLEEN NESBITT Miss Ricketts HETTA BARTLETT

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

GEOFFREY CHILVERS, M.P. A loving husband, and (would-be) (President Men’s League for the affectionate father. Like many Extension of the Franchise to other good men, he is in sympathy Women) with the Woman’s Movement: “not thinking it is coming in his time.” ANNYS CHILVERS (née Mogton, A loving wife, and (would-be) Hon. Sec. Women’s Parliamentary affection mother. Many thousands Franchise League) of years have gone to her making. A generation ago, she would have been the ideal woman: the ideal helpmeet. But new ideas are stirring in her blood, a new ideal of womanhood is forcing itself upon her. LADY MOGTON (President She knows she would be of more W.P.F.L.) use in Parliament than many of the men who are there; is naturally annoyed at the Law’s stupidity in keeping her out. PHOEBE MOGTON (Org. Sec. The new girl, thinking more of W.P.F.L.) politics than of boys. But that will probably pass. JANET BLAKE (Jt. Org. Sec. She dreams of a new heaven and a W.P.F.L.) new earth when woman has the vote. MRS. MOUNTCALM VILLIERS She was getting tired of (Vice-President W.P.F.L.) flirting. The Woman’s Movement has arrived just at the right moment. ELIZABETH SPENDER (Hons. Treas. She sees woman everywhere the W.P.F.L.) slave of man: now pampered, now beaten, but ever the slave. She can see no hope of freedom but through warfare. MRS. CHINN A mother. JAWBONES A bill-poster. Movements that do not fit in with the essentials of life on thirty shillings a week have no message so far as Jawbones is concerned. GINGER Whose proper name is Rose Merton, and who has to reconcile herself to the fact that so far as her class is concerned the primæval laws still run. DORIAN ST. HERBERT (Hon. Sec. He is interested in all things, M.L.E.F.W.) the Woman’s Movement included. BEN LAMB, M.P. As a student of woman, he admits to being in the infants’ class. SIGSBY An Election Agent. He thinks the modern woman suffers from over-indulgence. He would recommend to her the teachings of St. Paul. HAKE A butler. He does not see how to avoid his wife being practically a domestic servant without wages. A DEPUTATION It consists of two men and three women. Superior people would call them Cranks. But Cranks have been of some service to the world, and the use of superior people is still to be discovered.

THE FIRST ACT

SCENE:—Drawing-room, 91, Russell Square.

TIME:—Afternoon.

(MRS. ELIZABETH SPENDER sits near the fire, reading a book. She is a tall, thin woman, with passionate eyes, set in an oval face of olive complexion; the features are regular and severe; her massive dark hair is almost primly arranged. She wears a tailor-made costume, surmounted by a plain black hat. The door opens and PHOEBE enters, shown in by HAKE, the butler, a thin, ascetic-looking man of about thirty, with prematurely grey hair. PHOEBE MOGTON is of the Fluffy Ruffles type, petite, with a retroussé nose, remarkably bright eyes, and a quantity of fluffy light hair, somewhat untidily arranged. She is fashionably dressed in the fussy, flyaway style. ELIZABETH looks up; the two young women shake hands.)

PHOEBE. Good woman. ’Tisn’t three o’clock yet, is it?

ELIZABETH. About five minutes to.

PHOEBE. Annys is on her way. I just caught her in time. (To HAKE.) Put a table and six chairs. Give mamma a hammer and a cushion at her back.