GENEVA ENGLISH DRAMA SOCIETY

Stage Production 11-15 May 2004

THE SECOND MRS TANQUERAY

 by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero

Ambition, passion, compassion, tolerance, impatience, boredom – all these emotions are found in this compelling drama, written by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (better known for his farce ‘The Magistrate’) in 1893, greeted with acclaim and a huge box-office success.   Set in the late 1800s, it tells how Aubrey Tanqueray has fallen for a much younger ‘woman with a past’, and hopes to integrate her gradually into respectable society, to the consternation of his friends who have already seen him suffer one disastrous marriage.  Complications arise when Aubrey’s daughter by his first (deceased) wife decides to renounce her convent life and to live with her father and his new wife.   Although the setting is period, parallels can be drawn with similar situations today.   The gamut of emotions can be the same although, hopefully, not always with such tragic consequences!