What do you think?
Rate this book
Jack Straw: A Farce in Three Acts
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
70 pages, Library Binding
First published May 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
W. Somerset Maugham
2,124 books6,089 followersWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in Of Human Bondage, Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.
Maugham wrote at a time when experimental modernist literature such as that of William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf was gaining increasing popularity and winning critical acclaim. In this context, his plain prose style was criticized as 'such a tissue of clichés' that one's wonder is finally aroused at the writer's ability to assemble so many and at his unfailing inability to put anything in an individual way.
During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service . He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America. After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.
At the time of Maugham's birth, French law was such that all foreign boys born in France became liable for conscription. Thus, Maugham was born within the Embassy, legally recognized as UK territory.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Want to read
November 5, 2015Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
December 25, 2022
I am a Maugham completist: I've read and re-read all his novels and short stories. His reputation as a master of the short story is well-earned. But many of his plays deserve to be forgotten.
Maugham was not a tortured, muse-driven genius but a pragmatic member of the British gentleman-writer class. This is to say that he wanted to make a comfortable living as a writer, and many of his decisions early on in his career were driven by a desire to establish himself so that he could go on to write about whatever he liked. Apparently, his decision to write plays was driven entirely by the desire to make money. He studied it the way a dedicated art student studies anatomy in the morgue. He failed a lot before he succeeded. And then he produced stuff like Jack Straw, which apparently played well to the middle-brow public who frequented the London theatres for a while. It is thanks to plays like this that we have his Pacific short stories, and all the rest.
In this play, we have the clash of the nouveau riches and the well-bred old money class. The nouveau riches are for the most part vulgar and hateful snobs. The well-bred nobles are for the most part likeable and witty. There is even The entire plot is telegraphed from early on, so I would imagine that this play was popular for this reason: it makes medium-smart viewers feel clever because they can see where things are headed. I suppose that's the difference between a mystery novel and a comedy play: in a mystery, the audience is satisfied when the author does not make it too apparent where the plot is headed, while in a comedy, the audience is satisfied when all the expectations play out predictably.
Anyway, it is what it is. I got a bit annoyed with it when I realized it was headed in the predictable direction, but maybe I'm more of a mystery novel reader. Off to re-read Ashenden.
Maugham was not a tortured, muse-driven genius but a pragmatic member of the British gentleman-writer class. This is to say that he wanted to make a comfortable living as a writer, and many of his decisions early on in his career were driven by a desire to establish himself so that he could go on to write about whatever he liked. Apparently, his decision to write plays was driven entirely by the desire to make money. He studied it the way a dedicated art student studies anatomy in the morgue. He failed a lot before he succeeded. And then he produced stuff like Jack Straw, which apparently played well to the middle-brow public who frequented the London theatres for a while. It is thanks to plays like this that we have his Pacific short stories, and all the rest.
In this play, we have the clash of the nouveau riches and the well-bred old money class. The nouveau riches are for the most part vulgar and hateful snobs. The well-bred nobles are for the most part likeable and witty. There is even The entire plot is telegraphed from early on, so I would imagine that this play was popular for this reason: it makes medium-smart viewers feel clever because they can see where things are headed. I suppose that's the difference between a mystery novel and a comedy play: in a mystery, the audience is satisfied when the author does not make it too apparent where the plot is headed, while in a comedy, the audience is satisfied when all the expectations play out predictably.
Anyway, it is what it is. I got a bit annoyed with it when I realized it was headed in the predictable direction, but maybe I'm more of a mystery novel reader. Off to re-read Ashenden.
Want to read
August 27, 2016Opening of First Act: Scene: The lounge and winter garden of the Grand Babylon Hotel. There are palms and flowers in profusion, and numbers of little tables, surrounded each by two or three chairs. Several people are seated, drinking coffee and liqueurs. At the back a flight of steps leads to the restaurant, separated from the winter garden by a leaded glass partition and swinging doors. In the restaurant a band is playing.
Two or three waiters in uniform are standing about or serving customers.
Ambrose Holland and Lady Wanley come out from the restaurant. He is a well-dressed, elegant man of five and thirty. She is a handsome widow of uncertain age.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50385
This play was produced at the Vaudeville Theatre on March 26, 1908, with the following cast:
Jack Straw Charles Hawtrey
Count von Bremer H. R. Hignett
Marquess of Serlo Louis Goodrich
Rev. Lewis Abbott Charles Troode
Ambrose Holland Edmund Maurice
Mr. Parker-Jennings Robert White, Junr
Vincent Parker-Jennings Percy R. Goodyer
Head Waiter Vincent Erne
Servant Norman Wrighton
Lady Wanley Vane Featherstone
Ethel Parker-Jennings Dagmar Wiehe
Rosie Abbott Mona Harrison
Mrs. Withers Joy Chatwyn
Mrs. Parker-Jennings Lottie Venne
October 21, 2015
A comedy of manners, very much in the style of Sheridan and Goldsmith. I enjoyed the humor and cleverness. (I did see the "twist" coming a mile away, though.)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews