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accompany her; she goes with
Humphrey, as he is the host. The mayor comes into the room, and tries to get Thomas to go away but he escapes into the garden. Tappercoom enters and mocks the mayor's complaints about Jennet's beauty and charm tempting him, reminding him that after she's dead they will possess her substantial property. The Chaplain enters, unhappy about his failure to play a dance at the party. Tappercoom takes him back to the party to cheer him up. Richard enters to speak to the mayor, but the latter proclaims that he's going to lock himself in his room until morning. Thomas re-enters and speaks with Richard about the sadness of the situation. Alizon arrives, and Thomas quickly goes back to the garden to give them privacy. When Richard half-heartedly defends the laws to Alizon, who is distraught over the unfairness of the burning, she says she loves him and not Humphrey. They agree to escape together and Richard rushes to get his savings. On leaving, he is stopped by Margaret, who is looking for Alizon, and misdirects her. Jennet, Humphrey, and Nicholas return from dancing. Richard is stopped once again, by Nicholas, who takes him to the cellar to get more wine. Humphrey's attempt to seduce Jennet in exchange for her life is stopped by Thomas. Jennet, upset, yells at Thomas, who admits his love for her. Nicholas re-enters, complaining that Richard locked him in the cellar. Margaret arrives, very befuddled and unable to comprehend what has been going on in her house. Thomas and Jennet reconcile, and she tells him she doesn't believe he is a murderer. Richard and Alizon return with Old Skipps, who everyone claimed was dead or a dog, and Humphrey and Nicholas bring Tappercoom and the chaplain. Richard and Alizon slip off whilst everyone is distracted by the old man. Tappercoom is satisfied that there is no witch or murderer, and Margaret sends her sons to take the very drunk old man home before leaving with the Chaplain. As he goes to bed, Tappercoom hints that Jennet and Thomas could quietly leave town before morning. Thomas, despite his continuing disgust with mankind, agrees to accompany Jennet to whatever new place she goes, and they escape into the night.
352:
about the alleged crimes of Thomas and Jennet. The
Chaplain suggests inviting Thomas to the family's party that night, thinking that this will cheer Thomas up and make him leave. Despite the family's shock, the Justice considers the proposal. Meanwhile, Richard enters, somewhat drunk. He is depressed about Thomas and Jennet, and about his hopelessness over Alizon. He reveals that Humphrey and Nicholas were sitting in the cellar with Jennet, not saying a word. The mayor, still displeased with Richard's refusal to fetch a constable, commands him to scrub the floor. Nicholas enters, ecstatic and bloody, followed by Humphrey, who explains that Nicholas attempted to address the crowd and was hit by a brick. Margaret questions her boys on their contact with Jennet. Nicholas claims his own intentions were honorable, but disparages Humphrey's. Margaret takes Nicholas off to be cleaned up. To determine the guilt of the prisoners, the mayor proposes that he, Humphrey, Tappercoom, and the Chaplain hide upstairs and eavesdrop on Jennet and Thomas. Thomas talks about how awful humanity is, and Jennet explains that people think she's a witch because they claim that she turned Old Skipps, the same man that Thomas claims to have murdered, into a dog. They grow closer as they talk, and Jennet finally declares that she loves him, whether he's the devil or not. The Mayor re-enters with his company. Taking her declaration as an admission of guilt, he demands she be burned the next day. Thomas is outraged both at the sentence and the fact that he's being ignored, but the Justice proclaims him guilty only of being depressing and depressed, and sentences him to attend the party that night. Thomas reluctantly consents, provided that Jennet is also allowed to attend; he threatens to inform the whole countryside that the mayor and Tappercoom released a murderer if they don't agree. They do, as does Jennet, if somewhat despondently.
348:
immediately feel a connection, although their conversation is interrupted by Thomas' asides. Shortly afterwards, Nicholas, Humphrey's brother, enters and declares that he has killed
Humphrey in a battle over Alizon, and thus deserves her hand in marriage. Margaret, who is Mayor Tyson's sister and the mother of Nicholas and Humphrey, arrives. Nicholas and Richard are sent to get Humphrey from the garden, where he lies quite alive. Noises outside the house reveal a witch-hunt is in progress; Thomas repeatedly reminds everyone that he is there to be hanged, asking why his wish is ignored. The Mayor comes in and says that Thomas shall not be hanged without reason, prompting Thomas to claim that he has killed two people. The Mayor does not believe him. The accused witch, Jennet, then enters. After recounting her accusers' wild tales about her mystical powers, and laughing over their ludicrous nature, she is shocked to hear that the Mayor also believes them. The mayor sends Richard to get the constable to have her arrested, but Richard does not do so as he does not think she is a witch. The Chaplain enters next, apologizing for his lateness for evening prayers. Thomas claims to be the devil and that the world will soon end. The Mayor has both him and Jennet arrested.
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Later on, the mayor and
Tappercoom, the Justice, discuss the prisoners' unusual reactions to the mild tortures they are being put through; Jennet will not admit to any crimes at all, whilst Thomas continually admits to new ones. Margaret rushes in, horrified by the clamor the crowd outside is making
438:
began, "Now irrevocably associated with
Margaret Thatcher's bad pun, Christopher Fry's verse drama about a medieval witch-hunt was a surprise hit, sparking a resurgence of poetic plays in the 1940s and 1950s". She noted that the cast of Gielgud's production later in 1949 was generally well received
355:
That evening, Thomas, Humphrey, and
Nicholas are bored together, waiting for Jennet to be ready for the party. Margaret, vexed over Jennet's continued presence in her house, urges her sons to return to the festivities, but they decline. Jennet finally arrives, and the three men fight over who will
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noted, "Fry's pun-filled, semi-Shakespearean poetry may no longer be fashionable, but it has an exuberant charity that makes it irresistible. ... Fry's imagistic abundance may belong to the late 1940s, yet this play still has the power to charm". Kate
Britten, considering the same production for
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Thomas Mendip, a world-weary recently discharged soldier, wants to be hanged. Visiting the house of Hebble Tyson, the mayor of Cool Clary, he explains this to the mayor's clerk, Richard, through a window. Alizon, the fiancée of the Mayor's nephew
Humphrey, enters the room and she and Richard
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s Cecil Wilson was one of the few dissenting voices: he thought the play a 'crazy quilt of verbiage', and wondered whether 'such fiendish cleverness prove commercial'. It did: the play ran for nine months, then transferred to
Broadway, where there were nine curtain calls on press night".
33:
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had the highest praise for the acting, while describing the playwright as precocious with "a touch of genius", but saying that the words were "sometimes soporific" and that the acting made the play. The play ran on
Broadway through March 1951, and received the
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praised 'the concentrated intensity, the special flame of Pamela Brown'". But, she added, "it was the play they really took to. Fry, thought Trewin, had 'the relish of the Elizabethan word-men', while for
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s Ivor Brown thought Gielgud 'happy, vigorous, enchanting', Burton 'most authentic' and Bloom 'as pretty as a May morning'. And in the
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had parts in the cast. It was revived on Broadway in 1983. In the United Kingdom, a reading was produced at the
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took the play on a provincial tour followed by a successful London run at the
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Gielgud, John, "Mr. Gielgud discovers Mr. Fry; Reliance on designer",
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87:. Gielgud took the play to the United States, where it opened on
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There have been at least four TV adaptations: 1950, starring
618:, a British Importation, Stars John Gielgud, Pamela Brown",
466:, but with a poet's mind'". Ellis concluded by saying, "The
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A romantic comedy in three acts, in verse, it is set in the
652:, Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 26 September 2021
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in 2006 and it was fully revived in a production at the
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private club for two weeks in London in 1949 starring
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Bemrose, John (8 June 1998). "Drama that delivers".
686:wins critics' prize; Drama circle award winners",
338:Source: Play text and Internet Broadway Database.
79:, who had also commissioned it. Later that year
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852:The Lady's Not for Burning
569:Review Database. New York: June 1998. p. n/a
859:
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462:s W. A. Darlington, he was 'like a young
614:, "Play by Fry bows tonight at Royale;
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428:Looking back on the play's origins for
425:award as Best Foreign Play of 1950–51.
477:Reviewing a 2007 revival of the play,
238:Humphrey Devize, brother of Nicholas
7:
222:Margaret Devize, mother of Nicholas
170:Thomas Mendip, a discharged soldier
817:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
897:Plays about witches and witchcraft
188:Alizon Eliot, fiancée of Humphrey
25:
774:Britten, Kate (20 April 2007).
416:The review of opening night by
18:The Lady's Not For Burning
423:New York Drama Critics' Circle
1:
887:Plays set in the 14th century
601:. Internet Broadway Database.
290:Edward Tappercoom, a Justice
119:Characters and original casts
780:review at Finborough London"
650:"The Lady's Not for Burning"
633:Lawson, Carol. "Broadway",
152:Richard, an orphaned clerk
85:Globe (now Gielgud) Theatre
918:
857:Internet Broadway Database
840:The Lady's Not for Burning
814:The Lady's Not For Burning
778:The Lady's Not for Burning
745:The Lady's Not for Burning
711:, Globe Theatre, May 1949"
709:The Lady's Not for Burning
639:, 16 September 1983, p. C2
616:The Lady's Not for Burning
597:The Lady's Not for Burning
561:The Lady's Not for Burning
507:The lady's not for turning
46:The Lady's Not for Burning
811:Fry, Christopher (1989).
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95:on 8 November 1950, with
902:Witch hunting in fiction
892:Plays by Christopher Fry
882:Fiction set in the 1400s
670:, 9 November 1950, p. 42
624:, 8 November 1950, p. 49
584:, 5 November 1950, p. 98
254:Hebble Tyson, the Mayor
71:It was performed at an
38:Oxford University Press
27:Play by Christopher Fry
846:British Film Institute
360:Television adaptations
68:'s pastoral comedies.
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692:, 4 April 1951. p. 34
439:by theatre critics: "
376:is available through
36:Cover first edition:
35:
664:, "At the theater",
559:Friedlander, Mira. "
99:as the female lead.
739:Billington, Michael
457:The Daily Telegraph
394:Richard Chamberlain
386:Christopher Plummer
374:further information
272:Jennet Jourdemayne
115:, London, in 2007.
689:The New York Times
667:The New York Times
648:Fry, pp. 4–5; and
636:The New York Times
621:The New York Times
581:The New York Times
549:(23). Toronto: 51.
488:Michael Billington
412:Critical reception
113:Finborough Theatre
49:is a 1948 play by
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824:978-0-19-831959-7
741:(21 April 2007).
511:Margaret Thatcher
486:s theatre critic
400:, and 1987, with
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366:Pamela Brown
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281:Pamela Brown
217:David Evans
214:David Evans
197:Claire Bloom
179:John Gielgud
129:Arts, London
105:Claire Bloom
97:Pamela Brown
81:John Gielgud
73:Arts Theatre
70:
62:World War II
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372:on BBC TV (
370:Alec Clunes
331:Esme Percy
301:Peter Bull
298:Peter Bull
266:George Howe
174:Alec Clunes
139:11 May 1948
77:Alec Clunes
66:Shakespeare
58:Middle Ages
877:1948 plays
871:Categories
517:References
468:Daily Mail
378:BBC Genome
327:Esme Percy
294:Peter Bull
143:Royale, NY
126:Character
785:The Stage
542:Maclean's
529:Fry, p. 4
494:The Stage
434:in 2003,
380:); 1958 (
788:. London
755:. London
719:. London
501:See also
390:Mary Ure
343:Synopsis
89:Broadway
855:at the
844:at the
805:Sources
566:Variety
382:Omnibus
91:at the
842:(1950)
821:
792:21 May
759:21 May
723:23 May
448:Sketch
40:, 1949
484:'
471:'
460:'
444:'
819:ISBN
794:2017
761:2017
725:2017
464:Shaw
404:and
396:and
388:and
368:and
103:and
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20:)
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