Five Little Plays

Five Little Plays

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Five Little Plays, by Alfred Sutro This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Five Little Plays
Author: Alfred Sutro
Release Date: December 29, 2004 [EBook #14519]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FIVE LITTLE PLAYS

FIVE LITTLE PLAYS
BY ALFRED SUTRO
BRENTANO NEW YORK 1922
_Printed in Great Britain by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh_

CONTENTS
THE MAN IN THE STALLS
A MARRIAGE HAS BEEN ARRANGED....
THE MAN ON THE KERB
THE OPEN DOOR
THE BRACELET

THE MAN IN THE STALLS
A PLAY IN ONE ACT

THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
HECTOR ALLEN ELIZABETH ALLEN (BETTY) WALTER COZENS
_This play was produced at the Palace Theatre on October 6, 1911_

THE MAN IN THE STALLS
_The sitting-room of a little flat in Shaftesbury Avenue. At back is a door leading to the dining-room--it is open, and the dinner-table is in full view of the audience. To the extreme right is another door, leading to the hall._
_The place is pleasantly and prettily, though quite inexpensively, furnished. To the left, at angles with the distempered wall, is a baby-grand piano; the fireplace, in which a fire is burning merrily, is on the same side, full centre. To the right of the door leading to the dining-room is a small side-table, on which there is a tray with decanter and glasses; in front of this, a card-table, open, with two packs of cards on it, and chairs on each side. Another table, a round one, is in the centre of the room--to right and to left of it are comfortable armchairs. Against the right wall is a long sofa; above it hang a few good, water-colours and engravings; on the piano and the table there are flowers. A general appearance of refinement and comfort pervades the room; no luxury, but evidence everywhere of good taste, and the countless feminine touches that make a room homelike and pleasant._
_When the curtain rises,_ HECTOR ALLEN, _a youngish man of forty, with an attractive intellectual face, is seen standing by the dining-table in the inner room, draining his liqueur-glass, with_ WALTER COZENS _to the right of him, lighting a cigarette._ WALTER _is a few years younger than his friend, moderately good-looking, with fine, curly brown hair and a splendid silky moustache. His morning-clothes are conspicuously well-cut--he is evidently something of a dandy;_ HECTOR _wears a rather shabby dress-suit, his boots are awkward, and his tie ready-made._ BETTY, _a handsome woman of thirty, wearing a very pretty tea-gown, is talking to the maid at the back of the dining-room._
HECTOR _puts down his glass and comes into the sitting-room, followed by_ WALTER. HECTOR _is puffing at a short, stumpy little black cigar._
HECTOR [_Talking as he comes through, continuing the conversation--he walks to the fireplace and stands with his back to it._] I tell you, if I'd known what it meant, I'd never have taken the job! Sounded so fine, to be reader of plays for the Duke's Theatre--adviser to the great Mr. Honeyswill! And then--when the old man said I was to go to all the first nights--why, I just chortled! "It's the first nights that show you the grip of the thing--that teach you most"--he said. Teach you! As though there were anything to learn! Oh my stars! I tell you, it's a dog's life!
WALTER. [_Sitting to left of the round table._] I'd change places with you, sonny.
HECTOR. You would, eh? That's what they all say! Four new plays this week, my lad--one yesterday, one to-day--another to-morrow, and the night after! All day long I'm reading plays--and I spend my nights seeing 'em! D'you know I read about two thousand a year? Divide two thousand by three hundred and sixty five. A dog's life--that's what it is!
WALTER. Better than being a stockbroker's clerk--you believe _me!_
HECTOR. Is it? I wish you could have a turn at it, my bonny boy! Your hair'd go grey, like mine! And look here--what are the plays to-day? They're either so chock-full of intellect that they send you to sleep--or they reek of sentiment till you yearn for the smell of a cabbage!
WALTER. Well, you've the change, at any rate.
HECTOR. [_Snorting._] Change? By Jove, give me a Punch and Judy show on the sands--or performing dogs! Plays--I'm sick of 'em! And look here--the one I'm off to to-night. It's adapted from the French--well, we know what that means. Husband, wife and mistress. Or wife, husband, lover. That's what a French play means. And you make it English, and pass the Censor, by putting the lady in a mackintosh, and dumping in