Mary Broome

Synopsis

As the marriage of the elder Timbrell son is eagerly anticipated and wedding presents are arriving, it is revealed that the younger son, in this upwardly mobile family, has become involved with the housemaid, Mary Broome. The results for all are unexpected.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 21 March 2011

The invaluable Orange Tree has uncovered another Edwardian gem: Allan Monkhouse’s forgotten Mary Broome (1911), which charts the subversive liaison of a young aesthete and a housemaid in a middle-class Manchester family.

Monkhouse, no relation of Bob, was a Guardian critic and literary editor, and a member of the Manchester School in our first repertory company at Mrs Horniman’s Gaiety Theatre. He wrote five plays for them reflecting the social upheavals of the time.

This play, which has elements of Shaw’s Pygmalion and Upstairs, Downstairs, makes you want to see the others, perhaps, instead of yet another revival of the better known Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice or Stanley Houghton’s Hindle Wakes.

Mary (a tremulous, affecting Katie McGuinness with an accurate Pennine accent that sets her apart) has been “taken advantage of” by Leonard Timbrell (poised, posed, cruel, yet susceptible Jack Farthing, very ...

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Latest User Review

Amanda R. Martinez - 15 April 2011:

I wish I could tell the actors of this show, Particularly Jack Farthing and Katie McGuinness, how incredibly inspired this left me feeling. I fell in love with the theatre all over again watching this and have resolved to no other life than that in performing because of what I witnessed. I hope they are pleased with the outcome and know how far their craft reached the youth in the audience. What happened on that stage is purely inexplicable, the only way to understand the weight of my comment is by going to see it for yourself. ...

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