And
they talk in poor English. Mr. Pinero has no sense of style, of the
beauty or expressiveness of words. His joking is forced and without
ideas; his serious writing is common. In "The Gay Lord Quex" he is
continually trying to impress upon his audience that he is very
audacious and distinctly improper. The improprieties are childish in the
innocence of their vulgarity, and the audacities are no more than
trifling lapses of taste. He shows you the interior of a Duchess's
bedroom, and he shows you the Duchess's garter, in a box of other
curiosities. He sets his gentlemen and ladies talking in the allusive
style which you may overhear whenever you happen to be passing a group
of London cabmen. The Duchess has written in her diary, "Warm
afternoon." That means that she has spent an hour with her lover. Many
people in the audience laugh. All the cabmen would have laughed.
Now look for a moment at the play by the amateur and the woman. It is
not a satisfactory play as a whole, it is not very interesting in all
its developments, some of the best opportunities are shirked, some of
the characters (all the characters who are men) are poor.
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