Editing Arthur Wing Pinero (section)

===Farces and drawing-room comedies: 1884–1893===
[[File:Arthur-Cecil-as-Posket-1885.png|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Arthur Cecil]] as Mr Posket in ''[[The Magistrate (play)|The Magistrate]]'', 1885|alt=middle=aged man in Victorian evening dress, much muddied and torn, clutching a chair for support]]
With the exception of two adaptations of serious French works, ''The Ironmaster'' (1884) and ''Mayfair'' (1885),{{refn|The former was adapted from [[Georges Ohnet]]'s ''Le Maître de forges'', and the latter from [[Victorien Sardou]]'s ''Maison neuve''.<ref name=who/>|group= n}} Pinero's output between 1884 and 1893 consisted of six [[farce]]s and five comedies.<ref>Parker, p. 742</ref> During this period he became particularly associated with the [[Royal Court Theatre|Court Theatre]], where five of his farces were presented, with great success at the box office, between 1885 and 1892, beginning with ''[[The Magistrate (play)|The Magistrate]]''. Wearing writes that in these plays Pinero "attacked facets of Victorian society by creating credible though blinkered characters, trying to preserve their respectability while trapped in a relentless whirlpool of catastrophically illogical events".<ref name=dnb/>

Pinero told an interviewer that with the first of his Court farces, ''The Magistrate'', he had tried "to raise farce a little from the low pantomime level". Instead of relying on the Parisian stereotype, revolving around potentially adulterous liaisons, he tried to create believable characters in credible situations.<ref>Dawick, pp. 129–130</ref> The piece played for 363 performances in its first run, the first play in the history of the Court to run for more than a year.<ref>"Court Theatre", ''The Standard'', 22 March 1886, p. 3</ref> When its star, [[Arthur Cecil]], required a summer break, [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree|Beerbohm Tree]] deputised for him for three weeks.<ref>"The Magistrate", ''The Theatre'', May 1892, p. 257</ref> Three touring companies were needed to meet the demand for the play in the British provinces, and local managements in Australia, India and South Africa were licensed to stage it; Pinero travelled to New York for the American premiere, at [[Daly's Theatre (30th St.)|Daly's Theatre]] in October 1885.<ref>"The Drama in America", ''The Era'', 24 October 1885, p. 14; and Dawick, p. 130</ref> He had turned 30 earlier that year. A retrospective review of his career published in 1928 pointed out that Pinero – who had recently celebrated 50 years as a West End playwright – achieved fame at an unusually early age: his contemporaries [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], [[J. M. Barrie]] and [[John Galsworthy]] were all in their thirties before their plays were produced in London.<ref>Holt, Edgar. "A Dramatist's Jubilee – Arthur Pinero", ''The Fortnightly Review'', March 1928, pp. 323–331</ref>

Pinero's other Court farces – ''[[The Schoolmistress (play)|The Schoolmistress]]'' (1886), ''[[Dandy Dick (play)|Dandy Dick]]'' (1887), ''[[The Cabinet Minister]]'' (1890) and ''[[The Amazons (play)|The Amazons]]'' (1893) – ran for 291, 262, 199 and 114 performances respectively, an aggregate of 866.<ref name=list/>  Their success was outstripped by that of the gentler comedy ''[[Sweet Lavender]]'', which ran at [[Terry's Theatre]] for 684 performances from March 1888 to January 1890.<ref>"Terry's Theatre", ''The Morning Post'', 27 January 1890, p. 2</ref> This piece concerns an impoverished clerk, a bibulous but wise barrister, fraudulent bankers, a long-lost sweetheart and happy endings all round. It was billed as "a domestic drama", and was mainly comic, but, ''The Era'' reported, "there are scenes where the laughter is hushed, where smiles give way to tears, and where mirth is merged in heartfelt sympathy".<ref>"Terry's", ''The Era'', 24 March 1888, p. 14</ref>