Description
The Count O’Dowda, a hater of what he perceives as the modern vulgarity of England, hires a professional producer and actors to put on a play in his country estate, and then invites professional critics to attend. But unknown to him, his daughter Fanny, a student at Cambridge and a member of the Fabian Society, has written the play with the intent of morally shocking her father, and she hopes that the presence of professional critics will convince him of its artistic merit.
Within this framing, the play within the play concerns the Gilbey and Knox families. Both are highly respectable, and both of their children have secretly spent a fortnight in jail for assaulting a police officer. The families, along with a noble footman, a...