New York Idea

About this book

I find it very hard to classify "The New York Idea" under any of the established rubrics. It is rather too extravagant to rank as a comedy; it is much too serious in its purport, too searching in its character-delineation and too thoughtful in its wit, to be treated as a mere farce. Its title—not, perhaps, a very happy one—is explained in this saying of one of the characters: "Marry for whim and leave the rest to the divorce court—that's the New York idea of marriage." Like all the plays, from Sardou's "Divorçons" onward, which deal with a too facile system of divorce, this one shows a discontented woman, who has broken up her home for a caprice, suffering agonies of jealousy when her ex-husband proposes to make use of the freedom she has given him, and returning to him at last with the admission that their divorce was at least "premature." In this central conception there is nothing particularly original. It is the wealth of humourous invention displayed in the details both of character and situation that renders the play remarkable. (Summary from Project Gutenberg) Cast Philip Phillimore: Mark F. Smith Grace Phillimore: Diana Majlinger Mrs. Phillimore: Margaret Espaillat Miss Heneage: rashada Matthew Phillimore: Roger Melin William Sudley: om123 Mrs. Vida Phillimore: Elizabeth Klett Sir Wilfrid Cates-Darby: Equilibrium33 John Karslake: mb Mrs. Cynthia Karslake: Arielle Lipshaw Brooks: Equilibrium33 Tim Fiddler: Equilibrium33 Nogam: moonpiles Thomas: David Muncaster Benson: Lucy Perry Narrator: Margaret Espaillat Audio edited by: Arielle Lipshaw