Jane Clegg: A Play In Three Acts

JANE CLEGG: A PLAY IN THREE ACTS - 1914 - PERSONS IN THE PLAY HENRY CLEQG. JANEC LEOG h, is wife. JOHNNICEL EGO his children. JENNY CLEGG MRS CLEOG h, i s motlter. Jane Clegg was performed for the first time at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, on April 21st, 1913, by Miss Hornimans Company, with the following cast -It was subsequently played by the same Company at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London, on hlay 1 gth, 191 3. The play was produced by Mr Lentis Casson. JANE CLEGG ACT I . JANE CLEGG, a tall, dark woman, aged thirty-two years, is seated at a large table, sewing. It is almost nine oclock, and, as the evening is - chilly, a bright fire burns in the. grate. The room has a cosy air, although it is furnished in the undistinguished manner characteristic of the homes of lower middle-class people. A corner of the table is reserved for a meal for a late-corner. JOHNNIE and JENNY, aged tein and eight years respectively, are ptaying on a rug h front of the fire. The girl is . impatient and sometimes knocks over the structures which her brother laboriously builds. ams CLEGG, the grandmother of the children, is seated in a lozu rocking-chair, her arms folded across her breast, idly watchivzg them. She is a stout, coarse, a4td very sentimental woman, and her voice has in it a continual note of querulousness. She glances at the clock and then speaks to her daughter-in-law. A a 2 JANE CLEGG ACT I rims CLEGG. 1 cant think wots keepin Enry. JANE CLEGG. without looking up from - her H sewing. Busy, I suppose. MRS CLEGG. ES always busy. I dont believe men are alf so busy as they make out they are Besides I know Enry I avent ad the motherin of im for nothink. E dont kill imself withwork, Enry dont. JANE CLEGG. in an undertone. Oh, hush, mother, before the children. MRS CLEGG. Oh, I daresay they know all about im. Children knows more about their parents nowadays than their parents knows about them, from wot I can sec of it. JANE CLEGG. Henrys work keeps him out late. . It isnt as if he had regular hours like other men. A traveller isnt like ordinary people. MRS CLEGG. No, thats true. It isnt a proper life for a man, not travellin isnt. A married man, anyow. They see too much. I dont believe in men seein too much. It unsettles em. JANE CLEGG. Oh, I dont know Some men are born to be unsettled and some arent. I suppose thats the way with everything. MRS CLEGG. YOU take things too calm, you do. I avent any patience with you Look ACT I JANE CLEGG 8 at the way you took it when e went after that woman . . . JANE CLEGG. Oh, please, please MRS CLEGG. Id ave tore er air off. That was the least you could ave done. JENNY. knocking the bricks over. Oh, Im tired of this game. JOHNNIE. There Youve gone and done it again. Why cant you play properly MRS CLEGG. Wot you playin at, Johnnie JOHNNIE. CTOSS A g . a m e, grannie MRS CLEGG. I know youre playin a game What kind of a game JOHNNIE. beginning to build up the bricks again. Oh, only a game, grannie. Im pretending to be mother, and Jennys pretending to be father. Were building a house with these bricks, but its no good. . . . Jenny keeps on knocking it all down. JANE CLEGG. Jenny, dear, thats very naughty JENNY. It takes so long, mother JOHNNIE. Well, you cant play this game unless you go slowly. Its awful responsibility building a house. MRS CLEGG. Dont use such big words, Johnnie. It isnt natural for a child your age to betalkin like that. 4 JANE CLEGG ACT I JENNY, laughing mischievously, scatters the bricks. Oh, oh, you naughty little girl Owever could you JOHNNIE. Oh, dont, Jenny Youve spoilt it all. JENNY. Its such a silly game Lets play something quick. JANE CLEGG...