Arthur Wing Pinero

Arthur Wing Pinero

Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (24 May 1855- 23 November 1934) was an English dramatist.

Born in London, the son of a Sephardic Jewish solicitor (John Daniel Pinero), Arthur Wing Pinero studied law at Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution before going on the stage.

In 1874 he joined R.H. Wyndham's Company at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. After also acting in Liverpool, Pinero joined the Lyceum Theatre company in London in 1876. He began writing plays shortly afterwards, and became one of the most prolific and successful playwrights of his time, authoring fifty-nine plays. These include serious social dramas, some dealing with social hypocrisy surrounding attitudes to women in second marriages, including:

*"His House In Order" and
*"The Second Mrs Tanqueray" (1893)

He is best known for his comedies, of which the most notable are:

*"The Magistrate" (1885)
*"The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith" (1895)
*"Trelawny of the 'Wells'" (1898)
*"The Gay Lord Quex" (1899)

His 1923 romance "The Enchanted Cottage" was successfully filmed in 1924 and 1945. His opera in the style of a medieval morality play, "The Beauty Stone", (with Arthur Sullivan and J. Comyns Carr) has grown somewhat in popularity in recent years, having gained a recording, but the dialogue is often heavily abridged.

He is attributed with the saying, "While there is tea, there is hope."

Pinero was knighted in 1909. While tremendously popular in his day, his plays are rarely revived. Even in his final years he saw his work starting to go out of style. He died in London in 1934, aged 79.

Pinero was about the only dramatist of his time, apart from Wilde, who wrote strong parts for leading ladies, and many powerful lady-actors had their own ideas about how to play certain scenes, quite differently from how he had visualised them. After much trial and error, he eventually hit on a solution to this recurring problem. At rehearsal, he would explain loudly and clearly how he wanted the scene played. Then he would take his place in the stalls, to watch the lady playing it her own way, not his. Immediately he would rush up and shout "Perfect, perfect! Play it exactly like that on the night!" And for some reason, on the night, they would play it his way, not theirs! It was a remarkable piece of applied psychology that might baffle many theatrical directors to this day.

External links

*gutenberg author | id=Arthur_Wing_Pinero | name=Arthur Wing Pinero
*gutenberg|no=18422|name=Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z, contains a speech by Pinero on "The Drama".


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Arthur Wing Pinero — Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (* 24. Mai 1855 in London; † 23. November 1934 ebenda) war ein britischer Dramatiker. Pinero folgt zunächst seinem portugiesisch stämmigen Vater John Daniel Pinero, einem jüdischen Anwalt, und beginnt ein Jurastudium.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur Wing Pinero — Activités Dramaturge, Metteur en scène Naissance 1855 Angleterre Décès 1934 Langue d écriture …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing — born May 24, 1855, London, Eng. died Nov. 23, 1934, London British playwright. He entered the theatrical world as an actor with Henry Irving s theatre company. His first play, £200 a Year, was produced in 1877. He wrote a series of successful… …   Universalium

  • PINERO, ARTHUR WING —    dramatic author, born in London; bred to law, took to the stage and the writing of plays, of which he has produced a goodly number; collaborated with Sir Arthur Sullivan and Mr. Comyns Carr in a romantic musical drama entitled The Beauty Stone …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Arthur Bingham Walkley — (1855 1926) was an English dramatic critic, born in Bristol, and educated at Balliol and Corpus Christi colleges, Oxford. He held important positions in the British postal service, but it was by his dramatic criticism that he became known over… …   Wikipedia

  • Pinero — Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (* 24. Mai 1855 in London; † 23. November 1934 ebenda) war ein britischer Dramatiker. Pinero folgt zunächst seinem portugiesisch stämmigen Vater John Daniel Pinero, einem jüdischen Anwalt, und beginnt ein Jurastudium.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur Sullivan — This article is about the composer. For the Australian soldier decorated with the VC, see Arthur Percy Sullivan. Arthur …   Wikipedia

  • Wing — Contenido 1 Personas 2 Deporte 3 Entretenimiento 3.1 Televisión 3 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing — (24 may. 1855, Londres, Inglaterra–23 nov. 1934, Londres). Dramaturgo británico. Ingresó al mundo teatral como actor de la compañía de Henry Irving. Su primera obra, £200 Pounds a Year, fue producida en 1877. Escribió una serie de farsas exitosas …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing —  (1855–1934) English comedic playwright …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

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