A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

Diana of Dobson's

Very successful when first performed in London in 1908, Diana of
Dobson's introduces its audience to the overworked and underpaid female
assistants at Dobson's Drapery Emporium, whose only alternative to their
dead-end jobs is the unlikely prospect of marriage.

Details

Summary
Although Cicely Hamilton calls the play "a romantic comedy," like George Bernard Shaw she also criticizes a social structure in which so-called self-made men profit from the cheap labour of others, and men with good educations, but insufficient inherited money, look for wealthy wives rather than for work.This Broadview edition also includes excerpts from Hamilton's autobiography Life Errant (1935) and Marriage as a Trade (1909), her witty polemic on "the woman question"; historical documents illustrating employment options for women and women's work in the theatre; and reviews of the original production of the play.

Licensing & Materials

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Authors

Cicely Hamilton

Cicely Hamilton was born in 1872 and was an English actress, writer, journalist, suffragist and feminist. She wrote over twenty plays, including two propaganda plays, How the Vote was Won (1909) and A Pageant of Great Women.
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