Annie Hughes (1869-1954)

"DANDY DICK"
Produced at Wyndhams Theatre, London - 8th February, 1900

The admirable "Dandy Dick"! How fresh it comes to us again, how ingenious, how sparkling, how clean! So far as the play is concerned, it has not aged a day. Of how many "adaptations from the French" could this be said?

The revival at Wyndham's Theatre last night must surely pave the way for "Dandy Dick's" predecessors at the old Court Theatre - for "The Magistrate" and "The Schoolmistress." As the old lines came back to us, how we enjoyed them - and were not ashamed afterwards for having enjoyed them, a much rarer experience. How we relished the clean-cut humour of them; for Mr. Pinero's farces are not farces of the hide-and-seek order, There is a literary smack about them. How we enjoyed the dear old sanctimonious Dean of St. Marvell's mixing cue bolus amid the terrifically funny thunderstorm; putting his "two ponies" on Dandy Dick; locked up in the village strong box for trying to poison the very horse on which he has put his money in order to get the subscription he has promised towards the renovation of the church spire. And the horsey "George Tid," prince of good fellows in petticoats; slangy and good-hearted; upsetting the deanery, turning its stables into a racing headquarters. And all the rest of the humorous, polished, and sprightly force Mr. Pinero has provided for us.

The audience was delighted - half of it at renewing acquaintance with a good old friend, the other half learning for the first time that a farce may be uproariously funny and elegant at the same time.

It is true that we had not John Clayton, Mrs. Wood, Arthur Cecil, and Rose Norreys to play in their own inimitable fashion. But we have Mr. Alfred Bishop to give us a Dean as funny, as pompous, as piquant as the heart could wish. Nothing could have been better. And we have Mr. Giddens as the chubby, hypocritical, horse-poisoning, angelic-looking Blore - a fine performance. And Mr. Denny returns with his sardonic Noah Topping, whose "nice lot o' new friends" were as welcome as ever. And Miss Annie Hughes for his charming little rustic wife; and Miss Maud Hoffman for a pretty Salome, with an understanding of Pineroesque humour and a sly way of giving it expression.

Miss Gracie Lane, as Sheba, not quite in the spirit of it, but bright and merry; Mr. Vane Tempest and Mr. Stanley Cooke, the two whimsical officers; Mr. Edmund Maurice, in his original part of Mardon kept it going and did capitally. Miss Violet Vanbrugh, in Mrs. John Wood's old character, gave spirit, fire, vigour and humour to the part of Mrs. Tidman. She exaggerated the mannishness and the swagger of her, and was a little too boisterous here and there; but it was a breezy, hearty, pleasing performance nevertheless. "Dandy Dick" is in for a long run.

The Daily Mail (London) - 9th February, 1900