A PROHIBITED PLAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 10

A PROHIBITED PLAY.

The play, "Pains and' Penalties," which was written by Air. • Lawrence Housman for performance at Miss Gertrude Kingston's now theatre. in 'London, has been placed on tho black list by the censor, Air. Redford. As the Lord Chamberlain has refused a license, the piece cannot be produced in England. Tho .prohibited play .is based upon tho "romance" of King George IV, when Prince of Wales, and Airs. Fitzherbert.' There was a . marriage ceremony, but Airs. Fitzherbert was put aside when tho Prince married Caroline of Brunswick. After the death of George IV, Mrs. Fitzherbert was an honoured guest at. tho Court of William IV, but the influenco of' the Duke of Wellington prevented the public -acknowledgment of her Koyal marriage.' Air. Housman says that "Paifis and Penalties" contains no intended application to circumstances 01 events in the present day, beyond - an opposition of the unequal treatment which, under tho law of England, is still meted out to women, both in the Divorce Courts and in Parliament. In his protest against tho action of the Examiner of Plays, the author oi tho prohibited pieco says:— I "Tho' play contains 110 attack on religion, on morals, or on the institution of monarchy. Wo know that the central figure ol sacred history must not bo presentee in English drama, but the censor has within recent yimrs permitted tho light of a Divine Presence to bo cast across the scene, and before it the characters of t-bo play have kneelocl iii adoration. We are jjow taught that a more absoluto and solemn prohibition hedges the divinity of King George IV, anc that-oven through tho. testimony oi witnesses tho effulgence of his glory is not to be projected upon the 'Englisl: stage. I am left to infer that tho piCc« lias been vetoed solely because it contains references to tho life and character of a King four times removed fron: tlio present occupant of tho Throne— .1 position which would have been almost exactly paralleled had 'Richard lIP been forbidden production during the reign of Queen Elizabeth!" On Thursday next tho senior pupil of St. Alary's Convent, Hill Street,- an to givo one of their delightful concert: in tho Concert Chamber. A featur of the (concert will bo tho singing 0 sovoral Shakespearean part-song 6, in eluding, "Blow, Blow," "Hark, th Lark," and "Take, ah, Tako Thosi Lips Away." The programme will in elude excerptß from tho writings , 0 Wagner, Meyerbeer, Donigctti, Chopin Benedict, anil Rossini; * A child, left in a bassinetto in a fron garden at West Didsbury has been euf focated by a cat, which lay on the child': faoo in such a manner aa to proven: breatliinfi.