3-082-271 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"A Leader of Men," the new play at the Comedy Theatre, 1895. London stage production. 'Mrs. Dundas (Miss Marion Terry}. Robert Llewellyn (Mr. Fred Terry): "True as truth, itself." Lord Killarney (Mr. W. Dennis). Archdeacon Baldwin (Mr. J. Carne). 'Mr. Ward...shows us a Prime Minister who takes three lumps of sugar in his tea, and behaves like a rather feeble family physician. The hero is a Labour leader who falls in love with a married woman, and alarms his party by showing an inclination to sacrifice everything to his passion...I cannot say that the mixture of political and private intrigue is compounded by a master hand. Mr. Ward is evidently an optimist about women, and there is a scene between the two ladies who lay claim to the labour leader's affections - a scene in which a woman stung by jealousy is so charmed by her rival's goodness that she withdraws magnanimously from the field. I sadly fear this was received by the entire house with absolute incredulity...the character of Mrs. Dundas..., played by Miss Marion Terry with exquisite tenderness,...has suffered the last extremity of outrage, and who is yet urged to take back her worthless husband or forfeit the income he allows her. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.