Clemence Dane (1888-1964) was a significant dramatist in her time but her work subsequently suffered at the hands of mid to late twentieth century academic opinion, which held that inter-war women playwrights merited little literary or cultural importance. With a run of four hundred and nine shows, her first play, Bill of Divorcement, produced by Basil Dean’s Reandean Company, and starring Meg Albansi, opened on 4th March 1921 at the St. Martin’s Theatre in the West End and was her biggest hit. Indeed, it was a triumph. One commentator described how it “sent a critical first night audience into ecstasies of enthusiasm and ended with the most vociferous call for the author that has been heard in an …
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Citation: McDonald, Louise. "A Bill of Divorcement". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 October 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39194, accessed 07 October 2024.]