Ervine, (John) St John Greer

Ervine, (John) St John Greer (1883–1971), Irish dramatist and critic, who eventually settled in England, where he became dramatic critic for a number of papers, including the Morning Post and the Observer. Most of his early plays, with their realistic Northern Irish characters, were first seen at the Abbey Theatre, among them Mixed Marriage (1911) and John Ferguson (1915). Jane Clegg (1913), in which Sybil Thorndike gave an outstanding performance as a woman witnessing her weak husband's deterioration, was given its first production by Miss Horniman's repertory company in Manchester. Later two successful comedies were seen in London—The First Mrs Fraser (1929), with Marie Tempest, and Anthony and Anna (1935), which ran for over two years, having first been seen in Liverpool in 1926. In more serious vein were Robert's Wife (1937), with Edith Evans in the title-role, which discusses Christianity and birth control, and Private Enterprise (1947), the last of Ervine's plays to be seen in London.