Lawrence, D(avid) H(erbert)

Lawrence, D(avid) H(erbert) (1885–1930), English novelist, poet, and playwright, whose novels, considered shocking and highly controversial when first published, made him famous during his lifetime. Of his eight plays, The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd and David, a biblical drama, were given Sunday-night productions by the Stage Society in 1926 and 1927 respectively. The others remained unproduced until in 1965 A Collier's Friday Night (written in about 1906) was seen at the Royal Court Theatre in a ‘production without décor’, and in 1967 The Daughter-in-Law (written during, and based on, the coal strike of 1912) was given a public showing, also at the Royal Court. It was named as one of the best new plays of the year, and led to a D. H. Lawrence season at the Royal Court in 1968, when the three plays (excluding David), done in repertory to emphasize their common setting of family life in a mining background, revealed Lawrence as a starkly realistic playwright of great subtlety and vigour.