Pinero ,(Sir Arthur Wing

Pinero ,[Sir Arthur Wing [ Sir Arthur Wing Pinheiro] (1855–1934), English dramatist. He was an actor for 10 years, making his first appearance on the stage at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, in 1874. In 1877 he had his first play, £200 a Year, produced at the Globe Theatre. Popularity came with The Magistrate (1885), the first of the Royal Court Theatre farces which became all the rage. It was followed by The Schoolmistress (1886), Dandy Dick (1887), The Cabinet Minister (1890), and The Amazons (1893), the first three having been revived many times and still ranking as some of the best farces in the English language. In 1888 a frankly sentimental play, Sweet Lavender, confirmed Pinero's pre-eminence in the contemporary theatre, and with The Profligate (1889) he made his first venture into the ‘theatre of ideas’, following it in 1893 with The Second Mrs Tanqueray, a ‘problem play’ in which Mrs Patrick Campbell startled the town. In a theatre long given over to farce, burlesque, and melodrama it appeared revolutionary—a ‘serious’ English play which made money. During the next 30 years Pinero was regularly productive. The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith (1895) was Paula Tanqueray's successor; Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ (1898) was a theatrical romp; The Gay Lord Quex (1899) was a brilliant piece of theatricalism, containing a third act which is perhaps the author's masterpiece of contrivance. With the turn of the century came a long succession of serious plays—Iris (1901), Letty (1903), His House in Order (1906), and Mid-Channel (1909). They were progressively less successful, for Pinero had written himself out, and his last play, A Cold June (1932), was a pathetic failure. His reputation long rested on his farces and on Trelawny of the ‘Wells’, whose title-role presented an irresistible challenge to spirited young actresses.