Henry Arthur Jones

Henry Arthur Jones 1851-1929, English playwright. His reputation was first established with the melodrama The Silver King (with Henry Herman; 1882). Strongly influenced by the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, Jones turned to writing dramas of social and moral criticism. He was the author of over 60 plays, of which The Middleman (1889), Michael and His Lost Angel (1896), The Liars (1897), and Mrs. Dane's Defense (1900) are among the most important. His critical works include The Renascence of the English Drama (1895) and The Theatre of Ideas (1915).

Jones, Henry Arthur (1851–1929), playwright. Along with Pinero and Shaw, a leading English dramatist of his day, he was an advocate of the tautly constructed problem play. Jones made his reputation in America as in England with his collaboration with Henry Herman, The Silver King (1883). On his own he later wrote such notable successes as The Middleman (1890), The Dancing Girl (1891), The Bauble Shop (1894), The Masqueraders (1894), The Case of Rebellious Susan (1894), The Rogue's Comedy (1896), The Liars (1898), and Mrs. Dane's Defense (1900). Although Jones's gift for comic aphorisms was inferior to Wilde's and his characters rarely as fascinating as Pinero's, his best works remain interesting period pieces.

Jones, Henry Arthur (1851–1929), dramatist, achieved success with The Silver King (1882). A friend and contemporary of Pinero, Jones did much to re-establish serious themes in the theatre. As a young man he was greatly encouraged by G. B. Shaw and Beerbohm. Although he wrote many comedies (including The Liars, 1897; Dolly Reforming Herself, 1908; Mary Goes First, 1913), his most influential plays treated social themes, often the double standards of behaviour expected of men and of women; The Dancing Girl (1891), The Case of Rebellious Susan (1894), Mrs Dane's Defence (1900), and The Lie (1923) were considered among the most effective.