''The Voysey Inheritance'' is a play in five acts by the English dramatist
Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...
. Written in 1903–1905, it was originally staged at the
Royal Court Theatre in 1905 featuring
Mabel Hackney, and revived at the same venue in 1965, the
Royal Exchange, Manchester in 1989 and at the
National Theatre in 1989, and in 2006.
In 2006, American playwright
David Mamet wrote what a critic for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called a "canny new adaptation" of the play for New York's
Atlantic Theatre Company.
Described by
Samuel French as "a witty, impeccably crafted portrait of a family in the midst of a surprisingly modern moral dilemma", its subject is financial fraud, on which Ian Clarke wrote, "in ''The Voysey Inheritance'', the dishonesty implicates not only the individual Voyseys but the institutions, ideology, and economic base of Edwardian England".
Plot
Edward's highly principled world upturns when he discovers the family business he is inheriting has been defrauding its clients for years because his father has been illegally speculating with their money. To compound matters, he quickly discovers his large, scandal-fearing family knew of the crime but allowed it to continue rather than face the shame of public disclosure.
Quote
"Of course it's pleasant and comfortable to keep within the law . . . then the law will look after you. Otherwise you have to look pretty sharp after yourself. You have to cultivate your own sense of right and wrong . . . deal with your own justice. But that makes a bigger man of you, let me tell you."
See also
Complete text on Internet Archive
References
English plays
1905 plays
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