''Seven Days'' is a three-act play written in 1909 by Avery Hopwood and

Mary Roberts Rinehart Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie.Keating, H.R.F., ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press, 1989, p. 170. Rinehart published her fir ...

. It is a

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or ...

based on Rinehart's 1908

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

of the same name, which had been expanded into a bestselling 1909 novel titled ''When a Man Marries''. Producers Lincoln Wagenhals and Collin Kemper asked Rinehart to adapt the novella for the stage. Since she had not written a play before, she agreed to work with Avery Hopwood, a young playwright with just one produced play, to create the script. Wagenhals and Kemper staged the play at the Astor Theatre on Broadway, where it premiered on November 10, 1909. The production was a hit that played for 397 performances. The play's success led Hopwood to a highly successful career as an author of comedies and enabled Wagenhals and Kemper to retire. Rinehart and Hopwood would later collaborate on two other hit plays, '' Spanish Love'' and '' The Bat,'' both also produced by Wagenhals and Kemper, who came out of retirement. In 1925 the play was adapted into a silent film of the same name starring

Lillian Rich Lillian Rose Rich Woodland, more commonly known as Lillian Rich (1 January 1900 – 5 January 1954) was an English-born actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1919 and 1940. Biography Rich was born in Herne ...

and Creighton Hale.

References

External links

* 1909 plays Broadway plays Comedy plays 1900s debut plays Plays by Avery Hopwood Works by Mary Roberts Rinehart Plays based on novels {{1900s-play-stub