August 1930: The Masque Theatre, at the Theatre Royal – “Mary of Delight”, A Curtain-Raiser, by Naomi Jacob

A review of Sheridan’s The Critic, on page twelve of The Glasgow Herald, on Monday the 18th of August,

1930, concludes with the following comments:

 

“The comedy is preceded by a new one-act play by Naomi Jacob—’Mary of Delight.’ It is a portrait of Mary

Queen of Scots in her captivity at Sheffield—a portrait with little new in it, inclining, of course, to the

canonisation of Mary as a feminist saint. It provided Maud Risdon with the opportunity of impersonating

the beautiful, dignified, courageous Queen of Scots in a way to please the most perfervid heroine-worshippers.

Miss Jacob, the author, took part in the play as the devoted Scottish servant of the Queen, Jane Kennedy—

rechristened in the play Mistress Jean Kennedy—who was the faithful attendant from the time of the escape

from Loch Leven Castle till the end of Fotheringay some eighteen years later.”

 

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, July 2024.