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A Pleasant Evening |
The typescript of A Pleasant Evening, or A Little Dissipation which is transcribed here is held at the British Library, London, in the Lord Chamberlain's Files (shelfmark LCP 6/1905/P).
The typescript was produced by Mrs. Marshall's Type Writing Office; it was completed on 4 January 1905. The three acts were originally numbered individually (Act I, 1- 25; Act II, 1-30, Act III 1-24; between Acts I and II and between II and III there is a separate sheet - not numbered - with the title and the act number). A consecutive pagination (foliation, fol. 1 – 82) has been added by the Department of Manuscripts. For easier reference, this has been incorporated into the text, in square brackets set in bold type, after a page break which is indicated thus "|".
There is also a conspicuous handwritten addition (in ink) on the title page as well as on the sheets between the acts, which is definitely not in Hankin's hand: The play receives a new title - "A Pleasant Evening", Hankin's original title - "A Little Dissipation" now appearing as the subtitle.
The text was submitted by a certain Herbert Swears, or someone of a similar name (the handwriting on the LCP copy No. 110 is hardly legible), and received a licence on 15 March 1905 to be performed at a theatre in Croydon (the abbreviated specification of the theatre is, again, barely legible; it may read R.Th., P.Th., R.H., P.H.).
It has not been possible to locate a copyright holder for A Pleasant Evening (cf. the entry on Hankin in the WATCH File).
The present edition (transcript and introduction) © Rudolf Weiss, 2005.