Five years after first introducing New York audiences to the extraordinary British playwright, St. John Hankin, Mint Theater revisited “the forgotten man of Edwardian drama” (Guardian) with THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL, “a coolly enthralling play about a timeless subject: failure.”1

The title refers to the character of Eustace Jackson, the son of a wealthy manufacturer. Eustace is sent to Australia to make his fortune, but returns home desperate and destitute, to the dismay of his family who had thought they were rid of him for good. Revived to great success in Canada and England, Mint gave THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL its New York Premiere.

“How could a play this funny and obnoxious have gone a century without being staged in New York?”2 wondered New York Magazine. “I’m not sure that there’s a more entertaining play in New York City at the moment,” wrote nytheatre.com. “And even though the play was written more than a hundred years ago, I’m also not sure that there’s a play on the boards that’s more timely or pertinent than this one.”3

St John Hankin began to contribute humorous essays and dramatic parodies including new “last-acts” for well-known plays to Punch magazine 1898.  In 1901 some of his contributions were anthologized as Mr. Punch’s Dramatic Sequels.  Hankin also contributed about seventy drama reviews to The London Times before beginning his career as a playwright in 1903 with THE TWO MR. WETHERBY’S.  Hankin was actively involved in running the Stage Society, a London theater group that supported plays of literary merit, founded in part, to avoid the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship.

Hankin was the only living dramatist other than Shaw to have more than one full-length play produced at the Royal Court during the important Vedrenne-Barker years from 1904 to 1907.  Granville Barker produced the premieres of both THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL and THE CHARITY THAT BEGAN AT HOME.

During Hankin’s youth his father suffered a nervous breakdown, which left him an invalid.  Hankin himself began to suffer from increasing ill health in 1907 and he was plagued with the fear that he would suffer the same fate as his father.  On a “dull, sultry, wet” day in June of 1909, St John Hankin tied two seven-pound dumbbells around his neck and drowned himself in the river Ithon.  He left his wife a letter expressing his fear that he would “slip into invalidism,” which he could not bear and ended by telling her, “I have found a lovely pool in a river and at the bottom I hope to find rest.”  George Bernard Shaw described his death as “a public calamity.”

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CAST

  • Samuel Jackson Richard Kline
  • Mrs. Jackson Tandy Cronyn
  • Henry Jackson Bradford Cover
  • Eustace Jackson Roderick Hill
  • Violet Jackson Leah Curney
  • Sir John Faringford Lee Moore
  • Lady Faringford Kate Levy
  • Stella Faringford Margot White
  • Dr. Glaisher W. Alan Nebelthau
  • Mrs. Pratt Cecilia Riddett
  • Baines Robin Haynes

CREATIVES

  • Set and Costume Design Clint Ramos
  • Lighting Design Tyler Micoleau
  • Sound Design Jane Shaw
  • Associate Set Design & Props Crag Napoliello
  • Associate Costume Design Hwi-Won Lee
  • Casting
    Stuart Howard, Amy Schecter & Paul Hardt
  • Production Stage Manager Kimothy Cruse
  • Assistant Stage Manager Rebecca C. Monroe
  • Press Representative David Gersten & Associates
  • Graphics Hey Jude Design, Inc.

PROFESSOR MARTIN MEISEL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

A discussion of THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL with Martin Meisel, the Brander Matthews Professor of Dramatic Literature Emeritus from Columbia University.

PROFESSOR J. ELLEN GAINOR, CORNELL UNIVERSITY

A discussion of Hankin: his life, his plays and his contemporaries with one of our very favorite post-show speakers.

DR. PAULA CLAYTON FROM THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION

St. John Hankin took his own life at the age of 40. In this discussion, we examine his suicide in the light of what he wrote on the topic in PRODIGAL and his other works. Clayton is the Medical Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

PROFESSOR PATRICIA DENISON, BARNARD COLLEGE

A discussion of Hankin and his contemporaries with Patricia Denison, Professor of Dramatic Literature at Barnard.

PROFESSOR GERALD WEALES, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Weales is the editor of the anthology, Edwardian Plays, which contains both RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL and THE MADRAS HOUSE.

Program

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