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The Admirable Chrichton (Collected Works of James M. Barrie)

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J.M. Barrie's play "The Admirable Chrichton" is a delightful comedy. Roughly, it has a similar story that predates the old "Gilligan's Island" TV series. We have an English aristocrat Lord Loam and his three daughters, Lady Mary, Agatha & Catherine. The first act opens with Loam's democratic ideas where he has a monthly staff meeting with the servants. He & his family greet each by their names and treat them quite as equals for an hour before bossing them around again at the end of the meeting. Loam has decided to sail on a long voyage on his yacht. The second act opens with the shipwrecked aristocrats and crew beached on a desert island. Loam's family, his nephew Ernest, an accountant Treherne, his daughters' maid Tweeny and Loam's butler Chrichton are there. Chrichton (rhymes with "right on") pitches in immediately to build a crude shelter and organizes the survivors. There is a discussion about how the natural order may choose different leaders than was the case in England. By the third act, two years have passed. Chrichton is the undisputed leader and disciplinarian with all the others his servants. The hut is outfitted with crude shell dishes and even powered by energy from a stream. Chrichton, the one-time butler, proposes marriage to Lady Mary, an alliance that would have been socially unthinkable back in England. The act concludes as an English ship comes and rescues them. The final act IV reverses the social order back with servants and aristocrats doing their best to pretend that certain things never happened on the island. Lady Brocklehurst snoops to find out what really happened. Lord Loam is his bombastic spineless self. It is a very funny script. Written in 1903, two years before "Peter Pan," it is a delightful comedy of manners that holds up well 105 years later. I think it would still bring a smile to audiences today. Enjoy!