The New Student's Reference Work/Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing

Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing, the son of a solicitor, was born in London, May 24, 1855. Like Shakespeare, he was an actor but he left the stage in 1881 and since then has devoted himself entirely to play-writing. He began his stage career in 1874 at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. Two years later he went to London on an engagement at the Globe Theatre. Then, for five years, he was a member of the Lyceum Company. He was knighted in 1909.

His first production, to attract general attention, was “The Money Spinner”, which was produced at the St. James's theatre, London, in 1880. His most celebrated play is “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray”, which was first played at the same theatre in 1893. It at once created wide discussion, both because of the art displayed in the work and the nature of the subject, which deals with the sex problem.

In the general opinion of critics it places the author among the very first of living dramatists.