Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855 - 1934) was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director. In 1874 he joined R. H. Wyndham's company at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. After also acting in Liverpool, Pinero joined Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre company in London in 1876, where he acted in supporting roles for five years, and later played under the Bancrofts' management at the Haymarket Theatre. He received good notice in Sheridan's The Rivals, in 1884, which he had revised himself. Pinero began writing plays in the late 1870s while at the Lyceum, including Daisy's Escape in 1879 and Bygones in 1880.]He became a prolific and successful playwright, authoring fifty-nine plays. These include serious social dramas, some dealing with social hypocrisy surrounding attitudes to women in second marriages, including: “His House in Order” and “The second Mrs Tangueray”. He is best known for his comedies, of which the most notable are: “The Magistrate” (1885), “The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith” (1895), “Trelawny of the 'Wells'” (1898) and “The Gay Lord Quex” (1899).
