Second Plays

A.A. Milne's Second Plays gathers a varied set of stage works that move from whimsical fantasy to sharp social comedy and domestic farce. Framed by Milne's witty dedication and mischievous introduction, the volume offers a comic manifesto on writing for the theatre, taking playful aim at critics, managers, and the frustrations of serious dramatists while introducing the plays with sly confidence and charm. The collection includes Make-Believe, first staged at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1918, where Rosemary tries to invent a Christmas play and the Hubbard children turn imagination into chaos, conjuring pirates, princesses, Father Christmas, and more. The Romantic Age presents a teasing fairy-tale courtship in which a Princess, a Woodcutter, and three wildly different Princes become entangled in questions of rank, duty, and desire. Mr. Pim Passes By delivers a brilliantly muddled drawing-room farce in which an offhand remark about a supposedly dead husband threatens a marriage and exposes the brittle rules of propriety. Together with The Camberley Triangle and The Stepmother, these plays showcase Milne's light touch, comic invention, and keen eye for human absurdity. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.