J. M. Barrie

Quality Street J. M. Barrie

Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937), best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan, was a Scottish author and dramatist whose works have enjoyed frequent revivals in film and on stage. "Quality Street" appeared in 1903, one year before the production of Peter Pan, as Barrie was becoming somewhat of a sensation in the theatrical world. This four-act comedy is an adult fairy tale of sorts, brought to life by Barrie's charming imagination and ability to weave between reality and fantasy. Pheobe Throssel and Valentine Brown are a young couple separated by the Neopoleonic wars for ten years, only to find themselves the unfortunate victims of time and age upon their reunion. This story of lost love, spinsters, secret disguises, and the complexities of human emotion will enchant readers today as much as it did the audiences of New York and London over a century ago.