Publisher's Synopsis
'The Squire' was originally produced at the St James' Theatre under the Hare and Kendal management, Mrs. Kendal playing the Squire, Kendal the husband, and Hare Parson Dormer. It is one of Pinero's very best plays, and last week received a rendering from Miss Rorke's Company in every way worthy of it.
The story of the marriage of The Squire and Captain Thorndyke rivets the attention from the first, and it is with an ever growing interest that it unfolds its sad course. Its only blemish is the obliging and convenient death of the siren with which it ends. In real life one cannot but fear it would have no such fortunate conclusion. The genuine humour of Mr. Pinero's villagers forms an admirable contrast to the sadness of his tale, and he has never written a more amusing 'curtain' than that which terminates the first act.
The Company is the best we ever remember to have seen at the New Theatre. Miss Rorke's fame as an actress is well known, but her rendering of Kate Verity, if possible, increases it. Both in the lighter touches of the first, and in the pathos of the second and third acts, she is worthy of all praise.
-"The Cambridge Review," Volume 21
