By Grant Golden
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario – The Shaw Festival presents Diana of Dobson's by Cicely Hamilton through October 4. It's directed by Alisa Palmer and features Severn Thompson, Evan Buliung, Goldie Semple, Patricia Hamilton and Peter Hutt.
Shop Assistant Diana Massingberd is a spirited young woman destined to live a life of genteel poverty when she unex-pectedly inherits a small but not insignificant sum of money. The sensible plan would be to put it in the bank, but this is not for Diana - she decides to spend it all in a blaze of glory. A trip abroad in the guise of a rich young widow brings her to the Swiss Alps, and to an unexpected meeting with an aristocratic young man who falls for her - or is it perhaps just for her money?
Written in 1908 by journalist, actress and suffragette Cicely Hamilton, Diana of Dobson's is a delightful Girl's-Own adventure with a feminist twist. Actress Lena Ashwell, who played Diana during the play's original run in London, wrote, "I reveled in every second, enjoyed every line I had to speak!"
Click the "listen" icon above to hear Grant Golden's review of Diana of Dobson's.