When Knights Were Bold
by Harriet Jay and Robert Buchanan
The plot of . . . “When Knights Were Bold,” is
more or less original as modern comedies go. It circles round the love affair of a man
and a maid. In the first act, a very twentieth century one, the hero, despite the
pronounced encouragement of the heroine, fails to screw up his courage to the proposing
point. When alone he can declare his love manfully enough, but in the maid’s presence
he becomes as shy as an early Victorian school miss. As the curtain falls, he writes
himself down as an ass, takes a big drink, smokes a cigarette, and—dreams.
Act II represents the dream. It is the medieval age—the age of chivalry, of bold, bad barons and gallant knights. An ancestor of the hero is one of these latter. His love story is depicted vividly. There is nothing lackadaisical about the lovemaking. The bold knight finally seizes the maiden in his arms and carries her off bodily to the altar in the face of strenuous opposition.
In act III the twentieth century again appears. There hero wakes up and follows, so far as modernity will let him, the example of his ancestory shown him in the second act.
— San Francisco Call, 14 December 1906
Sadly, we haven’t tracked down the script (possibly because it was
never published), but we know from several reviews that the modern day Sir Guy
loathes the very mention of days of old.
When Knights Were Bold by Harriet Jay and Robert Buchanan (at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, UK, 17
September 1906).