Margaret Stahl: in "The Servant in the House"

              1929
THE COIT LYCEUM BUREAU, CLEVELAND
Presents
MARGARET STAHL
IN
The Servant in the House
By Charles Rann Kennedy

PROGRAM V
CHARACTERS


JAMES PONSONBY MAKESHYFTE, D. D.
The Most Reverend, The Lord Bishop of Lancashire


THE REVEREND WILLIAM SMYTHE
Vicar


MARTHA
The Vicar's Wife


MARY
Their Niece


MR. ROBERT SMITH
A gentleman of necessary occupation


ROGERS
A page boy


MANSON
A butler



TIME—An early morning in spring.

PLACE—An English Country Vicarage.


SYNOPSIS
The Servant in the House is a modern morality play, the keynote of which is The Brotherhood of Man.  It deals with the struggle of real Religion and its artificial substitute.  The scene is laid in the home of an English Vicar and time is a morning in spring.  The characters are symbolical.  Manson, the butler (in reality the Bishop of Benares) representing the exponent of The Living Church, who is imbued with the Christ spirit.  The Reverend William Smythe, the Vicar, epitomizes the preacher wavering between the world and the truth; Martha, his wife, personifies Ambition in search of social success and fame; James Ponsonby Makeshyfte, D. D., the Most Reverend, the Lord Bishop of Lancashire, represents the financial and political basis of the Church, so called, as under the guise of Religion he furthers his own selfish interests with unscrupulous cunning and cleverness.  Mary is symbolical of Innocence groping for light and knowledge; and Robert Smith, (brother of the Vicar and Bishop of Benares) the Drain Man, the great vital character of the play, demonstrates the condition of the foundations of the modern temple of worship, and stands for the outcasts of the world, who go their way in darkness, because of man's inhumanity to man.  He proves, however, that under a rough exterior can beat a nobel, unselfish heart, capable of the most supreme of sacrifices, that of giving up one's life to save another's.  The entire play revolves around Manson, The Servant in the House, whose effect on the various characters is most remarkable.  The influence of the Spirit within him awakens and brings out the best of all with whom he comes in contact.  The troubled and unsettled household is restored to order, and the Church itself, which was undermined by Hypocrisy and Selfishness, is started anew with a foundation of Love, Joy, Peace, Gentleness, Goodness and Faith.