The Admirable Crichton

About

Barrie's 1902 comedy asks what would happen if the natural hierarchy of ability replaced the artificial hierarchy of class: when an aristocratic family and their butler are shipwrecked on a desert island, the butler Crichton — naturally the most capable person in the party — becomes the undisputed leader, only for the social order to snap back immediately on their rescue. The play is Barrie's sharpest satire and his most intellectually serious, combining genuine comedy of manners with an unresolved argument about whether social hierarchy is natural or constructed. Crichton himself is one of the best-drawn servant characters in English drama.