Six Short Plays

In Short

This collection of six brief dramas exposes the fragility of human composure when exposed to war, crime, and social hypocrisy. Across intimate parlor rooms, dimly lit train carriages, and bare theatrical stages, characters face snap decisions that pit moral integrity against self-preservation. John Galsworthy uses compressed, direct staging to ask how much compassion an individual can afford when society demands conformity or self-defense. The collection endures because its ethical dilemmas remain sharply recognizable: the compromise between justice and survival, the tragedy of misplaced prejudice, and the cold indifference of commercial institutions to artistic beauty.

The Story

The volume opens with The First and The Last, a tense family drama centered on two brothers. Larry Darrant arrives at the dark study of his prosperous brother, Keith, a King’s Counsel, and admits to killing a malicious pimp in defense of a young woman named Wanda. Keith attempts to orchestrate an escape to protect the family name, but when an innocent vagrant is arrested for the crime, Larry’s conscience revolts. Refusing to let another man hang for his action, Larry chooses suicide alongside Wanda, leaving a full confession pinned to the sofa. Keith discovers their bodies, destroys the written confession to preserve his career, and buries his own morality under the imperative of personal survival.

Social hypocrisy takes a satirical turn in The Little Man. Set in a European train carriage, an eccentric American, a dogmatic German, an English couple, and a timid English traveler argue about philosophy and human nature. When a poor mother is accidentally separated from her infant on the platform, the mild-named "Little Man" steps forward to cradle the child. When a rumor spreads that the baby has typhus, the loud moralizers flee in terror, leaving the Little Man to care for the infant through an absurd police arrest. He is ultimately vindicated when the spots prove to be mere dye from a shawl, earning the group’s sheepish respect.

Hall-marked skewers class pretension in a country garden. A local squire, his wife, and a rector’s family accept help from an unpretentious neighbor to tend an injured dog. The gentry shower her with compliments until they notice she wears no wedding ring, instantly suspecting her of living in sin. When she casually handles her husband's braces, their moral outrage prompts an abrupt, awkward retreat, prioritizing rigid decorum over gratitude.

The war plays, Defeat and The Sun, reveal the human cost of global conflict. In Defeat, a wounded English officer meets a German prostitute in London during World War I. They find brief solace in their shared misery, but when news of a British victory breaks outside, nationalistic fervor tears them apart; she refuses his money after he cheers the defeat of her country. In The Sun, a scarred soldier returns from the trenches expecting to marry his sweetheart, Daisy, only to find she has moved on with another veteran. Rather than fight, he accepts the loss with a hollow laugh, exhausted by violence.

Finally, Punch and Go exposes the commercial cynicism of the theatre. A director tries to rehearse a delicate poetic allegory, but the cynical producer shuts it down, demanding mindless "pep" and crowd-pleasing spectacle instead.

How It Unfolds

The confession Larry Darrant staggers into his lawyer brother Keith's dimly lit study, confessing that he accidentally killed a man while protecting Wanda, a vulnerable woman he loves.

The double tragedy When an innocent man is arrested for the murder, Larry refuses to flee; instead, he takes poison alongside Wanda, leaving a written confession that Keith promptly destroys to protect his own reputation.

The train platform A small, timid traveler steps up to hold a poor woman's baby when she gets stranded off a departing train, while the surrounding passengers debate brotherhood in theory but offer no help.

The false alarm A panic erupts in the carriage over a suspected case of typhus, leaving the Little Man to face police arrest alone until the baby's spots turn out to be nothing more than running dye.

The village emergency A country lady helps her upper-class neighbors treat an injured dog, earning their warmest praise for her kindness and immediate composure.

The missing ring The local gentry instantly shun their helpful neighbor the moment they notice her bare ring finger, choosing social judgment over gratitude.

An encounter in the dark A young English officer on leave spends an evening with a German woman in London, where their shared vulnerability briefly transcends wartime hatred.

The victory noise News of a heavy German defeat sweeps through the streets, driving the officer to cheer instinctively and breaking the fragile bond of compassion between them.

The return home A soldier returns from four years at the front to find his fiancé aligned with another man, choosing a bitter chuckle over a fight.

The rehearsal interrupted A theater director tries to stage a gentle fable about nature and beauty, only to have the theater manager cancel it in favor of loud, commercial slapstick.

The People

• Keith Darrant, K.C.: A successful, calculating lawyer driven entirely by self-preservation, reputation, and social standing. What stands in his way is his brother's impulsive crime and stubborn conscience. Keith ends up utterly compromised, sacrificing truth and his own ethics by destroying a dead man's confession to protect his career.
• Larry Darrant: Keith's sensitive, unstable younger brother who craves love and peace after picking up Wanda, a vulnerable woman. He is blocked by his own guilt when an innocent man is accused of his crime. Larry ends up choosing death over a lifetime of cowardice, poisoning himself beside Wanda.
• The Little Man: A gentle, unassuming traveler who desires only to be helpful and stay out of trouble. He is tested by the cowardice of his fellow travelers and the absurd bureaucracy of the station officials. He ends up hailed as a modest hero, remaining simple and unpretentious throughout.
• The Young Officer: A weary soldier seeking human warmth while recovering from the trenches. He is torn between his personal empathy for a lonely German girl and his knee-jerk nationalistic loyalty, ultimately succumbing to the feverish joy of a war victory.
• The German Girl: An isolated woman living precariously in London, cynical about human nature yet deeply vulnerable. She wants survival and simple kindness, but her patriotic pride forces her to reject the officer's money when he celebrates her home country's defeat.

In Its Own Voice

"I've still got some kind of honour. If I clear out before I know, I shall have none--nor peace."

Larry refuses to take his brother’s escape money while an innocent man stands accused of his crime.

"Where there's something little and weak, we feel it kind of noble to give up to it. That way we feel elevated."

An American traveler preaches the ideals of modern chivalry right before abandoning a helpless companion at the first sign of trouble.

"Give the Public what it wants; and what the Public wants is punch and go. They've got no use for Beauty, Allegory, all that high-brow racket."

A theatrical producer dismisses an artistic play in favor of mindless, profitable entertainment.

What It's Really About

These plays probe the divide between public morality and private action. Galsworthy repeatedly demonstrates how easily moral principles vanish when tested by fear, social embarrassment, or financial risk. Characters continuously preach chivalry, patriotism, and legal justice, yet act out of narrow self-interest the moment their comfort or reputation is threatened.

The collection also examines the quiet destruction caused by rigid social systems—whether the uncompromising British class structure, the meat-grinder of World War I, or the soul-crushing demands of commercial art. Underneath the dramatic twists lies a quiet plea for basic empathy. The plays argue that genuine human decency is rare, fragile, and almost always crushed by the noisy demands of society.

Why Read It Today

This collection will appeal to readers who enjoy concise, character-driven drama that cuts straight to the emotional core without fluff. Galsworthy’s playwriting is remarkably efficient; every scene moves with speed, and the dialogue carries the sharp rhythm of real conversation.

The collection is accessible, though modern readers must navigate early twentieth-century theatrical conventions, brief uses of German dialect, and the specific anxieties of First World War London. What lingers after reading is not stage trickery, but the quiet, haunting moments of choice: a lawyer standing over a fireplace with a dead man's confession, a quiet man holding a crying baby on an empty train platform, and a returning soldier walking away into the sun with a hollow laugh. Galsworthy never preaches; he simply holds up a mirror to human weakness and leaves the judgment to us.