Bridie, James

▪ Scottish playwright

pseudonym of  Osborne Henry Mavor  

born Jan. 3, 1888, Glasgow, Scot.

died Jan. 29, 1951, Edinburgh

      Scottish playwright whose popular, witty comedies were significant to the revival of the Scottish drama during the 1930s.

      Trained at the University of Glasgow's medical school, Bridie maintained a successful general practice (until 1938) and served as a physician in World War I and World War II. His first play, The Sunlight Sonata (1928), written under the pseudonym of Mary Henderson, was staged by the Scottish National Players. Three years later Bridie achieved success with his London production of The Anatomist (1931), based on a well-known criminal case. Considered distinctively Scottish in their unexpected twists of fancy and thought-provoking contents, his plays include Jonah and the Whale (1932); A Sleeping Clergyman (1933), also based on a criminal case; Marriage Is No Joke (1934); Colonel Wotherspoon (1934); The King of Nowhere (1938); One Way of Living (1939), an autobiographical drama; Mr. Bolfry (1943); Dr. Angelus (1947); and The Queen's Comedy (1950). He was also a cofounder (1943) of the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre.

Additional Reading

John Thomas Low, Doctors, Devils, Saints, and Sinners: A Critical Study of the Major Plays of James Bridie (1980).

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