Mr. Jerome K. Jerome has scored two distinct successes this season with plays that have each points of originality which remove them from the ordinary achievements of successful dramatists. "Fanny and the Servant Problem" is as much out of the common as "The Passing of the Third Floor Back." The title, however, is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as it is not so much the problem of the servants as the problem of Fanny's relatives which makes up the sum and substance of Mr. Jerome's interesting work. Fanny had gone on the variety stage, and while appearing in Paris had attracted the love of Lord Bantock, who is only known to her as Vernon Wetherell, a young artist. She marries him, and when he takes her to his English home, she finds herself face to face with her sanctimonious uncle and aunt, who are respectively butler and housekeeper to the Bantock family, and twenty-three cousins who complete the ménage of the establishment. Fanny has always been regarded as the black sheep of the Bennet family, the person for whom their righteous prayers are offered up in vain. They tyrannize over her, she is afraid to speak the truth to her husband, but in the end, in a scene of fine dramatic power, she throws down the gauntlet, writes a cheque in full for their wages, and dismisses them at a moment's notice. This drastic measure produces excellent results. Lord Bantock, after the first shock, realizes that he has made an excellent marriage, and her uncle and aunt recognize the error they have committed, and the curtain falls on what promises to be a satisfactory solution of Fanny's difficulties. In the title part Miss Fannie Ward was seen to great advantage, and displayed a power that only those who have noticed her remarkable development of late could witness without complete surprise. A fine piece of character acting was also contributed by Mr. Chas. Cartwright. - The Play-Pictorial, Vol. 12 [1908]