Night Noises

David E. Kemp, a former professor of drama at Queen’s University, is
the author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Fred Euringer is a professor emeritus of drama at Queen’s University,
a respected professional director and teacher, and the author of a
bestselling theatrical memoir (A Fly on the Curtain) and a collection of
short stories (A Dream of Horses).

Night Noises is based on fact. 1852, Dr. Marsden embarks on a Grand
Tour of Europe with his new wife, leaving his five daughters in Paris in
the care of Celestine Doudet. Just over a year later, Mary Anne, one of
the daughters, dies. Marsden removes his surviving daughters from
Doudet’s care, but after his return to England a second daughter
succumbs. Almost a year after his first daughter’s death, Marsden
files suit against Doudet (having withdrawn a similar action six months
earlier). Doudet receives a five-year sentence but is pardoned and
released after serving only three years.

The play raises many fascinating questions: Why did Marsden wait a year
after Mary Anne’s death to file charges? Why was Doudet pardoned? To
what degree was Marsden responsible for the abuse of his daughter? The
answer to these questions lies partly in the mid-Victorian obsessive
fear of sexuality and the lengths Victorians went to suppress what they
considered to be its visible manifestations. The play also offers a
timely reminder that even today, when it comes to matters of sex and
sexuality, we carry a 19th-century sensibility deep within us.

The author has provided an excellent introduction to a play that has
the rare virtue of being as enjoyable to read as it would be to watch on
stage.