Dangerous Corner

Like many of J.B. Priestley’s play Danger Corner plays with the idea of time and circumstance, asking the all-important question: what if? The play opens in the drawing room of Freda and Robert Caplan’s country house. They have been hosting a dinner party for family (Freda’s brother Gordon, and his wife Betty), colleagues (Charles Stanton and Olwen Peel), and friends (Maud Mockridge). While the men enjoy their drinks in the dining room, the ladies listen to a radio play called “The Sleeping Dog”. After being joined by the menfolk, the conversation swiftly turns to a musical cigarette box that is a relatively new appearance in the drawing room. When Olwen makes a fleeting, yet poignant remark that she has seen the box before, the party are drawn into a spiraling series of shocking revelations about the death of Robert’s brother, Martin, and their emotionally complex relationships with each other. The group has turned a dangerous corner and the truth, the entire truth, comes tumbling out. Should they have let sleeping dogs lie? As the play reaches its climax, the scene suddenly returns to the opening moments of the play as the party listens to the radio and relaxes after dinner. This time, the cigarette box isn’t mentioned and the dinner party continues as planned.