Thomas Hardy's short story "On the Western Circuit" has been turned into a gentle two-part drama - under a different title, "Day After the Fair" - for PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre." Both parts will air Sunday starting at 9 p.m. on Channel 12 (WHYY).
It's a charming, romantic tale that uses a standard device of such novelists as Richard Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith: a go-between in a love affair. In this case, it's Edith Harnham, the wife of a prosperous brewer in Victorian England.
Anna, the voluptuous, fun-loving but illiterate maid, played vivaciously by blond Sammi Davis, has been given the day off to go to the fair. It's a lovely country scene, with a carousel and Ferris wheel and Anna being treated to her rides by a handsome gentleman. The soft-spoken Edith, played with elegance and grace by Hannah Gordon, looks on longingly. She, too, has wandered out alone to take in the festivities, something her stern and undemonstrative husband, Arthur (Kenneth Haigh), would no doubt disapprove of.
Preoccupied with business dealings, Arthur runs a tight ship. Not trusting his beautiful wife to do his housekeeping, he has left it in the hands of his sister Letty (Anna Massey), an efficient, kindly soul who constantly tries to convince him Edith is quite capable of being mistress of the house.
The household routine is disrupted when Anna returns home late, all bubbly and excited about the young man she met. It develops he's a young barrister
from London, Charles Bradford (Martyn Stanbridge), and he has written her a love letter she wants desperately to answer. The problem is she can't write.
