Margaret Fleming (play)

This article has an unclear citation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation and footnoting. (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Margaret Fleming is an 1890 play by James A. Herne. The play is remarkable because many critics consider it to be the first "modern" drama, a play that focused more on the psychological complexities of its characters and on the role of social determinism the characters' lives than on dramatic or melodramatic retellings.

It first ran in Lynn, Massachusetts, in July 1890, but was rejected as too controversial by theater managers in New York and Boston. Two friends and financiers of Herne's rented a theater in Boston for its opening, and the play had two three-week runs, one in May and one in October 1891. Herne's wife, Katherine Corcoran, played the title role; Herne played Philip Fleming during the trial runs but later switched to the role of street peddler Joe Fletcher. Although some critics liked the attempt towards realism, many others felt the play dwelt too much on unseemly characters and events, and audiences were shocked when Margaret nurses the baby (not her own) onstage.