'"[1] The Ivory Door premiered on Broadway on October 18, 1927 at the Punch and Judy Theater (later the Charles Hopkins Theatre), starring Henry Hull, Louise Closser Hale, and Donald Meek.
The Ivory Door was later produced at the Haymarket Theater on April 17, 1929, starring Angela Baddeley, Rosina Filippi, C. M. Lowne, Sam Livesey, and Francis Lister.
"[citation needed] The New Statesman praised the plot as "extraordinarily worked out," particularly the "pure dramatic innovation" of the final act.
"[7] Milne was distraught at the poor reception of a play he was particularly fond of, writing: "The Ivory Door is damned and slammed not by the public but by the critics.
After the two discuss such subjects as love, marriage, governing the kingdom, and the inevitability of death, the conversation turns to a door behind a tapestry.
His sergeant-at-arms Brand comforts him, saying it is natural to be nervous about a marriage to a woman he has never met, and suggesting he should do something to distract himself.
He emerges into bright sunlight beside a nearby river, and decides to walk back overland to the castle.
Some productions include an epilogue, in which an old man wearing a king's crown listens to a young boy ask whether the stories about how Baram the Great defended the kingdom from demons are true.
In one interpretation, the play is an overt criticism of religious dogma, in which Perivale and Lilia are presented as heroic figures who learn the truth about myth and legend.
Left open to audience is debate is the matter of whether Brand is a hero also, for keeping the peace and maintaining the status quo, or a villain for perpetuating a lie, however well-intentioned it might have been.
Also left open to interpretation is the role that mythologies and other factually inaccurate stories play in a society.