The plot centres around ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell, his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England and his fall from grace and suicide after his affair with married woman Amy O'Connell, who dies after a botched abortion.
The title may refer to the waste of his potential talents due to the scandal, the loss of the disestablishment bill and the termination of Amy's pregnancy.
Recent productions include John Barton's in 1985 for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican, with Daniel Massey as Trebell and Judi Dench as Amy, one in 1997 at the Old Vic by the Peter Hall Company (with Michael Pennington as Trebell, Anna Carteret as Frances and Peter Blythe as Charles Cantilupe) and a well-received one at the Almeida Theatre (directed by Samuel West and starring Will Keen as Trebell, Nancy Carroll as Amy and Phoebe Nicholls as Frances).
In November 2015, the National Theatre revived the play, directed by Roger Michell and starring Charles Edwards as Trebell and Olivia Williams as Amy, using the 1927 version of the text.
The most recent dramatisation was broadcast on the World Service in 1995 and featured Rachel Weisz, Penelope Wilton and Timothy West.