November 2002

Transferred to www.oscholars.com with minor revisions January 2009

The Associate Editor of THE OSCHOLARS with responsibility for helping with this issue of SHAVINGS was Julie A. Sparks of the Department of English, University of Arkansas-Monticello.

‘Oh, Shaw! That’s the man who smokes Jaeger cigarettes!’

– Oscar Wilde, quoted by Richard Le Gallienne: The Romantic Nineties. New edition. London: Putnam & Co. 1951 p.81.

Note: Subscribers to this Journal have their names printed in bold, and can be contacted through us at oscholars@gmail.com

Click  for the last issue of Shavings (October 2002); click    for the Table of Contents of this issue; click  to return to the Shavings home page.

I. The Plays.

II. Shawlines.

III. Anthology.

Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson on Shaw

IV. Bibliographies.

1. GBS for Wildeans.

2. Websites.

3. The Independent Shavian

V.  Tailpiece.

I. The Plays

In this section we shall try to cover productions of Shaw’s pre-1901 plays, and news of productions of these (with offers of review) will be most welcome.  The plays are Arms and the Man (1894), Cæsar and Cleopatra (1898), Candida (1895),Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (1899), The Devil’s Disciple (1897),The Man of Destiny (1895), Mrs Warren’s Profession (1893),The Philanderer (1893), Widowers’ Houses (1892), You Never Can Tell (1895). (Dates of composition, not first performance.) Wilde is known to have attended the first night of Arms and the Man (20th April 1894).

Michael Friend’s 2002 production of Arms and the Man had the following cast:

Raina	Liz Garland
Sergius	Callum Coates
Bluntschli	James Harwood

Michael Friend has staged a number of Shaw’s plays at Shaw’s Corner, Ayot St Lawrence. Full details of all the productions, cast lists, photographs, and touring plans for 2003, can be found at Error! Hyperlink reference not valid..  Saint Joan will be produced in July.

Sir Peter Hall’s production of Mrs Warren’s Profession opened at the Strand Theatre, London on 2nd October and runs to 1st February 2003.

Director	Peter Hall
Mrs Warren	Brenda Blethyn
Vivie Warren	Rebecca Hall
Mr Praed	Peter Blythe
Sir George Crofts	Richard Johnson
Frank Gardner	Laurence Fox
The Revd Samuel Gardner	James Saxon
Design	John Gunter
Lighting	Peter Mumford

II. Shawlines

In this section we will print all the news that we find or, better still, are sent.  We especially welcome news of Shaw on curricula.

We also wish to record articles and papers relating to the earlier Shaw, and news of new editions of Cashel Byron’s Profession (1886), An Unsocial Socialist (1887), The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891), Love Among the Artists (1900),as well as other related material.

Robert Neff Williams of the Drama Department at Juilliard has written a play based on the correspondence of Bernard Shaw and the actress Lillah McCarthy. The play, Myself and My Friends: An Evening Entertainment, will  be presented as a dramatized reading between two actors, directed by Mr. Williams, on Friday 6th December, Bernard Shaw Society, New York.

The International Shaw Society discussed at the Shaw Summit last August is taking shape. There is now a website (which contains an enormous amount of useful material) at http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~dietrich/iss.htm, the creation of the indefatigable Dick Dietrich.

The Shaw Season at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, is announced.  The plays for 2003 will be Widowers’ Houses (15th May  to 4th October) and Misalliance (10th April to 2nd November) .

Widowers’ Houses

III. A Shaw Anthology

from Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson: A Player under Three Reigns. London: T. Fisher Unwin. London 1925.

Pinero had not only a clear and definite idea of how he wanted his characters interpreted, but he was able to impart his views at rehearsal in a practical manner.

Of all the many dramatists I had come across, he was by far and away the best in this particular.  Only once since then have I met who had a like gift, and he was Bernard Shaw. [p.124]

During the autumn tour of 1900 I produced The Devil’s Disciple, a stimulating and delightful play which had a considerable success. The character of Dick Dudgeon appealed to me, but Bernard Shaw never liked me in the part, and frankly told me so in an amusing letter. [p.198]

[Cæsar and Cleopatra] Shaw had written the play with me in his mind for the name part, but no proper opportunity had been afforded me to undertake the the production.  Its reception at the Amsterdam Theatre in New York was most cordial and hearty.  Shaw had conducted the rehearsals with his usual tact and skill, getting the best out of us all.  Wishing him to witness the first night in New York, I urged him to come with us, but he declined, saying in his characteristic fashion: ‘You see, were I to go with you to America, I should become so popular that they would want to make me President, and that would bore me’.  This quip got into the papers and was naturally taken seriously by some acquintances of mine!

The play was well received all over America and Canada, and in the provinces and at home.  In London, I regret to say, it was not much appreciated. Shaw’s human and humane Cæsar did not appear to be understood.

In some quarters statements were made to the effect that the reason Cæsar and Cleopatra found more favour in New York than in London was that the New York audiences were less sophisticated!  To those who knew America’s theatre-going public, these insular pronouncements were highly amusing.

From my experience of the London audiences who witnessed Cæsar and Cleopatra, I came to the conclusion that they were clear cut into two opposite camps, those who actually disliked the play, and those who admired it and were enthusiastic in their praise [. . .]

I kept the play in my repertoire for several years, and always the attendance improved for Cæsar and Cleopatra upon a second visit to the town.  This was notably the case on its revival at Drury Lane during my farewell season, when a far better reception was accorded it than when first it was given in London. [pp.243-6]

The book contains a photograph of Forbes-Robertson as Cæsar.

IV. Bibliographies

1. GBS for Wildëans: A Bibliography of 19th century Shaw.

This will be a cumulative bibliography as references come to hand.

Beerbohm, Max: Around Theatres. London: Rupert Hart-Davis 1953.

This carries reviews of plays published in the Saturday Review, namely The Devil’s Disciple (‘“G.B.S.” at Kennington’, 7th October 1899, pp.38-41; and the 1907 revival ‘Mr. Vedrenne’, 26th October 1907, pp.481-4); You Never Can Tell (12th May 1900, pp.78-9); the 1901 reprint of Cashel Byron’s Profession (‘A Cursory Conspectus of G.B.S.’, 2nd November 1901, pp.171-5); Mrs Warren’s Profession (‘Mr Shaw’s Tragedy’, 1st February 1902, pp.191-5); the 1907 revival of The Philanderer (9th February 1907 pp.449-51); and the 1908 revival of Arms and the Man(4th January 1908, pp.491-3). There is also a review of the published edition of Three Plays for Puritans (The Devil’s Disciple, Cæsar and Cleopatra and Captain Brassbound’s Conversion) (‘Mr Shaw Crescent’, 26th January 1901, pp. 118-22).

Outside our current range are reviews of The Doctors’ Dilemma, Getting Married, John Bull’s Other Island, Major Barbara, Man and Superman, Misalliance, and Pygmalion.

Borsa, Mario: The English Stage of To-day. Translated from the original Italian and edited with a prefatory note by Selwyn Brinton M.A. London: John Lane The Bodley Head 1908. This has one chapter on Shaw.

Chapter IV: G.B.S.

Innes, Christopher (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to George Bernard Shaw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1998. This contains four essays on the younger Shaw:

Gordon, David J.: Shavian Comedy and the Shadow of Wilde;

Kelly, Katherine E.: Imprinting the Stage: Shaw and the Publishing Trade 1883-1903;

Marker, Frederick J.: Shaw’s early plays;

Powell, Kerry: New Women, new plays, and Shaw in the 1890s

Kennedy, J.M.: English Literature 1880-1905. London: Stephen Swift 1912. This contains one chapter on Shaw.

Chapter VI: George Bernard Shaw.

Laurence, Dan H.: Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters 1874-1897. London: Max Reinhardt 1965.

Laurence, Dan H: Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters 1898-1910. London: Max Reinhardt 1972.

Meisel, Martin: Shaw and the Nineteenth Century Theater. Princeton University Press 1963; new edition New York: Limelight Editions 1984 ISBN 0-87910-017-6.

Morgan, A.L.: Tendencies of Modern English Drama. London: Constable 1924. This contains three chapters on Shaw:

Chapter VI. Shaw the Iconoclast--Dramatic Iconoclast

Chapter VII: Shaw the Iconoclast--Social Iconoclast

Chapter VIII: Shaw the Philosopher.

2. Websites

A list of websites kindly provided  by Richard Dietrich (University of Southern Florida):

BERNARD SHAW SOCIETY WEB SITE (see illustration below):

http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~dietrich/shawsociety.html

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF FLORIDA SHAW SERIES WEBSITE:

http://www.upf.com/shaw.html

http://www.upf.com/se-shaw.html

SHAW BIZNESS WEB SITE:

http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~dietrich/shawbizness.html

INTERNATIONAL SHAW SOCIETY WEB SITE:

http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~dietrich/international_shaw_society/index.html

THE SHAW FESTIVAL

http://www.shawfest.com

Other websites include

http://www.infography.com/content/272906973619.html (a bibliography)

http://www.therightside.demon.co.uk/quotes/shaw/ which has 123 quotations from Shaw, but irritatingly does not source them.

http://www.georgebernardshaw.com/ is The Bernard Shaw Information & Research Service, which has as its Patrons Dame Diana Rigg, Dame Wendy Hiller, Brian Cox, Richard E Grant and Jerry Hall, a remarkable list.

http://www.phnet.fi/public/mamaa1/shaw.html also gives an unsourced list of ‘quotes’ -- ‘one-liners’ -- presented ina table. The best use of it is to check all those sayings ascribed to Wilde that are in fact by Shaw.

http://www.shawchicago.org is the site of the Shaw Chicago Theatre Company, specialising in Shaw’s plays.

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/notable%20houses/shaws%20corner.htm has two pictures of Shaw’s house and a brief account.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/centurions/shaw/shawbiog.shtml gives a biography of Shaw as it appeared to the BBC compilers.

3. The Independent Shavian

The Independent Shavian appears three times a year and is sent to all members of the Bernard Shaw Society at no charge as part of their membership dues.

V. Tailpiece

‘Shaw makes an excellent analysis of Wilde, declaring that Oscar was “incapable of friendship”, though not of the most touching kindness, on occasion.’

— Frank Harris: Bernard Shaw, An Unauthorised Biography based on firsthand information, with a postscript by Mr Shaw.  London: Victor Gollancz 1931.  3rd impression November 1931 p.266.

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