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December
2002 |
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Transferred to www.oscholars.com with minor revisions
January 2009 |
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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. |
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‘Oh, Shaw! That’s the man who
smokes Jaeger cigarettes!’ |
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Note: Subscribers
to this Journal have their names printed in bold, and can be contacted
through us at oscholars@gmail.com |
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1.
The Plays
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In this section we 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). |
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Michael Friend’s 2002 of Arms and the Man had the
following cast: |
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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. |
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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. |
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Director |
Peter Hall |
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Mrs
Warren |
Brenda Blethyn |
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Vivie
Warren |
Rebecca Hall |
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Mr
Praed |
Peter Blythe |
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Sir
George Crofts |
Richard Johnson |
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Frank
Gardner |
Laurence Fox |
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The
Revd Samuel Gardner |
James Saxon |
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Design |
John Gunter |
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Lighting |
Peter Mumford |
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2. 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
3. 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 one 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 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 fisrt 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 acquaintances 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 auidiences 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.
4. Bibliographies
GBS for
Wildëans: A Bibliography of 19th century Shaw.
This will be a cumulative biography 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.
Beerbohm, Max: More Theatres. London: Rupert Hart-Davis 1969.
This volume contains Beerbohm’s pieces for the Saturday Review that he
omitted from the first edition of Around Theatres (1924), an omission
followed in the 1953 edition.
This volume opens with three squibs against Shaw ‘G.B.S.
Oblige’ (9th April 1898, pp.17-21), ‘Mr Shaw’s Profession’ (14th May 1898,
pp.21-4) and ‘Mr Shaw’s Profession II’ (pp.25-7, 21st May 1898). These
contain allusions to Arms and the Man (p.25), Candida (p.26), Mrs
Warren’s Profession (pp.21-4, 25), Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant (p.11),
The Devil’s Disciple (pp.21, 335), The
Philanderer (p.21), Widowers’ Houses (21, 25), You Never Can
Tell (pp.25, 26).
There are further references to Mrs Warren’s
Profession (p70), Arms and the Man (p267), Cæsar & Cleopatra
(p.271),
The volume also contains a review of Captain
Brassbound’s Conversion (29th December 1900, pp.335-7). From beyond
our period is The Admirable Bashville (pp.580-2).
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.
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
WEB SITE: 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.shawchicago.org
is the site of the Shaw Chicago Theatre Company, specialising in Shaw’s plays;
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 in a
table. The best use of it is to check all those sayings ascribed to Wilde
that are in fact by Shaw; 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.
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.
‘It was Shaw’s realism, his insistence of only
recognising real values, that called forth Oscar Wilde’s epigram, which I must
requote here. “Shaw,” he said, “hasn’t an enemy in the world, and none
of his friends like him.”’
— 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.129.
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