The politics and plays of Bernard Shaw / by Judith Evans.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Judith, 1916-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950--Political and social views.

Shaw, Bernard.

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Politics and literature.

Political and social views.

Great Britain.

History.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Political plays, English--History and criticism.

Political plays, English.

Physical Description:

ix, 215 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., [2003]

Summary:

Do politics and the playhouse go together? For Bernard Shaw they most certainly did. As a playwright with a message he saw the theatre as the ideal medium for conveying his view of life, which was essentially socialistic. The theatre was to Shaw a latter-day temple of the arts within a community. But Shaw was, of course, multi-voiced, not only through the characters he created but also in his own persona as public speaker, essayist, tract writer and author of works on political economy. Much of the thinking that is expressed in his non-dramatic works is contained also in his plays. This work offers a readily accessible means of looking at the nature and the progression of Shaws thinking. All the plays included in the major canon are reviewed and, except for brief plays and playlets (which are grouped), they are presented in sequential order.

Contents:

Shaw joins the London intelligentsia

Shaw joins the Fabian Society

Fabian essays in socialism : Shaw as editor and essayist

The Fabian tracts : Shaw as tract writer and editor

Shaw and the theatre

A new theory of drama and a new philosophy : Major critical essays and the preface to Three plays by Brieux

Plays unpleasant

Plays pleasant

Plays about empire : Three plays for Puritans and The admirable Bashville

Creative evolution comes to the theatre : Man and superman

a comedy and a philosophy

Aspects of twentieth-century society presented in the drama

The playwright with the Fabian touch : Fanny's first play

The drama in brief

A time of definition

The politics of war and of peace

A new arena : What I really wrote about the war

Two plays written before the First World War : Androcles and the lion and Pygmalion

Playlets about marriage and sexual deviance

Playlets written during the war

Heartbreak house : a fantasia in the Russian manner on English themes

Back to Methuselah : a metabiological pentateuch

A widening of vision

The years of acclaim

"The most important book since the Bible" : The intelligent woman's guide to socialism and capitalism

"The League of Nations" : Shaw visits Geneva

Shaw's last Fabian tract

A new politicization of the drama and a new theatrical venue

Saint Joan : a chronicle play in six scenes and an epilogue

Two political extravaganzas : The apple cart and Too true to be good

Two more plays in partnership : On the rocks and The simpleton of the unexpected isles

Life outside politics : Village wooing and The millionairess

A minor playlet : The six of calais ; and two major plays : Geneva, and "In good King Charles's golden days"

A critical question remains unanswered

The world's mentor

Everybody's political what's what? : a political finale

The last years of a playwright

Two post-atomic plays : Buoyant billions and Farfetched fables

Shakes versus Shav : a puppet play and a conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-211) and index.

ISBN:

0786413239

OCLC:

50041299