The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw

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 Shaw's 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.

"1005029427"
The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw

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 Shaw's 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.

39.95 In Stock
The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw

The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw

by Judith Evans
The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw

The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw

by Judith Evans

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Overview

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 Shaw's 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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780786413232
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date: 12/31/2002
Pages: 225
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

The late Judith Evans, retired from the Education Department of the Warwick County Council, and lived in Warwickshire, United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments    
Preface    

PART I: Politics and the Playhouse (1876–1911)
1 Shaw Joins the London Intelligentsia   
2 Shaw Joins the Fabian Society   
3 Fabian Essays in Socialism: Shaw as Editor and Essayist   
4 The Fabian Tracts: Shaw as Tract Writer and Editor   
5 Shaw and the Theatre   
6 A New Theory of Drama and a New Philosophy: Major Critical Essays and the Preface to Three Plays by Brieux   
7 Plays Unpleasant   &
8 Plays Pleasant   
9 Plays About Empire: Three Plays for Puritans and The Admirable Bashville   
10 Creative Evolution Comes to the Theatre: Man and Superman—A Comedy and a Philosophy   
11 Aspects of Twentieth-Century Society Presented in the Drama   
12 The Playwright with the Fabian Touch: Fanny's First Play   
13 The Drama in Brief   
14 A Time of Definition   

PART II: The Horizons of War: A European Playwright (1912–1919)
15 The Politics of War and of Peace   
16 A New Arena: What I Really Wrote About the War   
17 Two Plays Written Before the First World War: Androcles and the Lion and Pygmalion   
18 Playlets About Marriage and Sexual Deviance   
19 Playlets Written During the War   
20 Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes   
21 Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch   
22 A Widening of Vision   

PART III: “All the World’s a Stage” for the Political Playwright (1920–1939)
23 The Years of Acclaim   
24 “The Most Important Book Since the Bible”: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism   
25 “The League of Nations”: Shaw Visits Geneva   
26 Shaw’s Last Fabian Tract   
27 A New Politicization of the Drama and a New Theatrical Venue   
28 Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue   
29 Two Political Extravaganzas: The Apple Cart and Too True to Be Good   
30 Two More Plays in Partnership: On the Rocks and The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles   
31 Life Outside Politics: Village Wooing and The Millionairess   
32 A Minor Playlet: The Six of Calais; and Two Major Plays: Geneva and “In Good King Charles’s Golden Days”   
33 A Critical Question Remains Unanswered   

PART IV: A Reluctant Icon (1940–1950)
34 The World’s Mentor   
35 Everybody’s Political What’s What? A Political Finale   
36 The Last Years of a Playwright   
37 Two Post-Atomic Plays: Buoyant Billions and Farfetched Fables   
38 Shakes versus Shav: A Puppet Play, and a Conclusion   

Notes   
Bibliography   
Index   
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