Plays by George Bernard Shaw
Passion Play 1878 Obscure fragment. The first act is set in Nazareth, where Jesus is a young man in his twenties, unhappy at his recent rejection by a local beauty named Rahab. The second act is set in Jerusalem some years later, after some marvels attributed to Jesus have happened.
Un Petit Drame 1958 One act playlet: In 1884, while studying French, George Bernard Shaw wrote his first complete work for the stage, a playlet entitled Un Petit Drame. This early piece, a parody of French melodrama, manifested a tension that existed within Shaw throughout his career: the simultaneous and conflicting desire to both absorb and critique French culture.
Widower's Houses 1893 First successful play: A young doctor named Harry Trench becomes engaged to Blanche, daughter of Sartorious, a self-made businessman. However, when Harry discovers that Sartorius is a slumlord, he is disgusted and refuses to allow Blanche to accept money from her father after they are married. They break up over this, but Sartorius reveals that Trench's income depends on interest from mortgaged tenements and, therefore, is as dirty as the money made by Sartorious.
The Philanderer 1898 Leonard Charteris is a man committed to remaining unattached. He is a philosophizing philanderer who believes that only conventional people marry while advanced people form "charming friendships." But when he meets a self-described "new woman" who belongs only to herself and is the property of no man, he finds he may have met his match, if not his mate.
Mrs. Warren's Profession 1898 Created public uproar because prostitution was realistically discussed. At a cathartic stay at her mother's house, Vivi is told that her mother, Mrs Warren, is a member of the "oldest profession". Mrs Warren's confession is met with a sympathetic hearing from her daughter. Sixty year old Sir George Crofts proposes marriage to 21-year-old Vivi offering her financial security, which is based on his investment in, and profits from, the Euro-wide brothels, managed by Mrs Warren.
Arms and the Man 1898 In war and love, pragmatism beats bravado.
Candida 1898 A woman chooses the man who needs her most over the one who loves her most: Candida is the wife of the Reverend James Mavor Morell, a Christian Socialist. She returns home briefly from a trip to London with Eugene Marchbanks, a young poet who wants to rescue her from what he presumes to be her dull family life. Ultimately, Candida must choose between the two gentlemen.
The Man of Destiny 1898 General Napoleon, who is liberating Italy for the republican cause, is waiting for his dispatches in a little inn. The lieutenant who was suppose to have been carrying them arrives, but they have been stolen from him on the way by a youth. A mysterious young lady arrived at the Inn just that morning. A battle of wits takes place between the lady and Napoleon, since he recognizes that she and the "youth" are one and the same.
You Never Can Tell 1998 Comedy for comedy's sake: Mrs Clandon and her three children, Dolly, Phillip and Gloria, have just returned to England after an eighteen-year stay in Madeira. The children have no idea who their father is and, through a comedy of errors, end up inviting him to a family lunch.
The Devil's Disciple 1901 A melodrama drawn from the American Revolution. Shaw's
only full-length play with a solely American locale: Richard "Dick" Dudgeon is an outcast from his family, but surprisingly inherits his father's estate. Anthony Anderson, the local minister, treats him with courtesy despite his self-proclaimed apostasy, but Dick's "wickedness" appalls Anderson's wife Judith. In error, British soldiers arrest Dick, mistaking him for Anderson, and Dick allows them to take him away, knowing that they will hang him.
The Gadfly: or The Son of the Cardinal 1898
Caesar and Cleopatra 1901 The game is not romance but politics: Cleopatra has been driven into Syria by her brother, Ptolemy, with whom she is vying for the Egyptian throne. A messenger warns that Caesar's conquest is inevitable and irresistible. The guards, knowing of Caesar's weakness for women, plan to persuade him to proclaim Cleopatra—who may be controllable—Egypt's ruler instead of Ptolemy. Cleopatra meets Caesar, who is incognito, and, thinking him a nice old man, tells him of her childish fear of Caesar and the Romans.
Captain Brassbound's Conversion 1901: Lady Cicely Wayneflete and her brother-in-law, the judge Sir Henry Hallam, are escorted on an expedition into the wilds of Morocco by Brassbound, bent on revenge for a wrongdoing in the past. Lady Cicely disarms the surly Brassbound, and mocks his vindictiveness, giving him a renewed sense of purpose.
The Admirable Bashville, or Constancy Unrewarded 1909 Based loosely on Cashel Byron's Profession
Man and Superman 1903 Epic flight of a Socialist reformer hoping to escape a woman bent on marriage: The plot centers on John Tanner, author of "The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion," which is published with the play as a 58-page appendix. Tanner is a confirmed bachelor despite the pursuits of Ann Whitefield and her persistent efforts to make him marry her. Ann is referred to as "the Life Force" and represents Shaw's view that in every culture, it is the women who force the men to marry them rather than the men who take the initiative.
Don Juan in Hell: Act III of Man and Superman 1903 A dream sequence revises the Don Juan legend; it is often produced as a separate play.
John Bull's Other Island 1907 An Irishman's view of Edwardian England: Larry Doyle, originally from Ireland, and Tom Broadbent, his English (and very Machiavellian) business partner are civil engineers who run a firm in London. They go to Roscullen, where Doyle was born, to develop some land. Broadbent, a lively man who seemingly is not always aware of the impression he makes, becomes a favourite of the people.
How He Lied to Her Husband 1907 Satirizes Candida. The heroine, Aurora, strong as to flesh, finds her spirit weak. Aurora Bompas is distressed because she has misplaced some poems, in which she is identified by name, written for her with declarations of love by the impetuous Henry Apjohn. She suspects her sister-in-law Georgina stole them from her workbox and is concerned she will read them to Aurora's husband Teddy.
Major Barbara 1907: An Officer of The Salvation Army, Major Barbara Undershaft, becomes disillusioned when her Christian denomination accepts money from an armaments manufacturer (her father) and a whisky distiller. She eventually decides that bringing a message of salvation to people who have plenty will be more fulfilling and genuine than converting the starving in return for bread.
Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction 1905 A one-act farce to benefit The Actors' Orphanage: This is a wildly insane play, and atypical of Shaw. Lady Magnesia is preparing for bed when her husband tries to come in and kill her. But in the psychedelic light her lover appears and is promptly poisoned by her husband. The antidote is lime, so he starts eating the ceiling's plaster and turns into a statue. The normality of the cuckoo clock returns after lightning kills the interloping doctor, policeman and landlord.
The Doctor's Dilemma 1911 A doctor who has developed a new cure for tuberculosis, has only enough of it for one patient. He then has to choose which patient he is going to give it to: a kindly poor medical colleague, or an extremely gifted but also very unpleasant young artist with a young and vivacios wife with whom the doctor is somewhat in love, which makes it even harder for the doctor to separate his motives for the decision.
The Interlude at the Playhouse 1907 Extremely humorous one-scene playlet. This playlet was written to introduce Winifred Emery—actress and wife of the manager—at the gala opening of the Playhouse. It was not performed again.
Getting Married 1911 Matrimony from the Shavian point of view: Getting Married is the story of a wedding day that doesn’t come off as planned. Instead of putting on their wedding finery and appearing at the church, the young bride and groom are having second thoughts — not about each other, but about whether marriage carries too many risks, legal and social. Meanwhile, their friends and relatives, some single, some married, some trying to become unmarried, are experiencing their own hilarious crises.
The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet. ‘A tearing, flaring, revivalist drama’ was how Desmond MacCarthy described The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet. Set in America’s Wild West and aptly subtitled ‘A Sermon in Crude Melodrama’, this single-act play concerns the conversion of a horse thief desperate to ‘keep the devil’ in him and die game. Published in 1909, it brought Shaw into conflict with the Lord Chamberlain of England, who banned it on the grounds of alleged blasphemy, and it was twelve years before the play was performed in a London theatre.
Press Cuttings 1909 Burlesques the conservative male reaction to the threat of Women's Suffrage: A farce in which a Prime Minister and a general are converted to the suffrage movement by the antics of a couple of anti-suffragists.
Fascinating Foundling: Disgrace to the author 1926 No in-laws, please! A man and a woman are very definite about what they will and what they won't tolerate in a mate. Having little or no family is a plus. A lawyer unwittingly helps them find each other.
The Glimpse of Reality, A Tragedietta 1926: Set in 15th Century Italy, this playlet is about self-knowledge. The "glimpse of reality" comes when Ferruccio, the Italian aristocrat, under threat of death, does some inner probing and calls himself "a man who has found his soul". His self-portrait is devastating: "Outside the life I lead all to myself -- the life of thought and poetry -- I know only two pleasures: cruelty and lust."
Misalliance 1914 Supplement to Getting Married: Hypatia is fed up with the stuffy conventions that surround her and with the hyperactive talk of the men in her life. She is engaged to Bentley Summerhays, an intellectually bright but physically and emotionally underdeveloped aristocrat. Hypatia is restless with her engagement as the play starts. She longs for some adventure to drop out of the sky, and it does. An aircraft crashes through the roof of the conservatory.
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets 1914 Fundraiser to help establish National Theatre as memorial for Shakespeare: A young William Shakespeare has planned a tryst with a lady of the court and is taken by surprise when he encounters a sleep-walking queen.
Fanny's First Play 1914 Shaw called it a "potboiler": Count O'Dowda gives his daughter the birthday gift of a professional production of her play. It turns out to have a subject closer to the bone than he would've liked.
Androcles and the Lion 1914 Martyrdom for fun and profit: Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requited mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw makes Androcles out to be one of many Christians being led to the Colosseum for torture. One of the most famous passages of the play is Lavinia's metaphor of capturing a mouse to converting from Christianity to believing in the Roman gods, where Lavinia shows that the most important part of religion is earnestness and a lack of hypocrisy.
Overruled: A Demonstration 1916 Not an argument for or against polygamy: A
clinical study of how polygamy actually occurs among quite ordinary people innocent of all unconventional views concerning it. Those who deliberately and
conscientiously profess what are oddly called advanced views are mostly the last people in the world to engage in unconventional adventures of any kind.
Beauty's Duty 1934 There is no record of this playlet being staged: A discussion in a solicitor's office on jealousy.
Pygmalion 1914 From guttersnipe to great lady, with lingering regrets: Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette.
Great Catherine 1919 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar: The very British Captain Edstaston meets Empress Catherine II and her barbarian, but able aide Patiomkin, in a hilarious clash of cultures.
The Music Cure 1926 Nonsense, Shaw called it: Lord Reginald Fitzambry is prostrate at home after gambling on the stock exchange and being vilified by society. His mother sends in Strega Thundridge for a music cure.
O'Flaherty, V. C. 1920 For an Irishman, war is a respite from the stress of homelife.
The Inca of Perusalem 1919 An almost historical comedietta: The Inca of Perusalem, who wears the uniform of a German officer and has mesmeric moustaches, journeys incognito to a Continental Hotel to inspect a Princess as a potential bride for one of his sons. He meets and has a heart to heart with her lady in waiting.
Augustus Does His Bit 1919 Satirizes bureaucrats: Shaw's hilarious and timeless look at the military and the governing classes during wartime. It includes three characters: Augustus, a very cynical Clerk in the Little Pifflington Town Hall (who also serves as military staff and Mayor), and an attractive Lady, who has come to dupe Augustus and win a bet.
Macbeth Skit 1967 Published in Educational Theatre Journal (1967) with an introduction by B. F. Dukore
Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress 1919 Revolutionary romancelet: A playlet starring General Strammfest enters, Lieutenant Schneidekind, and the revolutionary Grand Duchess who insists on being called Comrade.
Heartbreak House 1919 Fantasia in the Russian manner on English themes: On the eve of World War I, Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé are invited to one of Hesione Hushabye’s infamous dinner parties. Unfortunately, her fiancé is a scoundrel, her father’s a bumbling prig, and she’s actually in love with Hector, Hesione’s husband. This bold mix of farce and tragedy lampoons British society as it blithely sinks towards disaster.
Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) 1921, by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface (An Infidel Half Century) and a series of five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden), The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920.
A Glimpse of the Domesticity of Franklin Barnabas. 1932 First version of Back to Methuselah's Act II
Jitta's Atonement 1926 Shaw's translation from German of a play by Siegfried Trebitsch
Saint Joan 1924 Shaw's soul shows between the lines: Joan, a simple peasant girl, hears voices which she claims to be those of Saint Margaret, Saint Catherine, and the archangel Michael, sent by God to guide her conduct. She wins over Robert de Baudricourt and talks her way into being received at the court of the weak and vain Dauphin. There, she tells him that her voices have commanded her to help him become a true king by rallying his troops to drive out the English occupiers and restore France to greatness. Joan succeeds in doing this through her excellent powers of flattery, negotiation, leadership, and skill on the battlefield.
The Apple Cart 1930 The flaws in democracy explored: The play follows the fictional King Magnus and his mistress Orinthia as they match wits with a Prime Minister, Proteus, who seeks to strip the monarchy of its remaining political powers. It is "a comedy in which a King defeats an attempt by his popularly elected Prime Minister to deprive him of the right to influence public opinion through the press and the platform: in short, to reduce him to a cipher. The King's reply is that rather than be a cipher he will abandon his throne and take his obviously very rosy chance of becoming a popularly elected Prime Minister himself."
Too True to Be Good 1932 Regarding the miseries of wealth: A rich young woman catches a pair of burglars in her bedroom, but instead of calling the police she decides to run off with them, and live off the proceeds of her own burglary. The three embark on a permanent beach holiday, a life of fabulous wealth and total freedom.
Village Wooing 1934 Comedietta for two voices: A pale, literary gentleman is cornered on a ship by a talkative lady.
On the Rocks 1934 Unrest during the Great Depression: In "On the Rocks," England's leaders are ineffectual and its citizens are unhappy. The economy's tanking and special-interest groups are clamoring for change, but the head of state is hard at work on a can't-miss balm: a rousing speech to distract the masses. Some earnest rhetoric about peacekeeping, perhaps, though he also believes "a bit of sentiment about the family always goes down well."
The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles 1936 The Useful Will Be Spared: Some normal English folk are thrust into an eccentric setting, this time among the godlike inhabitants of an island just arisen from the sea. Shaw uses this background to discuss polygamy, Empire, the Church, vegetarianism, Fascism, Indian Independence, and medicine, among others.
The Six of Calais 1936 No message, just a great story: The play retells and deromanticizes the story of the siege of Calais in which six burgesses of the city, with halters around their necks, submitted themselves to King Edward III in order to save the besieged city.
The Millionairess 1936 Earning money is a talent: Epifania uses her money ruthlessly to get what she wants. When she discovers anyone who is unimpressed by her financial resources, she either resents them or adores them. When an Egyptian doctor challenges her to make her own living for six months, starting with only 35 pence, Epifania proves that profitmaking is simply a matter of genetics. In no time, she has a thriving business and a smart hotel.
Arthur and the Acetone 1936 Broad satire of bureaucracy
Cymbeline Refinished 1938 A revised Act V for Shakespeare's Cymbeline
Geneva 1939 A fancied page of history.
In Good King Charles's Golden Days 1939 A true history that never happened: A discussion play, the issues of nature, power and leadership are debated between King Charles II ('Mr Rowley'), Isaac Newton, George Fox and the artist Godfrey Kneller, with interventions by three of the king's mistresses (Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland; Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth; and Nell Gwynn) and his queen, Catherine of Braganza.
The British Party System 1944 This playlet is Chapter III of Everybody's Political What's What?
Buoyant Billions 1947 Comedy of no manners
Farfetched Fables 1951 Shaw's thoughts simplified
Why She Would Not 1950 Unfinished play. Shaw died while writing it.
