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.

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