George Bernard Shaw's Plays

by George Bernard Shaw, Sandie Byrne (Editor)

Mrs Warren's Profession/Man and Superman/Major Barbara/Pygmalion. This collection presents a cross-section of Shaw's most important theater work�Mrs. Warren's Profession, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, and Pygmalion.

Each play is fully annotated.

"Contexts and Criticism" features all-new material on the author and his work, from traditional critical readings to more theorized approaches, among them essays on Shaw's Fabianism and his alleged feminism. Contributors include Leon Hugo, Sally Peters, Tracy C. Davis, John A. Bertolini, Stanley Weintraub, and J. Ellen Gainor.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, Theatre, Literature

551 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1970

About the author

George Bernard Shaw stands as one of the most prolific and influential intellectuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a man whose literary output was matched only by his fervent commitment to social reform. Rising from a modest background in Dublin to become a global icon of letters, Shaw redefined the purpose of the stage, transforming it from a place of mere entertainment into a forum for rigorous intellectual debate and moral inquiry. His unique "Shavian" style—characterized by sharp-witted dialogue, paradoxical reasoning, and a relentless assault on Victorian hypocrisy—ensured that his voice resonated far beyond the footlights. As a playwright, critic, and philosopher, he remains a singular figure in history, being one of only two individuals to have been honored with both a Nobel Prize in Literature and an Academy Award. This rare crossover of high-art recognition and mainstream cinematic success speaks to his versatility and the enduring relevance of his narratives. His dramatic work, which includes over sixty plays, often tackled the most pressing issues of his day, from the rigid structures of the British class system to the complexities of gender roles and the ethical dilemmas of capitalism. In masterpieces like Pygmalion, he used the science of phonetics to demonstrate the artificiality of class distinctions, a theme that would later reach millions through the musical adaptation My Fair Lady. In Man and Superman, he delved into the philosophical concepts of the "Life Force" and the evolution of the human spirit, while Major Barbara forced audiences to confront the uncomfortable relationship between religious idealism and the industrial military complex. Beyond his theatrical achievements, Shaw was a foundational force in political thought, serving as a leading light of the Fabian Society. His advocacy for gradual socialist reform, rather than violent revolution, helped shape the trajectory of modern British politics and social welfare. He was instrumental in the creation of the London School of Economics, an institution that continues to influence global policy and economic theory. Shaw was also a formidable critic, whose reviews of music and drama set new standards for the profession, characterized by an uncompromising honesty and a deep knowledge of the arts. His personal lifestyle was as distinctive as his writing; a committed vegetarian, teetotaler, and non-smoker, he lived with a disciplined focus that allowed him to remain productive well into his ninth decade. He was a man of contradictions, often engaging in provocative public discourse that challenged the status quo, even when his views sparked intense controversy. His fascination with the "Superman" archetype and his occasional support for authoritarian figures reflected a complex, often elitist worldview that sought the betterment of humanity through radical intellectual evolution. Despite these complexities, his core mission was always rooted in a profound humanitarianism and a desire to expose the delusions that prevented society from progressing. He believed that the power of the written word could strip away the masks of respectability that hid social injustice, and his plays continue to be staged worldwide because the human foibles he satirized remain as prevalent today as they were during his lifetime. By blending humor with gravity and intellect with accessibility, Shaw created a body of work that serves as both a mirror and a compass for modern civilization. His legacy is not just in the scripts he left behind, but in the very way we think about the intersection of art, politics, and the individual’s responsibility to the collective good. He remains the quintessential public intellectual, a man who never feared to speak his mind or to demand that the world become a more rational and equitable place.

Reviews

[Boadicea]

A great introduction to strong GBS female characters.

This book was a great follow-up to the first play of GBS' that I read, "Heartbreak House". I have to confess that I preferred all these and have written individual reviews at length which I won't repeat here, bar the individual ratings.

However, what's even better, is the context provided for the plays by a varying number of authors as well as annotated criticism from GBS scholars. I have to confirm that all the plays improved from this position of enhanced background setting and found each play interesting and alluring to see live. It's definitely encouraged me to search out those Norton Critical Editions, for sure!

Mrs Warren's Profession: 4 *

Man and Superman: 4 *

Major Barbara: 5*

Pygmalion: 5*

[Dr.J.G.]

Mrs. Warren's Profession: -

Age old dilemma of society - "respectable"vs. the other side, and the need of one for the other. It must have of course been extremely controversial when it was written - and published - but this writer was always more than equal to any criticism and could always argue either side of a debate with reason.

This one is not a comedy, though, and one is presented with Mrs. Warren's side quite reasonably.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
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Man and Superman: -

The idea had been around for a while, in various - genuine, not cartoon - forms, one supposes. At any rate various people developed it according to their best capacities of conception and perception. And it was a natural idea, after all. When one looks at evolution, it is only natural to expect that it might not be yet finished, and there might be higher rungs. If one thinks of creation, why suppose it is over? Who are humans to dictate that Divine can appear only once or is finished with Creation?

George Bernard Shaw goes here into a hilarious look at things as they are and then into what might, what magnanimity they can achieve at the next stage; at life force that dictates people marry and reproduce, albeit calling it romance and love; at limitations of best and sharpest intellect when faced with life force; and in an inspired act, at concepts of heaven and hell as they really should be seen, rather than the silly prevailing ones.

Truly delightful, one of the most hilariously delightful works of Shaw, and that is saying a lot. It leads you to think deep within while you are too busy laughing to notice it.

Monday, September 22, 2008.
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Major Barbara : -

A delightful look at various prevalent notions and hypocrisies of the times - and realities as they are. Salvation Army, church, politics as a career, ethics of business; niceties of law that might make one illegitimate in UK or at least in England but not in Australia, much less anywhere else in the world; and inheritance vs competence, when it is about running a business.

US, particularly NRA of US (as in gun lobby) seem to have adopted the creed of one of the characters in this to an extent that poor Mr. Shaw could never have imagined - "seem to" being the key here. But on the other hand, who knows, he would perhaps have said that neither NRA of US nor he were wrong, and that any society that allows such happenings without curbing them with laws that made sense and protected children perhaps deserved the grief they allowed the arms manufacturers and dealers to let loose on them. And really US has much that is legal in US but illegal in Europe in many countries, or at least those that matter. Germany for example has outlawed any organisations or pictures to do with their past horror - but not US where those proliferate; so guns too, and the consequent stupidity of innocent persons and your own children massacred in their own homes and schools.

Gun lobby of US - and much else of the world - might claim they follow this very intelligent writer for ethics, but if you look at it with a scrutiny, actually, no they don't; they are doing precisely what the writer cautions against, that is, mixing politics and business - for example in deciding who they will or will not sell to (or allow to carry arms), whether on personal level in the country (men get license easily, women don't, even though they are far more in need of self defense, whether from personal attackers or home robbers and so on), or on global level about nations and gangs (here there is no need of examples - they are far too obvious, well known), therefore making it a mess - or at least helping politics do so.

That said, this is of course an extremely intelligent play as almost everything written by this writer is; this one deals with an arms dealer and the possible social embarrassment his family with aristocratic connections must go through - his son requires that the father help him without allowing it to be known, since he needs to have a social status - and various issues around the question, morality vs. arms manufacturer.

Monday, September 14, 2009.
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Saturday, July 10, 2010.
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Pygmalion:-

This is the original play that the very famous and popular "My fair Lady" is based on, except that was more of a sweet version, and this retains the original English, perhaps British or even Irish, taste - not sweet, not sour, not bitter or hot, but a little salt and some of that sixth taste that is called "kasaila" or "kashaaya" which means tea in the old medicinal sense.

Here at the end there is a very well written epilogue that explains why the professor does not propose to any woman or have any romantic affair with any woman (and certainly with no man either) - not as a sickness on his part, but as a matter of evolution, and he is very evolved indeed.

Unlike US of today the social norms of Britain then were quite different and sex was not a compulsory activity to prove one was normal, and for that matter normal was never defined as average, either.

So eccentricity was not only allowed it positively thrived and flourished, and benefited the society enormously. Men like the professor could devote their time and energy to their preferred pursuits. He does end up baffled and quite unable to escape Elizabeth Dolittle though.

Friday, July 9, 2010.
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Sunday, July 11, 2010.
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[Miriam Simut]

The first three plays were meh but Pygmalion was so good!!

[John Pistelli]

Please read my complete review here. A sample:

An an introduction, I offer two facts that tell us what kind of a writer George Bernard Shaw was.

First, take one of his most famous plays, Man and Superman (1903). It is superficially a three-act romantic comedy of contemporary English manners; it's often even staged that way. Except that it has four acts. Its third act is double the length of the others and interrupts the plot with a surreal dream-sequence set in Hell, where the damned conduct a Platonic dialogue. Moreover, the play has a 50-page preface, an "Epistle Dedicatory" to the fellow author who inspired Shaw to write it, in which the dramatist explains his intentions at length. As if this weren't enough, Man and Superman is followed by a 70-page revolutionary tract written by its radical protagonist. And the most important fact of all is that the slender three-act comedy on which all this verbosity hangs isn't really very interesting compared to the long preface that introduces it, the long Platonic dialogue that bisects it, and the long polemical treatise that concludes it. Shaw was acclaimed as the best Anglophone playwright of his generation, and perhaps the best Anglophone dramatist of all after Shakespeare, yet one of his best plays is about 60% non-play, and the non-play parts are much the most thought-provoking and entertaining.

Second: when W. B. Yeats was founding the Abbey Theater in Dublin with the aim of producing a cultural renaissance to bolster nationalist resistance against the British Empire, he supposedly solicited a drama from Shaw. (Like Yeats himself, Shaw was born to the Irish Protestant Ascendancy, though he was a Londoner for most of his adult life.) When Shaw submitted John Bull's Other Island (1904), a long, loquacious satire on Irish servility and fecklessness in the face of English power—

[The Irishman] can't be intelligently political, he dreams of what the Shan Van Vocht said in ninety-eight. If you want to interest him in Ireland you've got to call the unfortunate island Kathleen ni Hoolihan and pretend she's a little old woman. It saves thinking. It saves working. It saves everything except imagination, imagination, imagination; and imagination's such a torture that you can't bear it without whisky.

—Yeats rejected the play with the claim that it would be too difficult to stage. Given Shaw's characteristically long and complex stage directions—written as much for the page as for the stage—this is plausible. But more likely he was troubled by Shaw's abrasive and hyper-articulate satire, in which a stupid, sentimental, and cynical English liberal land developer moons over the Irish yeomanry he intends to dispossess by opening a hotel and golf course in a rural Irish town. This is a far cry from the romantic nationalist theater Yeats wanted to promote, whether in his own and Lady Gregory's symbolic dramas of the Celtic Twilight or in the vernacular energies of Synge. Though a more experimental writer than designations like "realist" or "satirist" would suggest, Shaw was already, early in his career, out of step with the emergent modernism that would define so much of the 20th century's literary culture.

So what can Shaw mean to us today? Even this boastfully didactic writer's loud political stances—his feminism, his socialism—only seem to chime with those in fashion now. Yet as a feminist he praised women as the natural "Life Force" that would enable a eugenic program to breed a superior person fit for the post-liberal future, the Nietzschean "Superman" of his famous play's title. Though a founding member of the Fabian Society, which was committed to pursuing socialist policies in England gradually through the electoral process, Shaw came in the end to praise Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin as strong men who did what had to be done without democratic constraint.

Literarily, he has been somewhat eclipsed as the prevailing Anglo-Irish playwright and polemicist of his time by Oscar Wilde, at least in academe. The two writers shared an Irish Protestant heritage, an ambition to march on literary London from the colonial periphery, and a canny awareness of how emergent celebrity culture demanded that authors fashion themselves as icons and stars, hence Wilde's logo-like green carnation and Shaw's self-branding as "GBS." Both sought to modernize often insular English literature and cultural criticism with outside influences from Flaubert and Mallarmé to Marx and Nietzsche to Ibsen and Tolstoy. But Wilde was an aesthete, eventually converting to Catholicism, while Shaw was a puritan, his secular freethinking Protestant to the core. Moreover, Wilde called himself a socialist just as Shaw did, but a perusal of his Soul of Man Under Socialism will quickly show that he was really an anarchist and individualist.

A comparative essay on the two writers by David J. Gordon in The Cambridge Companion to George Bernard Shaw assesses them as divergent Nietzcheans. Like Yeats and Lawrence, Shaw descends from the power-mad proto-fascist Nietzsche who dominated the 20th century's baleful first half, or so Gordon argues; on the other hand, Wilde is heir to the Nietzsche who anticipated postmodern liberalism, who said that life was justified only as an aesthetic phenomenon and that truth was just an effect of language. Wilde was effectively martyred by his own society, while Shaw (though controversial) became celebrated, eventually awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. But Shaw may remain captive to that bygone time; Wilde, by contrast, feels like one of us. (Ironically, the homosexual Wilde, who denounced nature in the name of artifice, had two children; the heterosexual Shaw, who celebrated the Life Force and breeding, had none.)

Despite all of these obstacles to his continued fame, Shaw is still a lively, readable classic, a living voice that comes across the century that separates us from most of his major work. If his plays seem too stagey and mechanical after a century of naturalism and experimentalism, his intentions were maximally inventive, and his drama's prefaces, postfaces, and other paratexts are relevant and eloquent reflections (or, occasionally, harangues) on still-urgent questions.

Read more...

[Lindsay]

I only read Pygmalion, and have been familiar with the story since I saw the popularized version of the play in movie form as well as a staged version. I was surprised (though I guess I shouldn't have been) to find that it was very true to form (or, I suppose, that the versions I've seen are true to the play's written form), which was nice--no surprises!

It's never been my favorite story for its own sake--I'm not a fan of the way Higgins treats Eliza, and I find Eliza grating, though I'm on her side throughout the story. The only character I like unreservedly is Pickering, and he is far better when he's not being influenced by Higgins. Still, making a linguist a main character must not have been a natural choice for a story, so I appreciate the novelty of it. Also, there are some pretty un-subtle feminist themes running through the story that are interesting to consider, given the author and the time, to say nothing of the spot-on social commentary.

This particular book, which is a compilation of Shaw's plays, has a lot of "extras" that are just as interesting as the stories themselves--critical essays on the content, for example. It's always a bonus to be able to read an analysis of a work, and here you don't have to go looking for them. There's also information on Shaw himself, which is equally intriguing.

[Yulia]

Of the four plays presented here, I liked The Man and Superman and Major Barbara the most. The other two didn't do much for me.
Loved the intellectual fireworks between Don Juan and Devil, Tanner and... well, everybody else, really, and also sparring between Undershaft and Cusins.
Shaw was a great humanist, of course, and a sharp observer. I don't know if he meant it this way, but his Ann in The Man and Superman is an accurate picture of a gaslighter and master manipulator... a truly scary character.

[jordan]

Man and Superman and Major Barbara are endlessly awesome and fascinating. Mrs. Warren's Profession and Pygmalion are also worthwhile. I just love Shaw's erudition and complexity, and the work he makes you do to come to terms with the ideas he espouses.

That said, I wish the NCE had the complete prefaces and appendices to the plays. Man and Superman especially is incomplete without them.

***

So very excited about the Eclipse set of Major Barbara, Caesar and Cleoptra, and Androcles and the Lion coming out in February.

[SW]

I've only read Man and Superman. It's very well thought out, but I worry that Shaw the philosopher oppresses Shaw the playwright. I'd really rather give it 3.5.

[Adam Floridia]

Norton Critical Editions are definitely THE best.

[Heather]

I do not usually pick up plays, but I am glad I did with this collection. Shaw develops interesting female characters compared to many other plays I have read.