Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction

George Bernard Shaw

“Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction is a short play by Bernard Shaw. It is a comic mock-melodrama, written to raise funds for charity. Late at night, Phyllis, the maid, is combing the hair of her employer, Lady Magnesia FitzTollemache. Phyllis expresses foreboding and the fear that she will never see her beloved mistress again. Magnesia retires to sleep, serenaded by a heavenly choir singing "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey". A murderous figure enters, brandishing a dagger. Before he can stab Magnesia she wakes, and recognises her husband.  

Press Cuttings

George Bernard Shaw

“Press Cuttings” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   Press Cuttings, is a play by George Bernard Shaw. It is a farcical comedy about the suffragettes' campaign for votes for women in Britain. The play is a departure from Shaw's earlier Ibsenesque dramas on social issues. Shaw's own pro-feminist views are never articulated by characters in the play, but instead it ridicules the arguments of the anti-suffrage campaigners.  

Pygmalion

George Bernard Shaw

“Pygmalion” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after the Greek mythological figure. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era British playwrights.  

The Admirable Bashville

George Bernard Shaw

“The Admirable Bashville” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   “The Admirable Bashville” is a short play based loosely on Shaw’s novel “Cashel Byron's Profession”. The play was written to protect American copyrights after the novel became unexpectedly successful in the United States.  

The Devil's Disciple

George Bernard Shaw

“The Devil's Disciple” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   “The Devil's Disciple” is Shaw's eighth play, and it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright. Set in Colonial America during the Revolutionary era, the play tells the story of Richard Dudgeon, a local outcast and self-proclaimed "Devil's disciple". In a twist characteristic of Shaw's love of paradox, Dudgeon sacrifices himself in a Christ-like gesture despite his professed Infernal allegiance.  

The Doctor\'s Dilemma

George Bernard Shaw

“The Doctor’s Dilemma” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   The Doctor's Dilemma is a play by George Bernard Shaw. It is a problem play about the moral dilemmas created by limited medical resources, and the conflicts between the demands of private medicine as a business and a vocation.  

The Inca of Perusalem

George Bernard Shaw

“The Inca of Perusalem” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   The Inca of Perusalem is a comic one-act play written during World War I by George Bernard Shaw. The plot appears at first to be a fairy-tale like story about a fantastical "Inca", but it eventually becomes obvious that the Inca is Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.  

The Irrational Knot

George Bernard Shaw

“The Irrational Knot” is a novel by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   An Unsocial Socialist is George Bernard Shaw's second novel. Shaw wrote five novels early in his career and then abandoned them to pursue politics, drama criticism, and eventually playwriting.  

The Man of Destiny

George Bernard Shaw

“The Man of Destiny” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   The Man of Destiny is a  play by George Bernard Shaw, set in Italy during the early career of Napoleon. It was published as a part of Plays Pleasant, which also included Arms and the Man, Candida and You Never Can Tell. Shaw titled the volume Plays Pleasant in order to contrast it with his first book of plays, Plays Unpleasant.  

The Music Cure

George Bernard Shaw

“The Music Cure” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   The Music Cure is a short comedy sketch by George Bernard Shaw. Lord Reginald Fitzambey, Under-Secretary of State for War, is in a distressed state. He explains to his doctor that, knowing the British army would soon be put on a vegetarian diet, he bought shares in the Macaroni Trust. Brought before a parliamentary committee for profiteering, Fitzambey had tried to explain that macaroni was a normal investment. Now he is highly sensitised to anything distressing. His doctor prescribes rest and offers him opium pills.  

The Philanderer

George Bernard Shaw

“The Philanderer” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   The Philanderer was written in 1893 but the strict British censorship laws at the time meant that it was not produced on stage until 1902. This is one of three plays Shaw published as Plays Unpleasant in 1898. They were termed "unpleasant" because they were intended, not to entertain their audiences – as the traditional Victorian theatre was expected to – but to raise awareness of social problems and to censure exploitation of the labouring class by the unproductive rich. The other plays in the group are Widowers' Houses and Mrs. Warren's Profession.  

The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet

George Bernard Shaw

“The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   Shaw claimed that "this little play is really a religious tract in dramatic form", the plot being less important than the debate about morality and divinity that occurs between the characters. He was using the folksy language and quirky insights of his principal character to explore his version of the Nietzschean concept that modern morality must move "beyond good and evil". Shaw took the view that God is a process of continual self-overcoming: "if I could conceive a god as deliberately creating something less than himself, I should class him as a cad. If he were simply satisfied with himself, I should class him as a lazy coxcomb. My god must continually strive to surpass himself." When he heard that Leo Tolstoy had shown an interest in the ideas expressed in the play, he wrote a letter to him explaining his views further.  

Widowers' Houses

George Bernard Shaw

“Widowers' Houses” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   Widowers' Houses was the first play by George Bernard Shaw to be staged. This is one of three plays Shaw published as Plays Unpleasant in 1898. They were termed "unpleasant" because they were intended, not to entertain their audiences – as the traditional Victorian theatre was expected to – but to raise awareness of social problems and to censure exploitation of the labouring class by the unproductive rich. The other plays in the group are The Philanderer and Mrs. Warren's Profession.  

You Never Can Tell

George Bernard Shaw

“You Never Can Tell” is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   The play is set in a seaside town and tells the story of Mrs. Clandon and her three children, Dolly, Phillip, and Gloria, who 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. It was published as a part of Plays Pleasant, which also included Arms and the Man, Candida, and The Man of Destiny. Shaw titled the volume Plays Pleasant in order to contrast it with his first book of plays, Plays Unpleasant.