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Bernard show works list. The plays of Bernard Shaw. "Heartbreak House"

20.08.2021

Bernard Show

The house where hearts break

Fantasy in Russian style on English themes

Translation by M.P. Bogoslovskaya, S.P. Bobrov

Act one

Clear September evening. The picturesque mountainous landscape of north Sussex opens from the windows of a house built like an old ship with a high stern, around which there is a gallery. Windows in the form of portholes run along the entire wall as often as its stability allows. A row of cabinets under the windows forms an unlined ledge, interrupted about halfway, between the sternpost and the sides, by a double-leaf glass door. The second door somewhat breaks the illusion, it seems to be on the port side of the ship, but it does not lead to the open sea, as it should, but to the front of the house. There are bookshelves between this door and the gallery. There are electrical switches at the door leading to the foyer and at the glass door that opens onto the gallery. Near the wall depicting the starboard side, there is a carpenter's workbench, a board is fixed in its vice. The floor is littered with shavings, and the paper basket is filled to the top with them. On the workbench are two planers and a brace. In the same wall, between the workbench and the windows, there is a narrow passage with a low door, behind which one can see a pantry with shelves; on the shelves are bottles and kitchen utensils. On the starboard side, closer to the middle, there is an oak drafting table with a board on which are a T-square, rulers, squares, and computing devices; right there is a saucer with watercolors, a glass of water, cloudy from paints, ink, pencil and brushes. The board is laid so that the window is on the left side of the draftsman's chair. On the floor, to the right of the table, is a ship's leather bucket. On the port side, next to the bookshelves, with its back to the windows, there is a sofa; this rather massive structure of mahogany is strangely covered with a tarpaulin along with the headboard, two blankets hang on the back of the sofa. Between the sofa and the drafting table, with its back to the light, is a large wicker chair with wide arms and a low, sloping back; against the left wall, between the door and the bookshelf, is a small but solid teak table, round, with curved legs. This is the only piece of furniture in the room, which - however, by no means convincingly - allows us to assume that a woman's hand was also involved here. The bare floor, made of narrow boards, was caulked and polished with pumice, like a deck. The garden, where the glass door leads, descends to the south side, and behind it you can already see the slopes of the hills. In the depths of the garden rises the dome of the observatory. Between the observatory and the house there is a small esplanade with a flagpole on it; there is a hammock on the east side of the esplanade, and a long garden bench on the west side.

A young girl, wearing a hat, gloves, and a traveling raincoat, sits on the windowsill, turning her whole body to look at the landscape spreading outside the window. With one hand she rests her chin, in the other, carelessly lowered, she holds a volume of Shakespeare, placing her finger on the page where she read. The clock strikes six.

The young girl turns and looks at her watch. She gets up with the air of a man who has been waiting for a long time and is already out of patience. This is a pretty girl, slender, blond, she has a thoughtful face, she is dressed very nicely, but modestly - apparently, this is not an idle fashionista. With a sigh of tired resignation, she goes to the chair at the drafting table, sits down, and begins to read Shakespeare. Gradually, the book falls to its knees, the girl's eyes close, and she falls asleep.

An elderly maid enters from the anteroom with three uncorked bottles of rum on a tray. She crosses the room into the pantry, without noticing the young girl, and puts bottles of rum on the shelf, and removes the empty bottles from the shelf and puts them on a tray. When she goes back, the book falls from the knees of the guest, the girl wakes up, and the maid shudders so suddenly that she almost drops the tray.

SERVANT. Lord have mercy!

A young girl picks up a book and puts it on the table.

I'm sorry I woke you up, miss. Only I don't know you. Who are you waiting for here?

YOUNG WOMAN. I'm waiting for someone to let me know that this house knows that I was invited here.

SERVANT. How are you invited? And there's no one? Oh lord!

YOUNG WOMAN. Some angry old man came up and looked out the window. And I heard him shout: "Nanny, we have a pretty young woman in the stern, go and find out what she needs." Are you the nanny?

SERVANT. Yes, miss. I'm Nanny Guinness. And that, then, was old Captain Shotover, Mrs. Hasheby's father. I heard him scream, but I thought he was talking about something else. Isn't it Mrs. Hashebye who invited you, my dear?

YOUNG WOMAN. By at least I understood that. But I guess it's better for me to leave.

NANNY. No, what are you, stop and think, miss. Even if Mrs. Hashebye has forgotten, it will be a pleasant surprise for her.

YOUNG WOMAN. Frankly, it was a rather unpleasant surprise for me when I saw that they were not waiting for me here.

NANNY. You'll get used to it, miss. Our house is full of all sorts of surprises for those who do not know our rules.

CAPTAIN SHOTOWER (he suddenly looks in from the hall; he is still quite a strong old man with a huge white beard; he is in a double-breasted jacket, a whistle hangs around his neck). Nanny, there is a briefcase and a bag lying right on the stairs; apparently thrown on purpose so that everyone stumbles over them. And a tennis racket. Who the hell put it all there?

YOUNG WOMAN. I'm afraid these are my things.

CAPTAIN SHOTOWER (suitable for drafting table). Nanny, who is this lost young lady?

NANNY. They say Miss Gassi invited them, sir.

CAPTAIN SHOTOWER. And does she, poor thing, have any relatives or friends who could warn her against inviting my daughter? We have a pretty house, nothing to say! They invite an attractive young lady, her things lie on the stairs for half a day, and she is here, at the stern, left to herself - tired, hungry, abandoned. This is what we call hospitality! Good tone! No room cooked, no hot water. There is no hostess to meet. The guest, apparently, will have to spend the night under a canopy and go to wash on the pond.

NANNY. Okay, okay, captain. I'll bring Miss tea now, and while she drinks tea, the room will be ready. (Turns to the girl.) Take off your hat, darling. Make yourself at home. (Goes to the front door.)

CAPTAIN SHOTOWER (when the nanny walks past him). Darling! Do you imagine, woman, that if this young lady is insulted and left to her fate, you have the right to treat her as you treat my unfortunate children, whom you raised in utter disregard for decorum?

Plays by Bernard Shaw

Bernard Shaw - Irish playwright, philosopher and prose writer, an outstanding critic of his time and the most famous - after Shakespeare - playwright who wrote in English language. Shaw, already in his youth, had decided to earn a living by writing, and although the articles sent out returned to him with depressing regularity, he continued to besiege the newsrooms.

In 1885, Shaw sketched his first play, The Widower's House, then The Profession of Mrs. Warren, and the third play, Red tape (1893), Shaw combined into a cycle that he called Unpleasant Plays. These were the years when Shaw was looking for a response to the hatred of capitalism that overwhelmed him everywhere. It is not surprising that the Unpleasant Plays, written in such a mood and with such thoughts, are distinguished by ruthless realism and will forever remain one of the pinnacles of English drama.

Shaw's next cycle is Pleasant Pieces. It included War and Man (1894), Candida (1895), Destiny's Chosen One (1895) and Never You Can Tell (1895). The title "Pleasant Plays" is filled with hidden irony, since in this cycle we also meet with rather sharp criticism of bourgeois morality, bourgeois ideals.

In the plays of this cycle, for the first time, Shaw's anti-militarist tendency, the desire to expose the imaginary heroism of aggressive wars, clearly emerges.

The play "War and Man" Shaw owed his stage success and universal recognition. In this play, Shaw planned to oppose the "idealist" and the "realist", to show the triumph of a business man over a romantic. The true dream hero of the dreamy heroine (and at the same time the rich heiress) Raina Petkova turns out to be not the ardent officer Saranov with his noisy heroism, but the calm, mocking Bluntschli, a Swiss soldier in the Serbian service. Shaw begins his play with a successful, captivating scene, for the first time discovering his inherent sense of exposure - a Serbian officer pursued by Bulgarian soldiers hides in the room of Raina, a Bulgarian woman. The great merit of the play is its brilliant technical skill, the abundance of comedic situations and unexpected turns of action. An important aspect of the play was its anti-war orientation.

Candida (1895) is a more complex and controversial play. The play exposes the hypocrisy of the inner way of the bourgeois English family. Two idealist men are opposed by a realist woman, the bearer of the maternal principle, Candida. Her maternal essence is manifested in relation to the world around her, to all people. Her love for her husband, Pastor Morell, had long since taken on a maternal quality. And Candida treats the young poet Marchbanks in the same maternal way. The venerable Morell's contempt for the bourgeois audience grows into contempt for the impotence of Christianity. The show clearly sympathizes with the "idealist" of a different kind, the poet Marchbanks. He contrasts this youth, vagabond and dreamer with Pastor Morell. Rebellious proud youth is opposed to petty-bourgeois well-being and conventional morality. No wonder it was Marchbanks who was able to discern at a glance the falsity of the Morell family life. He hopes that Candida will leave her husband with him. Marchbanks' romantic naivety shows in this. Candida has long understood the true nature of her husband, but she is a wife and mother, and therefore consciously preserves family illusions.

In 1897, the play "The Devil's Disciple" was written, in 1898 - "Caesar and Cleopatra", in 1899 - "The Appeal of Captain Brassbound". In 1900, all three plays were published in a separate collection entitled "Plays for the Puritans." In the preface, Shaw explains the meaning of the common title and attacks contemporary erotic dramaturgy. In the collection Plays for Puritans, Shaw brings to the attention of readers dramas whose characters are not guided by sexual motives. For example, political considerations dominate both in Caesar and in the still very young Cleopatra over other motives and feelings. Thus, the disclosure of all the versatility of human feelings is one of the strengths of the "Plays for the Puritans".

In 1903, Shaw created the comedy Man and Superman. He made a heroine a bourgeois young lady, busy catching a groom, and showed her actions as serving the vital force, the instinct of procreation. So the "feminine woman" of the type of Blanche or Cleopatra has now turned into a kind of instrument of progress.

The play "Pygmalion" was written in 1912-1913. In this play, Shaw used the myth of Pygmalion, transferring it to the setting of modern London. The paradoxicalist could not leave the myth intact. If the revived Galatea was the embodiment of humility and love, then Shaw's Galatea raises a rebellion against her creator: if Pygmalion and Galatea of ​​antiquity got married, then Shaw's heroes should by no means marry. Shaw's immediate task here, as he did his best to emphasize in the preface, is the promotion of linguistics, and primarily phonetics. But this is only one side of an interesting, multifaceted play. At the same time, this is a play of great social, democratic sounding - a play about the natural equality of people and their class inequality, about the talent of people from the people. This is also a psychological drama about love, which for a number of reasons almost turns into hatred. And finally, this is a humanistic play, showing how carefully and carefully you need to approach a living person, how terrible and unacceptable a cold experiment on a person is.

From 1913 to 1917, Shaw worked on a large and serious play, "Heartbreak House" - the saddest of Shaw's plays: it reflected all his thoughts and disappointments of those difficult years. This is a bitter, tragic recognition of the crisis of English bourgeois civilization, the sharpest mockery of the lies and inhumanity of capitalist relations. One of the most significant works of Shaw, this play does not lose its significance even when compared with the best that was created by him in subsequent years, and marks the beginning of a new stage in the creative development of the playwright.

In the midst of a general crisis both in England and in all capitalist countries, in June 1931 Shaw completed a new political play, Bitter but True. This play is permeated in the subtext with the greatest bitterness and draws a dead end into which the English intelligentsia has entered. The meaning of this "political grotesque", as the author called the play, is that all its characters open their eyes to the meaninglessness of their existence. These are "lost souls" in yet more than the heroes of Heartbreak House. They all understand that their life is empty and that they are "descending into the abyss", they all want to escape somewhere from the meaningless world in which they live. Although the play is in the spirit of a farce, its finale sounds hopeless. Having shown how bad the old and crazy world is, Shaw discovers something else: how deceitful all the recipes for saving and renewing this world are.

In the atmosphere of the pre-war years, Shaw continued to raise sharp topical issues. All the works of the 1930s sparkle with their former wit and richness of satirical fiction. But the contradictions in the mind of the author have by no means been removed: in many cases they are felt more acutely than in early works, since the problems of the works of the late 30s are much more responsible and more complicated than the one that Shaw touched on at the beginning of his career

Biography

Early became interested in social democratic ideas; attracted the attention of apt theatrical and music reviews; later he himself acted as a playwright and immediately provoked sharp attacks from people who were indignant at their imaginary without and excessive courage; behind last years becomes more and more popular with the English public and finds admirers on the continent thanks to the appearance of critical articles about him and translations of his selected plays (for example, in German - Trebitsch). The show breaks completely with the prim, still characteristic of a large part of wealthy circles. He calls things by their real names, considers it possible to depict any worldly phenomenon, and to a certain extent is a follower.

The play "The Philanderer" reflected the rather negative, ironic attitude of the author to the institution, which he was at that time; in "Widower's Houses" Shaw gave a remarkable picture of the life of the proletarians in its realism. Very often, Shaw plays the role of mercilessly ridiculing the ugly and vulgar sides of English life, especially the life of circles ("John Bull's Other Island", "Arms and the Man", "How He Lied to Her Husband", etc.).

1885-1896

  • Plays Unpleasant (published 1898)
    • "Widower's Houses" (Widower's Houses, 1885-1892)
    • "Heartbreaker" (The Philanderer, 1893)
    • Mrs Warren's Profession, 1893-1894
  • Plays Pleasant (published 1898)
    • Arms and the Man (1894)
    • "Candida" (Candida, 1894-1895)
    • "The Man of Destiny" (The Man of Destiny, 1895)
    • "Wait and see" (You Never Can Tell, 1895-1896)
  • "Three Plays for Puritans" (Three Plays for Puritans)
    • The Devil's Disciple (1896-1897)
    • "Caesar and Cleopatra" (Caesar and Cleopatra, 1898)
    • Captain Brassbound's Conversion, 1899
  • The Admirable Bashville; or, Constancy Unrewarded, 1901
  • "Man and Superman" (Man and Superman, 1901-1903)
  • John Bull's Other Island (1904)

1904-1910

  • How He Lied to Her Husband (1904)
  • "Major Barbara" (Major Barbara, 1906)
  • The Doctor's Dilemma (1906)
  • "Interlude at the Playhouse" (The Interlude at the Playhouse, 1907)
  • Getting Married (1908)
  • The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, 1909
  • "Tomfoolery and trinkets" (Trifles and tomfooleries)
    • "Passion, Poison, Petrification, or Fatal Gasogene" (Passion, Poison and Petrifaction; or, the Fatal Gasogene, 1905)
    • "Newspaper clippings" (Press Cuttings, 1909)
    • "Charming Foundling" (The Fascinating Foundling, 1909)
    • "A Little Bit of Reality" (The Glimps of Reality, 1909)
  • "Unequal Marriage" (Misalliance, 1910)

1910-1919

  • The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (1910)
  • Fanny's First Play (1911)
  • Androcles and the Lion (1912)
  • "Overruled" (Overruled, 1912)
  • "Pygmalion" (Pygmalion, 1912-1913)
  • "Great Catherine" (Great Catherine, 1913)
  • "Treatment with music" (The Music-sure, 1913)
  • "O'Flaherty, MBE" (O'Flaherty, V.C.,)
  • "The Inca of Perusalem" (The Inca of Perusalem, 1916)
  • Augustus Does His Bit (1916)
  • Annajanska, the Wild Grand Duchess, 1917
  • Heartbreak House (1913-1919)

1918-1931

  • "Back to Methuselah" (Back to Methuselah, 1918-1920)
    • Part I. "In the Beginning" (In the Beginning)
    • Part II. The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas
    • Part III. "It's done!" (The Thing Happens)
    • Part IV. Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman
    • Part V: As Far as Thought Can Reach
  • "Saint Joan" (Saint Joan, 1923)
  • "The Apple Cart" (The Apple Cart, 1929)
  • "Bitter but True" (Too True To Be Good, 1931)

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, fundamentally new types and plots began to appear in world literature. The main difference between the literature of the new century was that the main characters were no longer people, but ideas, they were also active participants in the action. The first authors who began to write "dramas of ideas" were G. Ibsen, A. Chekhov and, of course, B. Shaw. Based on the experience of his literary fathers, Shaw was able to participate in the creation of an entirely new dramatic system.

Curriculum vitae

George Bernard Shaw, the world famous playwright, was born on July 26, 1856 in the capital of Ireland - Dublin. Already in childhood, he openly showed his dissatisfaction with the traditional education system, which he rejected in every possible way and tried to devote as much time as possible to reading. At the age of fifteen, that is, in 1871, he began to work as a clerk, and in 1876 he went to England, although his heart always belonged to Ireland. Here the political was especially manifested and what helped the young author to temper his character and further display all the conflicts that worried him in his work.

In the late 70s, B. Shaw finally decided on his future and chose literature as a profession. In the 80s, he began working as a music critic, literary reviewer and theater reviewer. Bright and original articles immediately arouse the interest of readers.

pen trials

The first works of the author are novels in which he tries to develop his own specific method with many paradoxes and vivid scenes. Already at this time, in the works of Bernard Shaw, which are rather the first literary sketches, there is a living language, interesting dialogues, memorable characters, everything that is so necessary to become an outstanding author.

In 1885, Bernard Shaw, whose plays were becoming more and more professional, began work on the work "The Widower's House", which marked the beginning of a new drama in England.

social views

An important role in Shaw's development as an author was played by his political and social views. In the 80s he was a member of the Fabian Society. The ideas that this association promotes are easy to understand if you know where its name comes from. The community is named after the Roman general Fabius Cunctator, who was able to defeat the cruel Carthaginian ruler Hannibal precisely because he was able to wait and choose the right moment. The same tactics were followed by the Fabians, who also preferred to wait until the opportunity to crush capitalism appeared.

Bernard Shaw, whose works aim to open the reader to new problems of our time, was an ardent supporter of changes in society. He wanted to change not only the rooted foundations of capitalism, but also to carry out total innovations in the dramatic art.

Bernard Shaw and Ibsen

It is impossible to deny the fact that Shaw was the most loyal admirer of Ibsen's talent. He fully supported the views of the Norwegian playwright on the necessary changes in contemporary literature. In addition, Shaw was actively promoting the ideas of his idol. In 1891, he became the author of the book The Quintessence of Ibsenism, in which he demonstrates his hatred of bourgeois false morality and his desire to destroy false ideals.

According to Shaw, Ibsen's innovation is manifested in the creation of sharp conflicts and the presence of reasonable, subtle discussions. It was thanks to Ibsen, Chekhov and Shaw that the discussion became an integral part of the new dramaturgy.

"Mrs. Warren's Profession"

One of the author's most popular plays is a vicious satire of Victorian England. Just like Ibsen, Bernard Shaw shows a deep discrepancy between appearance and reality, external respectability and internal insignificance of his heroes.

The main character of the play is a girl of easy virtue who was able to accumulate serious capital with the help of her craft. Trying to justify herself to her daughter, who has no idea about the source of the family income, Mrs. Warren talks about the sheer poverty in which she had to live before, claiming that this is what prompted her to such a lifestyle. Someone may not like this kind of activity, but Bernard Shaw explains to the reader that Mrs. Warren was the victim of an unfair social structure. The author does not condemn his heroine, because she simply went on about the society, which says that all ways of profit are good.

The retrospective-analytical composition, which Shaw borrowed from Ibsen, is realized here according to its most standard scheme: the truth concerning the life of Mrs. Warren is gradually revealed. In the finale of the play, the discussion between the main character and her daughter is decisive, the image of which was the author's first attempt to portray a positive hero.

Plays for Puritans

The author divided all his plays into three categories: pleasant, unpleasant and for the Puritans. In unpleasant plays, the author sought to portray the terrible manifestations of the social order of England. Pleasant ones, on the contrary, were supposed to entertain the reader. The plays for Puritans, on the other hand, are aimed at exposing the author's attitude to the official false morality.

Bernard Shaw's comments on his plays for the Puritans are summarized in the preface to a collection published in 1901. The author claims that he is not a hypocrite and is not afraid to portray feelings, but is against reducing all the events and actions of the characters to love motives. If this principle is followed, the playwright argues, then no one can be brave, kind or generous if he is not in love.

"Heartbreak House"

The play Heartbreak House, written at the end of the First World War, marked a new period in Shaw's creative development. The author placed the responsibility for the critical state of modern morality on the English intelligentsia. To confirm this idea, at the end of the play, a symbolic image of a ship that has gone off course appears, which sails into the unknown with the captain, who has left his captain's bridge and left his team in indifferent expectation of a catastrophe.

In this play Bernard Shaw, short biography which shows his desire to modernize the literary system, dresses realism in new clothes and gives it other, unique features. The author turns to fantasy, symbolism, political grotesque and philosophical allegory. In the future, grotesque situations and characters, reflecting the fantastic nature of artistic types and images, became an integral part of his dramaturgy, and they are especially pronounced in They serve to open the modern reader's eyes to the true state of affairs in the current political situation.

In the subtitle, the author calls his play "a fantasy in the Russian style on English themes", indicating that the plays of L. Tolstoy and A. Chekhov served as a model for him. Bernard Shaw, whose books are aimed at exposing the inner impurity of the characters, in Chekhov's way explores the souls and broken hearts of the characters in his novel, who thoughtlessly waste cultural heritage nation.

"Applecart"

In one of his most popular plays, The Apple Cart, the playwright talks about the peculiarities of the social and political situation in England in the first third of the 20th century. The central theme of the play is a discussion about the political nobility, King Magnus and the cabinet. The ministers, who were elected by the people, that is, in a democratic way, demand the establishment of a constitutional type of government, while the king insists that all power in the state belongs exclusively to the government. A satirical discussion with elements of parody allows the author to reflect his true attitude to the institution of state power and explain who really runs the country.

Bernard Shaw, whose biography reflects all his contemptuous attitude towards any tyrannical power, seeks to display the true background of the state conflict not only in the confrontation between autocracy and quasi-democracy, but also in "plutocracy". According to the author, under the concept of "plutocracy" he means a phenomenon that, under the guise of defending democracy, destroyed the royal power and democracy itself. This happened, of course, not without the help of those in power, says Bernard Shaw. Quotes from the work can only reinforce this opinion. For example: "The king - created by a bunch of rogues, so that it would be more convenient to lead the country, using the king as a puppet," says Magnus.

"Pygmalion"

Among the works of Shaw's pre-war years, the comedy "Pygmalion" stands out clearly. When writing this play, the author was inspired by an ancient myth. It talks about a sculptor named Pygmalion, who fell in love with a statue he created himself and asked to revive this creation, after which the beautiful revived statue became the wife of her creator.

Shaw wrote a modern version of the myth, in which the main characters are no longer mythical, they are ordinary people, but the motive remains the same: the author polishes his creation. The role of Pygmalon here is played by Professor Higgins, who is trying to make a lady out of the simple Eliza, but as a result, he himself, fascinated by her naturalness, changes for the better. It is here that the question arises of which of the two characters is the author and which is the creation, although Bernard Shaw himself, of course, became the main creator.

Eliza's biography is quite typical for the representatives of that time, and the successful professor of phonetics Higgins wants her to forget about what surrounded her earlier and become a secular lady. As a result, the "sculptor" succeeded. miraculous transformation main character The show wanted to show that, in fact, there is no difference between different social groups. Any person can have potential, the only problem is that the poor stratum of the population does not have the opportunity to realize it.

Conclusion

Bernard Shaw, quotes from whose works are known to every educated person, for a long time could not achieve recognition and remained in the shadows, because the publishers refused to print his creations. But, despite all the obstacles, he managed to achieve his goal and become one of the most popular playwrights of all time. The desire, which will be realized sooner or later, if not turned off the right path, has become the leitmotif of the work of the great English playwright, it allowed him not only to create unsurpassed creations, but also to become a classic of drama.

Years of life: from 07/26/1856 to 11/02/1950

Outstanding Irish, English writer, prose writer, playwright, music and theater critic, public figure. The second most popular (after Shakespeare) English-speaking playwright. He made an invaluable contribution to English and world dramaturgy. Nobel Prize Laureate. He is also known for his wit and adherence to socialist views.

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin. Shaw's father, a civil servant, decided to go into the grain trade. but burned out and became addicted to alcohol. The writer's mother was a singer and amateur musician. The boy studied first at home, and then in Catholic and Protestant day schools, after which, at the age of sixteen, he got a job as a clerk in a real estate agency, where he worked for four years. In 1873 Shaw's parents divorced and his mother moved to London. Three years later, Bernard joined them, deciding to become a writer. However, all of his articles were returned by the editors, and none of Shaw's five novels was published. At this time, the writer was entirely dependent on the meager earnings of his mother, who gave music lessons. In 1882, Shaw turned to social problems and became a convinced socialist. In 1884, the playwright joined the Fabian Society, created to spread socialist ideas. Shaw became an extremely active member of the society, often lecturing three times a week. At the same time, Shaw met the theater critic W. Archer, on whose recommendation Shaw became first a freelance correspondent, and then the author of musical and theater reviews (since 1886) in such publications as the weekly "World" ("World"), "Pall Mall newspapers" ("Pall Mall Gazette"), the newspaper "Star" ("Star"). Shaw's critical writings brought him popularity and financial independence. In 1895, Mr.. Shaw became a theater critic in the London magazine "Saturday Review" ("Saturday Review"). Shaw became more and more interested in the theater, wrote several works about H. Ibsen and R. Wagner, and in 1892 the first play of Shaw's "Widower's Houses" ("Widowers" Houses ") was staged. The play was not successful and was withdrawn after two performances Several subsequent plays by the playwright also turned out to be invaluable, the directors refused to stage them, and “Mrs Warren's Profession” was even banned by censors (the play is about prostitution). The show publishes its work at its own expense. In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne Townsend, an Irish philanthropist and socialist who gave him considerable support. Fame came to the playwright in 1904, when his plays became the basis of the repertoire of the London Royal Court Theater, where they were staged by D. Vedrenn and Harley Grenville-Barker who filmed this theatre. For three seasons (1904-07), almost all of the playwright's most significant plays were played at the Royal Court Theater. Simultaneously with Shaw’s confession, accusations of “insufficient seriousness” and buffoonery begin to sound, in particular, the playwright L.N. Tolstoy. Shaw himself writes plays more and more "serious", imbued with philosophical ideas and therefore less and less popular with the public. During the years of the First World War, Shaw's anti-war views (which he did not hesitate to express) caused the playwright's sharp rejection by most of the press and colleagues. After his essay "War from the point of view of common sense", in which the playwright criticizes both England and Germany, calls on both countries to negotiate, ridiculing blind patriotism, Shaw was expelled from the Dramatists' Club. In the 20s of the XX century, Shaw's works were again are becoming popular. At this time, Shaw's most controversial and complex play, "Back to Methuselah" ("Back to Methuselah", 1922), was written, as well as the only tragedy in his repertoire: "Saint Joan" ("Saint Joan", 1924), about Jeanne D'Arc. In 1926, the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1925 was awarded to Shaw "for a work marked by idealism and humanism, for sparkling satire, which is often combined with exceptional poetic beauty." Being a principled opponent of all kinds of prizes, Shaw refused the monetary part of the Nobel Prize, ordering the establishment of an Anglo-Swedish literary fund for translators, especially Strindberg's translators, with this money. smart woman on issues of socialism and capitalism "(" The Intelligent Woman "s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism") - a discourse on political and economic topics. And in 1931, the playwright visited the USSR and met with Stalin. Shaw remained a staunch socialist throughout his life and Shaw's wife died in 1943. After that, the playwright moved from London to his home in Hertfordshire, where he spent the rest of his life in seclusion. Shaw died on November 2, 1950 at the age of 94

The correct pronunciation of the surname Shaw is “Sho”, however, the pronunciation “Show” has become entrenched in the Russian-speaking tradition.

Of the 988 performances played at the Royal Court Theater between 1904 and 1907, 701 were based on Shaw's works.

In response to the phrase “The show is a clown”, V.I. Lenin said: “In a bourgeois state, he may be a clown for the bourgeoisie, but in a revolution he would not be mistaken for a clown.”

B. Shaw became the first writer to refuse the Nobel Prize.

B. Shaw is the only person to have received both the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Oscar at the same time.

Possessing an excellent sense of humor and a tenacious mind, Shaw became the author of many aphorisms.

Writer's Awards

(1925)
Academy Award for Best Screenplay (1938)

Bibliography

Cycle "Unpleasant Plays"
Widower's Houses (1885-1892)
Heartbreaker (1893)
Profession of Mrs. Warren (1893-1894)

Cycle "Pleasant Plays"
Arms and Man (1894)
Candida (1894-1895)
Destiny's Chosen One (1895)
Let's wait and see (1895-1896)

Cycle "Three Pieces for the Puritans"
The Devil's Disciple (1896-1897)
(1898)
Conversion of Captain Brasbound (1899)

Magnificent Bashvil, or Unrewarded Constancy" (1901)
Man and Superman (1901-1903)
John Bull's Other Island (1904)
How he lied to her husband (1904)
Major Barbara (1906)
The Physician in a Dilemma (1906)
Interlude in the Theater (1907)
Marriage (1908)
Exposing Blanco Posnet (1909)

Cycle "Tomfoolery and trinkets"
Passion, Poison, Petrification, or Fatal Gasogen (1905)
Newspaper clippings (1909)
Charming Foundling (1909)
A Bit of Reality (1909)

The number of productions of Shaw's plays is incalculable. The list of adaptations of the playwright's works on the Kinopoisk website includes 62 films and television films.
The most famous screen adaptations are:
Pygmalion (1938, UK) dir. E. Esquith, L. Howard. B. Shaw became the author of the script and received an Oscar for it.
My Fair Lady (1964, USA) dir. J. Cukor. Adaptation of the play Pygmalion. The film received 8 Oscars, including the main award "Best Film".

Domestic film adaptations:
How he lied to her husband (1956) dir. T. Berezantseva
Pygmalion (1957) dir. S. Alekseev
Galatea (1977) dir. A. Belinsky. Film-ballet based on the play "Pygmalion".
Mournful insensibility (1986) dir. A. Sokurov. Fantasy film based on the play Heartbreak House