Plays Unpleasant (Penguin Classics)
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With Plays Unpleasant, Shaw issued a radical challenge to his audiences' complacency and exposed social evils through his dramatization of the moral conflicts between youthful idealism and economic reality, promiscuity and marriage, and the duties of women to others and to themselves. His first play, Widowers' Houses, depicts Harry Trench's dilemma on learning that the inheritance of his fiancée comes from her father's income as a slum landlord. In The Philanderer, charismatic Leonard Charteris proposes marriage to Grace, while he is still involved with the beautiful Julia Craven - who is not inclined to give him up so easily. And in Mrs Warren's Profession, Vivie Warren is forced to reconsider her own future when she discovers that her mother's immoral earnings funded her genteel upbringing.
About the Author
Dublin-born George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an active Socialist and a brilliant platform speaker. He was strongly critical of London theatre and closely associated with the intellectual revival of British drama.
Dan H. Laurence has edited SHAW'S COLLECTED LETTERS and COLLECTED PLAYS with their Prefaces. He was Literary Advisor to the Shaw Estate until his retirement in 1990.
David Edgar has written widely on theatre and his original plays include DESTINY, MAYDAYS and PENTECOST.
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First Sentence
In the garden restaurant of a hotel at Remagen on the Rhine, on a fine afternoon in August in the eighteen-eighties. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
In the garden restaurant of a hotel at Remagen on the Rhine, on a fine afternoon in August in the eighteen-eighties. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Shaw attacks the assumptions of a conservative 1890's.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Plays Unpleasant: Widowers' Houses; The Philanderer, and, Mrs Warren's Profession (Paperback)
Shaw's cutting wit and exquisite written style attract an unknowing audience to a barrage of attacks on the society of the 1890's. 'Plays Unpleasant' is a collection of different plays highlighting the darker and unmentionable aspects of society at the turn of the ninteenth century. For example 'Mrs Warren's Profession' explores issues of prostitution and its position in society. Shaw directly engages his audience with examples of their own hypocrisy and conservative assumptions in a play that was branded inappropriate and banned from the London stage. This collection of plays gives an interesting perspective of the 1890's society.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unpleasant topics, but ideologically important,
By Philip Samuels - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Plays Unpleasant: Widowers' Houses; The Philanderer, and, Mrs Warren's Profession (Paperback)
The plays of Bernard Shaw span many years and cover many topics. While many of Shaw's works are entertaining as well as enlightening, the plays in this volume (written very early in his career) tackle complex issues that concern society. These plays force us to critically view how success in the world is judged. They demonstrate how any of us may unknowingly be an accomplice to or a participant in activities to which we stringently object on a moral basis. This is pertinent in society today! The works in this volume open our eyes. . .and we may not like what we see. In summary, the plays in this volume are important, although they will hopefully make the reader feel somewhat uncomfortable. A well planned anthology of Shaw's work should be part of any college education
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