The greatness of this play is expressed for me by the fact that even reading it straight through as a text, rather than hearing or seeing it enacted as a drama, it still made me laugh. Shaw's ear for dialogue and his sense of comic timing is superb. Yes, it's a dated play, and one wonders how long it will last in performance, but it is literary perfection, razor sharp dialogue, fantastic charactersation and a superb eye for detail. The ambiguity of the ending and the refusal to bow to the schmalzy hollywood film makers saves it from being too saccharine, and allows the seriousness of Shaw's message to shine through, and the comedy saves it from being a polemic.
