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A review by dee9401
Plays Unpleasant by George Bernard Shaw
5.0
George Bernard Shaw has done it again. I got to know GBS's works through performances at the Washington (DC) Stage Guild in the 1990s. What depth of insight. And never a dearth of words. I think he might be one of the world's greatest playwrights, equaling and at times surpassing, Shakespeare. It doesn't hurt that Shaw's take on society, politics and economics meld with many of my own, but I think that he gets to the heart of things quickly and in a way that the reader might not have expected. Drawing the reader (or viewer) in, he sets you up to like one person and dislike the other. Then, the curtain is pulled back and you realize that maybe the one you like isn't as clean as you thought and maybe the evil one isn't quite as two-dimensionally villainous as you assumed.
Plays Unpleasant consists of three plays that are "unpleasant" only in that they confront the viewer with a serious social or economic problem yet without a comedic factor to soften the blow. I really loved The Widowers' House. Then I liked Mrs. Warren's Profession. I wasn't a huge fan of The Philanderer, but I wonder if that would come across better as a performance rather than a read-through.
Shaw's prefaces are sometimes difficult to read but they are worth the effort. The one to Mrs Warren's Profession is just as insightful in 2012 as it was in 1902 (revised 1930). In reference to those who sought to ban performances of that play, he wrote, "No doubt it is equally possible that they were simply stupid men who thought that indecency consists, not in evil, but in mentioning it."
I highly recommend this book. The only people who might take legitimate umbrage with GBS are those actors who have to memorize the massive amount of words!
Plays Unpleasant consists of three plays that are "unpleasant" only in that they confront the viewer with a serious social or economic problem yet without a comedic factor to soften the blow. I really loved The Widowers' House. Then I liked Mrs. Warren's Profession. I wasn't a huge fan of The Philanderer, but I wonder if that would come across better as a performance rather than a read-through.
Shaw's prefaces are sometimes difficult to read but they are worth the effort. The one to Mrs Warren's Profession is just as insightful in 2012 as it was in 1902 (revised 1930). In reference to those who sought to ban performances of that play, he wrote, "No doubt it is equally possible that they were simply stupid men who thought that indecency consists, not in evil, but in mentioning it."
I highly recommend this book. The only people who might take legitimate umbrage with GBS are those actors who have to memorize the massive amount of words!