George-Bernard-Shaw
The Williamstown Theatre Festival production of G.B. Shaw’s 100-year-old classic, “Pygmalion” – which only plays nine more performances – delivers an evening of superb theater on all levels.
Read MoreThere is nothing shocking, nothing sensational, nothing revelatory, in this workmanlike production of ARMS AND THE MAN. Nor should there be, as the play doesn’t give much room for innovation.
Read MoreIn a living society every day is a day of judgment; and its recognition as such is not the end of all things but the beginning of a real civilization. – George Bernard Shaw, “The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles,” preface, 1936. Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Gus Kaikkonen. Presented by The…
Read MoreBy Bill Marx The war over critics-as-bullies is over, but some diehards keep fighting the same old battles to the point of arthritic absurdity, like Lee Marvin and Toshirô Mifune as old and forgotten American and Japanese veterans of WWII slugging it out in the 1968 movie Hell in the Pacific.The latest retread salvo comes…
Read MoreBy Bill Marx For any self-respecting Shavian, the major attraction of Canada’s Shaw Festival is the chance to see first-rate productions of plays by GBS and his contemporaries, especially the opportunity to take in ace stagings of scripts that fall outside of the greatest hits list. But during the `80s a close second was the…
Read MoreBy Bill Marx When George Bernard Shaw’s comedy Misalliance, subtitled “a debate,” premiered in 1910, critics couldn’t make heads or tails of the play. It didn’t matter if the reviewer was sympathetic to Shavian excess — the evening’s self-parodying polemics and prophetic theater-of-the-absurd trappings were too much. The production closed after 11 performances: the script,…
Read MoreThe caricature of the theater critic as spoilsport still pops up, pushed by rescuers of the “injured” who enjoy delivering self-congratulatory whippings. No naysayers are allowed –- it hurts business. For once, how about looking at the ways that yeasayers do a disservice to theater and the craft of criticism? By Bill Marx Are theater…
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