Cambridge Companion To George Bernard Shaw, The

The Cambridge Companion to George Bernard Shaw is an indispensable guide to one of the most influential and important dramatists of the theatre. The volume offers a broad-ranging study of Shaw with essays by a team of leading scholars. The Companion covers all aspects of Shaw’s drama, focusing on both the political and theatrical context, while the extensive illustrations showcase productions from the Shaw Festival in Canada. In addition to situating Shaw’s work in its own time, the Companion demonstrates its continuing relevance, and applies some of the newest critical approaches. Topics include Shaw and the publishing trade, Shaw and feminism, and Shaw and the Empire, as well as analyses of the early plays, discussion plays and history plays. Contents - List of illustrations; Notes on contributors; Preface; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Part I. The Social and Cultural Context: 1. Shaw’s life: a feminist in spite of himself Sally Peters; 2. Imprinting the stage: Shaw and the publishing trade, 1893–1903 Katherine E. Kelly; 3. New theatres for old Charles A. Berst; 4. New women, new plays and Shaw in the 1890s Kerry Powell; Part II. Shaw the Dramatist: 5. Shaw’s early plays Frederick J. Marker; 6. Shavian comedy and the shadow of Wilde David J. Gordon; 7. Paradox and parable: structure and philosophy in Man and Superman and Major Barbara Fredric Berg; 8. 'Nothing but talk, talk, talk - Shaw talk': discussion plays and the making of modern drama Christopher Innes; 9. The road to Heartbreak House Ronald Bryden; 10. Reinventing the history play: Caesar and Cleopatra, Saint Joan, 'In Good King Charles’s Golden Days' Matthew H. Wikander; 11. Shaw’s interstices of Empire: decolonizing at home and abroad Tracy C. Davis; 12. The later Shaw T. F. Evans; Part III. Theatre Work and Influence: 13. Shaw and the court theatre Jan McDonald; 14. Shaw’s plays as music drama J. L. Wisenthal; 15. Shaw and the popular context Robert G. Everding; Index.