Bernard Shaw

'What other judgment can I judge by but my own?' Charting the meteoric rise and fall of Joan of Arc and her mission to drive the English from France, Shaw's Saint Joan draws directly on the medieval records to cut through the sentiment that characterized previous literary treatments of her story. A powerful example of a new kind of history play, its staging of dissent and social constraint, personal responsibility and female assertion, as well as fervent adherence to a cause, gave it a powerful modernity in its own day and continuing resonance in ours. Acclaimed internationally, this instant modern classic propelled Shaw to the Nobel Prize for 1925. This new edition includes Shaw's definitive text and full Preface and provides the most comprehensive scholarly treatment of the play to date, featuring commentary on: * the historical and theatrical context * the development of the text and stage-worthiness of the play * correlation of the dialogue with the records of Jeanne D'Arc's trial * an international stage history * an appendix identifying the historical models for the characters

"There are two things necessary to salvation ...money and gunpowder" Major Barbara, Bernard Shaw's story of the conversion contest between the arms manufacturer Andrew Undershaft and his daughter, the Salvation Army Major, is a provocative dramatization of the relationship between money, power, and moral purpose. A landmark in the history of British theatre when first produced at the Royal Court in 1905, it remains strikingly relevant today, when recent history has repeatedly highlighted the power of the arms industry in shaping government policy, and globalization has accentuated the political and ethical issues of social welfare and international capital raised by the play. This edition includes Shaw's definitive text and provides the most comprehensive scholarly treatment of the play to date. A lengthy Introduction traces the history of the text from manuscript drafts to the famous 1941 wartime film version starring Wendy Hiller and Rex Harrison and on to modern stagings. It reveals Major Barbara as one of Shaw's most exciting and challenging plays for actors, directors, and readers.

"What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead." Cheered by some and booed by others on opening night in 1894, Arms and the Man became the first success of Bernard Shaw's dramatic career that spanned six decades and brought him world-wide renown. In this perennially popular anti-romantic comedy, a fugitive enemy soldier bursts into the bedroom of a starry-eyed young woman; he then proceeds to disabuse her and those around her of the bogus romanticised ideals they have constructed around love, war, and social status. This edition includes Shaw's definitive text and provides the most comprehensive scholarly treatment of the play to date. It radically re-examines Shaw's sources, the drafts of the play, its themes and self-fictionalising techniques, and locates it in the theatrical milieu that Shaw sought to subvert and revolutionize.

'Not bloody likely' Ever since Pygmalion opened in London in April 1914 it has proved a very controversial play, from the (then) shocking language, to arguments about its correct ending. Critical interpretations have been similarly disputatious, encompassing views of the transformation of the impoverished Eliza Doolittle by phonetics expert Henry Higgins as either a story of economic and social liberation, or an example of the perpetuation of male control and self-interest. With subsequent film and musical adaptations and many stage revivals, Pygmalion remains one of Shaw's most engaging, provocative, and accessible plays. This new edition of Pygmalion includes Shaw's definitive text, with both Preface and Sequel, and provides the most comprehensive scholarly treatment of the play to date, containing: * a substantial introduction with biographical information on Shaw * detailed discussion of the genesis and sources of the play * varying interpretations, and a lengthy international stage history. * textual notes on each page explaining language, allusions, and staging * Appendices with Shaw's discarded scenes for the play, the British Censor's 1914 report, and texts of all stage and film endings of Pygmalion.