The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw
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The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw Audience Guide researched and written by the Education Department of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE: Audience Guide InThis Guide • About Shaw ............................................................................................................................................................... 2 • A Synopsis ..............................................................................................................................................................3-4 • Shaw and The Devil’s Disciple ................................................................................................................................... 5 • The Devil’s Disciple: A History of the Play ................................................................................................................. 6 • What is a Shavian Play? ............................................................................................................................................ .7 • Who’s Who? ............................................................................................................................................................ ..8 • Glossary of Words and Terms ....................................................................................... .............................................9 • Commentary and Criticism ...................................................................................................................................... 10 • In This Production .................................................................................................................................................. .11 • Shaw Online .......................................................................................................................................................... .12 • Other Works by Shaw ............................................................................................................................................. .13 • Sources and Further Reading .................................................................................................................................. .14 1 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE: Audience Guide About George Bernard Shaw was born on July 26, 1856 to a lower-middle class family in Dublin. Despite being a poor student, Shaw finished his public Shaw eventually became very wealthy from the royalties of his plays. He schooling at the age of 15. Before he reached the age of 16, his parents stayed active in the Fabian Society, in city government, on committees separated, and Shaw decided to live with his father in Dublin where he dedicated to ending dramatic censorship, and in establishing a subsidized received a job as a clerk in an estate office. In 1876, at the age of 20, he National Theatre. moved to London to live with his mother, whose financial support allowed him to follow his literary aspirations and publish his first five novels (all of The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought on a dark period in Shaw’s life. which were completely unsuccessful). He published a series of newspaper articles that were heavily infused with anti-war sentiment, which made him tremendously unpopular. His reputation Shaw politically identified as a Socialist in 1882, and co-founded the Fabian took a critical blow, and rumors circulated that he would be tried for treason. Society in 1884, this was a society that promoted the rise of a democratic He wrote only one major play during the war years, Heartbreak House, socialist state in Great Britain rather than a monarchy. Despite his stammer through which he channeled his bitterness and despair about British politics and fear of public speaking, he took to the soapbox and developed an and society. aggressive, engaging manner of speaking, which later lent itself well to his writing. After World War I ended, Shaw set to rebuild his reputation with a series of five plays about “creative evolution.” In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel In London, Shaw worked as an art critic, then as a music critic, and finally, Prize for Literature, no doubt prompted by the recent success of his 1923 from 1895-1898 as a theatre critic. After recovering from a serious illness in play Saint Joan, which was widely considered one of his greatest works. He 1898, Shaw resigned as a critic and moved out of his mother’s house to marry accepted the award at his wife’s behest, but only in title; Shaw declined the Charlotte Payne-Townshend. money offered along with it, asking that it instead be used to translate August Strindberg’s works into English. His career as a playwright began in 1891 with Widowers’ Houses, which he wrote for the Independent Theatre, a company dedicated to producing New Shaw lived the rest of his life as an international celebrity of sorts. He Drama (Realism and Naturalism) as inspired by Henrik Ibsen in Germany. traveled, remained active in politics, and continued to write over a dozen Widowers’ Houses had begun years earlier as a collaboration with his friend more plays (he wrote 50 plays in his lifetime, as well as essays, short stories, and critic William Archer – Archer had given up on the collaboration when and novels). In 1943, his wife Charlotte passed away. Shaw himself died in Shaw’s political views overwhelmed his attempts at writing a “well-made 1950 at the age of 94 after falling from a ladder while trimming a tree on his play.” Shaw wrote nearly a dozen more plays over the next 12 years. Few of property. his plays, however, were actually produced until 1904 when Harley Granville Barker took over the management of the Court Theatre. Over the next three In his will, Shaw left a large part of his estate to a project to revamp the seasons, Barker produced ten of Shaw’s plays. Over the next decade, all but English alphabet; the project was ultimately unsuccessful. His estate was one of Shaw’s plays was produced by Barker, Barker’s friends, and in other further divided among the National Gallery of Ireland, the British Museum, experimental theaters around England. and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. 2 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE: Audience Guide ASynopsis Please note: Below is a full summary of the play. If you prefer not to spoil the plot, consider skipping this section. The play begins in Websterbridge, New Hampshire just before dawn with the other men that they will be in danger, because the British will want Mrs. Anne Dudgeon waiting in front of the fire and a young girl asleep to hang an upstanding citizen in order to shock the community into on the couch. Mrs. Dudgeon’s youngest son, Christy, comes home and behaving. The family dismisses his warnings as they depart. discovers the young girl is Essie, the illegitimate child of his Uncle Peter. Peter has just been hung by the British troops for being a traitor to King Later that evening, Judith waits anxiously at home for her husband’s George III. Christy has returned to report that his father has also died. The return. She has been deeply bothered by Dick’s comments at the gathering minister, Mr. Anthony Anderson, arrives to inform Mrs. Dudgeon that her earlier. Anderson enters and calms his wife; she promises to be brave. husband made a new will just before his death. He also informs her that He tells her that he has invited Dick to their home to talk. Anderson her reckless and renegade son, Richard “Dick” Dudgeon, attended the is convinced that Dick is in danger of being hung, and Anderson is hanging and will be present at the reading of the will later that morning. determined to make Dick understand the danger. Judith is resistant, stating Mrs. Dudgeon refuses to accept Anderson's consolation and states that how much she despises him. Shortly after Dick arrives, Anderson is called she has lost respect for him ever since he married for love, "as the human away to attend to Mrs. Dudgeon, who has fallen ill. Anderson asks Dick heart is deceitful and not to be trusted". Mr. Anderson leaves to give Mrs. to stay at his house until he returns. Dick and Judith are left alone and, Dudgeon time to prepare her home for visitors. though they argue at first, they soon begin to warm up to each other in a more kind manner. Mrs. Judith Anderson, the minister’s wife, arrives unexpectedly to help Mrs. Dudgeon. Mrs. Anderson is greeted coldly but politely and is asked Outside, there is a commotion and a knock at the door. The British to watch the door while Mrs. Dudgeon changes. Judith and Essie discuss soldiers arrive to take Anderson away, just as Dick predicted. They mistake what it means to be a good Puritan girl and how Essie is expected to Dick for Anderson, and Dick plays along. He puts on Anderson’s coat behave at the reading of the will. The rest of the family, Mr. Anderson, and kisses Judith goodbye, insisting that she not tell her husband what and the family's lawyer arrive for the reading of the will. Dick Dudgeon has happened or to allow Anderson to rescue him. Judith faints at the arrives, and the tensions between Dick and the family become clear. The kiss, and Dick and the soldiers leave. Anderson returns and wakes his will is read, and the whole inheritance is given to Dick, besides some wife, who is terribly distraught by the events that have transpired. Essie small allowances made for Christy and Mrs. Dudgeon. Dick immediately arrives, sent by Dick to come check on Judith. Judith breaks down