Stage success: 1900–1914 George Bernard Shaw

gertrude elliott , johnston forbes-robertson in caesar , cleopatra, new york, 1906

during first decade of twentieth century, shaw secured firm reputation playwright. in 1904 j. e. vedrenne , harley granville-barker established company @ royal court theatre in sloane square, chelsea present modern drama. on next 5 years staged fourteen of shaw s plays. first, john bull s other island, comedy englishman in ireland, attracted leading politicians , seen edward vii, laughed broke chair. play withheld dublin s abbey theatre, fear of affront might provoke, although shown @ city s royal theatre in november 1907. shaw later wrote william butler yeats, had requested play, got rather more bargained for ... uncongenial whole spirit of neo-gaelic movement, bent on creating new ireland after own ideal, whereas play uncompromising presentment of real old ireland. nonetheless, shaw , yeats close friends; yeats , lady gregory tried unsuccessfully persuade shaw take vacant co-directorship of abbey theatre after j. m. synge s death in 1909. shaw admired other figures in irish literary revival, including george russell , james joyce, , close friend of seán o casey, inspired become playwright after reading john bull s other island.

man , superman, completed in 1902, success both @ royal court in 1905 , in robert loraine s new york production in same year. among other shaw works presented vedrenne , granville-barker major barbara (1905), depicting contrasting morality of arms manufacturers , salvation army; doctor s dilemma (1906), serious piece professional ethics; , caesar , cleopatra, shaw s counterblast shakespeare s antony , cleopatra, seen in new york in 1906 , in london following year.

now prosperous , established, shaw experimented unorthodox theatrical forms described biographer stanley weintraub discussion drama , serious farce . these plays included getting married (premiered 1908), shewing-up of blanco posnet (1909), misalliance (1910), , fanny s first play (1911). blanco posnet banned on religious grounds lord chamberlain (the official theatre censor in england), , produced instead in dublin; filled abbey theatre capacity. fanny s first play, comedy suffragettes, had longest initial run of shaw play—622 performances.

androcles , lion (1912), less heretical study of true , false religious attitudes blanco posnet, ran 8 weeks in september , october 1913. followed 1 of shaw s successful plays, pygmalion, written in 1912 , staged in vienna following year, , in berlin shortly afterwards. shaw commented, custom of english press when play of mine produced, inform world not play—that dull, blasphemous, unpopular, , financially unsuccessful. ... hence arose urgent demand on part of managers of vienna , berlin should have plays performed them first. british production opened in april 1914, starring sir herbert tree , mrs patrick campbell as, respectively, professor of phonetics , cockney flower-girl. there had earlier been romantic liaison between shaw , campbell caused charlotte shaw considerable concern, time of london premiere had ended. play attracted capacity audiences until july, when tree insisted on going on holiday, , production closed. co-star toured piece in us.

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