Bernard Shaw - biography. facts - great Irish playwright
SHOW, GEORGE BERNARD(Shaw, George Bernard) (1856-1950), Irish playwright, philosopher and prose writer, an outstanding critic of his time and the most famous - after Shakespeare - playwright, who wrote in English. Born July 26, 1856 in Dublin. His father, having failed in business, became addicted to alcohol; the mother, disappointed in marriage, was carried away by singing. Shaw did not learn anything in the schools he attended, but he learned a lot from the books of Charles Dickens, W. Shakespeare, D. Benyan, the Bible, Arabic fairy tales Thousand and One Nights as well as listening to the operas and oratorios in which the mother sang, and contemplating paintings in the Irish National Gallery.
At the age of fifteen, Shaw got a job as a clerk in a land company. A year later, he became a cashier and held this position for four years. Unable to overcome his aversion to such work, at the age of twenty he left for London to his mother, who, after her divorce from her husband, earned a living by singing lessons.
Shaw, already in his youth, decided to make a living by literary work, and although the articles sent out returned to him with depressing regularity, he continued to besiege the editorial office. Only one of his articles was accepted for publication, paying the author fifteen shillings - and that was all that Shaw earned with a pen in nine years. Over the years, he wrote five novels that were rejected by all English publishers.
In 1884 Shaw joined the Fabian Society and soon became one of its most brilliant orators. At the same time, he improved his education in the reading room of the British Museum, where he met the writer W. Archer (1856–1924), who introduced him to journalism. After working for a time as a freelance correspondent, Shaw earned a spot as a music critic in one of the evening papers. After six years of music reviewing, Shaw spent three and a half years as a theater critic at the Saturday Riverview. During this time he published books about H. Ibsen and R. Wagner. He also wrote plays (collection Plays are pleasant and unpleasant – Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant, 1898). One of them, Mrs Warren's profession (Mrs. Warren "s Profession, first staged in 1902), was banned by the censors; another, Wait and see (You never can tell, 1895) was rejected after several rehearsals; third, Weapon and man (Arms and the Man, 1894), nobody understood at all. In addition to those named, the collection includes plays Candida (Candida, 1895), The chosen one of fate (The man of destiny, 1897), Widower's House (Widower "s Houses, 1892) and Heartbreaker (The philanderer, 1893). Staged in America by R. Mansfield Devil's disciple (The Devil "s Disciple, 1897), Shaw's first play to hit a box office.
Shaw wrote plays, reviews, acted as a street speaker promoting socialist ideas, and was also a member of the city council of St. Pancras County, where he lived. Such overload led to a sharp deterioration in health, and if not for the care and care of Charlotte Payne-Townsend, whom he married in 1898, the matter could have ended badly. During a prolonged illness, Shaw wrote plays Caesar and Cleopatra (Caesar and cleopatra, 1899) and (Captain Brassbound "s Conversion, 1900), which the writer himself called a "religious treatise." In 1901 Devil's disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra and Captain Brasbound's Message were published in the collection Three pieces for the Puritans (Three plays for puritans). V Caesar and Cleopatra- Shaw's first play, where real historical figures act, - the traditional idea of the hero and heroine has been changed beyond recognition.
Unsuccessful on the path of commercial theater, Shaw decided to make drama the conduit of his philosophy, publishing in 1903 the play Man and superman (Man and superman). However, the very next year his hour came. Young actor H. Granville-Barker (1877-1946), together with entrepreneur J.E. Vedrenny, took over the leadership of London's Court Theater and opened a season whose success was ensured by Shaw's old and new plays - Candida, Wait and see, John Bull's other island (John Bull "s Other Island, 1904), Man and superman, Major Barbara (Major barbara, 1905) and The doctor faces a dilemma (The Doctor "s Dilemma, 1906).
Now Shaw decided to write plays that were completely devoid of action. The first of these discussion plays, Marriage (Getting married, 1908), had some success among intellectuals, the second, Misalliance (Misalliance, 1910), turned out to be difficult for them too. Giving up, Shaw wrote an openly box-office trifle - Fanny's first play (Fanny "s First Play, 1911), which for almost two years was on the stage of a small theater. Then, as if in revenge for this concession to the taste of the crowd, Shaw created a true masterpiece - Androcles and the lion (Androcles and the lion, 1913), followed by a play Pygmalion (Pygmalion 1914), directed by G. Bierbohm-Three in His Majesty's Theater with Patrick Campbell as Eliza Doolittle.
During World War I, Shaw was an extremely unpopular figure. The press, the public, colleagues showered him with insults, and meanwhile he calmly finished the play Home where hearts break (Heartbreak house, 1921) and prepared his covenant to the human race - Back to Methuselah (Back to Methuselah, 1923), where he put his evolutionist ideas into dramatic form. In 1924, fame returned to the writer, he gained world recognition drama Saint john (Saint joan). In Shaw's eyes, Jeanne d'Arc is the herald of Protestantism and nationalism, and therefore the sentence passed on her by the medieval church and the feudal system is quite natural. In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he refused to receive.
The last play that brought Shaw success was Applecart (The apple cart, 1929), which opened the Malvern Festival in honor of the playwright.
In the years when most people were not up to travel, Shaw visited the USA, USSR, South Africa, India, New Zealand. In Moscow, where Shaw arrived with Lady Astor, he talked with Stalin. When the Labor Party came to power, for which the playwright had done so much, he was offered the nobility and the peerage, but he refused everything. At the age of ninety, the writer nevertheless agreed to become an honorary citizen of Dublin and London's St. Pancras, where he lived in his younger years.
Shaw's wife died in 1943. The writer spent the remaining years in seclusion in Eyot St. Lawrence (Hertfordshire), where at the age of ninety-two he finished his last play Billions of Byant (Buoyant billions, 1949). Until the end of his days, the writer remained clear of mind. Shaw died at Eyot St. Lawrence on November 2, 1950.
George Bernard Shaw. Born on July 26, 1856 in Dublin (Ireland) - died on November 2, 1950 in Hertfordshire (England). English playwright and novelist of Irish descent, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and one of the most famous Irish literary figures. Public figure (socialist-Fabian, supporter of the reform of the English writing). One of the founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Second (after Shakespeare) most popular playwright in English theater.
The only person who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1925, "For creativity marked by idealism and humanism, for sparkling satire, which is often combined with exceptional poetic beauty"), and the Oscar (1938, for the script for the film "Pygmalion" ). An active promoter of vegetarianism.
George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on July 26, 1856, the son of George Shaw, a grain merchant, and Lucinda Shaw, a professional singer. He had two sisters, Lucinda Frances, a theater singer, and Elinor Agnes, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.
Shaw attended Wesley College Dublin and grammar school. He received his secondary education in Dublin. At the age of eleven he was sent to a Protestant school, where he was, in his own words, the penultimate or last student. He called school the most harmful stage of his education: "It never crossed my mind to prepare lessons or tell the truth to this universal enemy and executioner - the teacher."
But the education system has been criticized more than once by Shaw for focusing on the mental rather than spiritual development... The author especially criticized the system of physical punishment at school. At fifteen he became a clerk. The family did not have the means to send him to university, but his communications uncles helped him get a job at the rather famous Townsend real estate agency.
One of Shaw's duties was collecting rent from Dublin slum dwellers, and the sad experiences of those years were subsequently embodied in The Widower's Houses.
He was, in all likelihood, a fairly capable clerk, although the monotony of this work annoyed him. He learned to keep the books neatly and to write in quite legible handwriting. Everything in Shaw's handwriting (even in his advanced years) was easy and pleasant to read. This served Shaw well afterwards when he became a professional writer: typesetters did not know grief with his manuscripts.
When Shaw was 16, his mother ran away from home with her lover and daughters. Bernard decided to stay with his father in Dublin. He was educated and employed as a clerk in a real estate office. He was engaged in this work for several years, although he did not like it.
In 1876, Shaw went to his mother in London. The family greeted him very warmly. During this time, he visited public libraries and museums. He began to study intensively in libraries and created his first works, and later wrote a newspaper column dedicated to music. However, his early novels fell flat until 1885, when he became known as a creative critic.
In the first half of the 1890s he worked as a critic for the London World magazine, where he was succeeded by Robert Hichens.
At the same time, he became carried away by social democratic ideas and joined the Fabian Society, the goal of which is to establish socialism with the help of peaceful means. In this society, he met his future wife Charlotte Payne Townshend, whom he married in 1898. Bernard Shaw had connections on the side.
The first play by Bernard Shaw was presented in 1892. At the end of the decade, he became a well-known playwright. He wrote sixty-three plays, as well as novels, critical works, essays and more than 250,000 letters.
Shaw wrote five unsuccessful novels early in his career between 1879 and 1883. They were all published later.
Shaw's first printed novel was Byron's Cough Profession(1886), written in 1882. The protagonist of the novel is a wayward schoolboy who emigrates with his mother to Australia, where he participates in battles for money. He returns to England for a boxing match. Here he falls in love with a smart and rich woman Lydia Carew. This woman, attracted by animal magnetism, agrees to marriage, despite their different social status. Then it turns out that the main character noble birth and heir to a great fortune. Thus, he becomes a member of Parliament and the married couple becomes an ordinary bourgeois family.
novel "Not a social socialist" published in 1887. It begins with a girls' school, but then focuses on a poor worker who actually hides his fortunes from his wife. He is also an active fighter for the advancement of socialism. From this point on, the entire novel focuses on socialist themes.
novel "Love Among the Artists" written in 1881, published in 1900 in the United States and in 1914 in England. In this novel, using the example of Victorian society, Shaw shows his views on art, romantic love and marriage.
"The Irrational Knot" is a novel written in 1880 and published in 1905. In this novel, the author denounces hereditary status and insists on the nobility of the workers. The institution of marriage is called into question by the example of a noble woman and a worker who became rich by the invention of the electric motor. Their marriage falls apart due to the inability of family members to find common interests.
Shaw's first novel "Immaturity", written in 1879, was the last novel published. It describes the life and career of Robert Smith, an energetic young Londoner. The condemnation of alcoholism is the first message in a book based on the author's family memories.
Shaw breaks completely with the prim, puritanical morality still inherent in much of the wealthy in English society. He calls things by their real names, considers it possible to depict any everyday phenomenon, and to a certain extent is a follower of naturalism.
Shaw began work on the first play "House of the widower" in 1885. After some time, the author refused to continue working on it and completed it only in 1892. The play was presented at the Royal Theater in London on 9 December 1892.
In the play "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893), a young girl learns that her mother receives income from brothels, and therefore leaves the house to earn money herself through honest labor.
Like plays, Bernard Shaw's plays include a poignant humor that was unique to Victorian playwrights. The show began to reform the theater, introducing new themes and inviting the audience to ponder moral, political and economic issues. In this he is close to the drama of Ibsen with his realistic drama, which he used to solve social problems.
As Shaw's experience and popularity increased, his plays became less focused on the reforms he advocated, but their entertainment role did not diminish. Works such as "Caesar and Cleopatra"(1898), The Man and the Superman (1903), Major Barbara (1905) and The Doctor in Dilemma (1906) show the mature views of the author, who was already 50 years old.
Until the 1910s, Shaw was a fully formed playwright. New works such as Fanny's First Play (1911) and "Pygmalion"(1912), were well known to the London public.
In the most popular play, Pygmalion, based on the plot ancient greek myth, in which the sculptor asks the gods to revive the statue, Pygmalion appears as Professor of Phonetics Higgins. His Galatea is Eliza Doolittle, a street florist. The professor is trying to correct the language of the cockney-speaking girl. Thus, the girl becomes like a noble woman. By this, Shaw is trying to say that people differ only in appearance.
Shaw's views changed after World War I, which he disapproved of. His first work, written after the war, was the play Home Where Hearts Break (1919). In this play, a new Shaw appeared - the humor remained the same, but his belief in humanism was shaken.
Shaw had previously supported a gradual transition to socialism, but now he saw a government led by a strong man. For him, the dictatorship was obvious. Towards the end of his life, his hopes also died. For example, in the play Buoyant Billions (1946-48), his last play, he says that you should not rely on the masses who act like a blind crowd and can choose people like Hitler as rulers.
In 1921, Shaw completed work on the pentalogy. "Back to Methuselah", which includes five plays, and which begins in the Garden of Eden and ends a thousand years in the future. These plays argue that life is improved through trial and error. Shaw himself considered these plays a masterpiece, but critics were of a different opinion.
A play was written after Methuselah "Saint John"(1923), which is considered one of his best works. The idea of writing a work about Jeanne D'Arc and her canonization appeared in 1920. The play gained worldwide fame and brought the author closer to the Nobel Prize (1921).
Shaw also has plays in the psychological genre, sometimes even touching the field of melodrama ("Candida" and others).
The author created plays for the rest of his life, but only a few of them became as successful as his early works. "The Cart with Apples" (1929) became the most famous play in this period. Later works, such as Bitter But True, Stranded (1933), The Millionaire (1935) and Geneva (1935), did not receive widespread public acceptance.
From 21 to 31 July 1931 Bernard Shaw visited the USSR, where on July 29 he had a personal meeting with. In addition to the capital, Shaw visited the outback - the commune. Lenin (Irskaya commune) of the Tambov region, which was considered exemplary. Returning from the Soviet Union, Shaw said: “I am leaving the state of hope and returning to our western countries - countries of despair ... For me, an old man, it is a deep consolation, going to the grave, to know that world civilization will be saved ... Here, in Russia, I was convinced that that the new communist system is capable of leading mankind out of the modern crisis and saving it from complete anarchy and destruction ".
In an interview given in Berlin on his way home, Shaw praised Stalin as a politician: "Stalin is a very pleasant person and really the leader of the working class ... Stalin is a giant, and all Western leaders are pygmies.".
And already in London on September 6, 1931, in his speech on the topic of the trip, the playwright said: “In Russia there is no parliament or other nonsense of that kind. Russians are not as stupid as we are; it would even be difficult for them to imagine that there could be fools like us. Of course, the state people of Soviet Russia have not only a huge moral superiority over ours, but also a significant mental superiority. ".
Being a socialist in his political views, Bernard Shaw also became a supporter of Stalinism and "another USSR". So, in the preface to his play "On the rocks"(1933) he provides a theoretical basis for the repression of the OGPU against the enemies of the people. In an open letter to the editorial office of the Manchester Guardian newspaper, Bernard Shaw calls the information that appeared in the press about the famine in the USSR (1932-1933) a fake.
In a letter to the Labor Monthly, Bernard Shaw also openly sided with Stalin and Lysenko in the campaign against genetic scientists.
V last years the playwright lived in his own house and died at 94 from kidney failure. His body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered along with the ashes of his wife.
Plays by Bernard Shaw:
George Bernard Shaw- English playwright and novelist of Irish descent, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bernard Shaw was born July 26, 1856 in Dublin. Studied at Catholic and Protestant day schools in Dublin.
After graduating from school in 1871, he began to work in a company that traded in land plots. A year later he took the position of a cashier, but four years later, having hated the job, he moved to London (1876): where his mother lived, after a divorce from his father. He took up journalism and literature.
In 1882 he became interested in social problems, and in 1884 he joined the "Fabian Society", created for the dissemination of socialist ideas, to which he devoted 27 years of his life, giving lectures.
Bernard Shaw began writing about theater, published in the weekly World, Pell-Mell Newspapers, wrote music reviews for Star, and in 1890 became a staff music critic at London World.
After 5 years, Shaw became a theater critic for the London-based Seterday Review.
In 1890 he gave a lecture at a meeting of the "Fabian Society", which he dedicated to the work of Ibsen, and a year later wrote a critical article "The Quintessence of Ibsenism", which became the manifesto of a new drama.
1892 wrote the first play "The House of the Widower". The novels "Unreasonable Marriage" and "Artist's Love" are published.
Over the next six years, Bernard Shaw wrote 9 full-length plays and one one-act: The Heartbreaker (1893), Mrs. Warren's Profession, Arms and Man (1894), Candida (1897), The Chosen One of Fate (1897) ), "Wait and see" (1899). Plays by Shaw directed by John Vedrenne and Harley Grenville-Barker 1904-1907 were so popular that in those years 701 performances were staged based on his works.
During the First World War, Bernard Shaw is actively involved in politics, writes a large essay "War from the point of view of a healthy sense", in which he criticizes England and Germany, calls for negotiations, criticizes blind patriotism.
In the post-war period he publishes the plays "The House Where Hearts Break", "Back to Methuselah" (1922), "Saint John" (.1924).
In 1925 he received Nobel prize.
Aged over 70 in the 30s. The show travels a lot (India, South Africa, New Zealand, USA, USSR).
B. Shaw wrote to a ripe old age. His last plays, Byant Billions and Fictional Fables, he wrote in 1948 and 1950.
George bernard shaw
Irish playwright. Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature George Bernard Shaw. author of fifty plays, numerous critical articles, essays and nonfiction books. Bernard Shaw has a reputation for wit and humor. His plays diverged into aphorisms and numerous quotes, which are still published in newspapers and magazines.
A reformer of modern theater, a bright, eccentric man, Shaw has always aroused great public interest. His lifetime fame could rival the popularity of Shakespeare himself.
The great writer was also a great sage, reliable friend, ardent lover, faithful spouse and just a very good person.
It was Dubin, the capital of Ireland, that gave the world outstanding writers, poets and playwrights. Among them is William Butler Yeats, 1923 Nobel laureate, Oscar Wilde. Jonathan Swift, Brem Stoker. James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, 1969 Nobel laureate, were born in Dublin. Here Shaw was born.
On July 26, 1856, the third and last child, a boy named George Bernard, was born into the family of George and Elizabeth Shaw.
By the time Bernard was born, George Curry Shaw's father was a deeply drinking man. Drunkenness destroyed the Shaw family.
George Bernard Shaw, looking at his father, never became addicted to smoking or alcohol.
Bernard's mother gave her children an excellent elementary education. Thanks to her, Bernard Shaw played the piano and sang very well. And the sisters danced wonderfully and also mastered the art of playing the piano.
Mother Elizabeth herself did not study art anywhere - she took private lessons and played music at home. However, she soon achieved a certain skill. which later allowed her to give private music lessons herself and thus earn a living, getting rid of her husband's tutelage.
In the meantime, in early childhood, the boy lived on the rights of everyone's favorite and mischievous.
At nine years old, Bernard was sent to school. This time the playwright recalled with melancholy. “I didn’t learn anything at school and I forgot a lot.”
During his six years in high school, Shaw changed four schools. He obtained the missing knowledge himself by reading Dickens, Shakespeare, Benyan.
V school years Shaw was a regular at the Irish National Art Gallery. He spent hours looking at the canvases of the classics of European painting, and in the evenings he listened to arias from operas performed by mother.
One of the favorite books of the future playwright was the Bible.
Most interesting fact from Shaw's life - he grew up in a Protestant family, attended religious Protestant and Catholic day schools, but grew up to be an absolute atheist.
In 1871, at the age of fifteen, Shaw dropped out of school and got a job as a clerk in a land trading firm ...
He studied for only 6 years, but in the eyes of his contemporaries he was not just good, but a brilliantly educated person. Encyclopedist, sage, extraordinary dock.
A year later, Bernard deserved a promotion - he was appointed a cashier. All day he sat at the window, accepting money and giving out cash.
On the money that Shaw earned, his mother and sisters lived, and a little was left for papa to drink.
Having become a great playwright, Shaw never complained about a difficult childhood.
The family was in dire need of money. And mother decided to rent out one of the five rooms. The room was taken over by John Vandeler Lee. Lee was a musician and conductor by profession. The person is light, cheerful and sociable.
Lee studied music with his mother. And soon she was playing the piano freely.
Soon, Lee began to take Bernard to the Philharmonic for her rehearsals. And Shaw began to understand such difficult things as countless and impossibly virtuoso operas by Mozart.
Everyone knows that George Bernard Shaw is a great playwright. But he was not only a playwright, but also an outstanding, best of the best, music critic. The major enhancements of his life were music and theater.
Shaw played the piano well. He mastered the instrument perfectly and retained his performing skills until a ripe old age.
Dad's drunkenness led to the fact that mother decided to divorce. The family council decided that after the divorce, Elizabeth's mother and Bernard's sisters would leave for London, while Shaw himself would remain with his father.
In 1875, Elizabeth received a divorce and left with the children on a steamer to London.
In London, mother wanted to cure her daughter Agnes - the girl was suffering from tuberculosis.
in 1876 a letter arrived in Dublin. Mother Elizabeth with tears reported that Agnes was very, very bad. That the girl's days are numbered. And that Bernard should hurry up to say goodbye to his sister.
Bernard retired from the firm where he worked for five years. He left Dublin in the firm conviction that he would never return here.
He barely had time. Agnes died the day after his arrival. The girl was only 22 years old ...
This time left a deep wound in Shaw's heart. After the death of Agnes, the elder sister Anna became withdrawn and estranged from both her mother and her brother.
Elizabeth opened private music lessons in London. The board was installed very small. Soon the apartment turned into a real music salon. The fame of her private music school spread throughout London.
During this time both Bernard wrote and wrote. He sent articles to editorial offices, novels to publishers. But he always got rejections. He knew the reasons for the rejection very well, because in his baggage six grades of high school and Shaw with enviable tenacity takes on self-development.
While his mother supports him, he completely concentrates on books and textbooks. He reads a lot and spends a lot of time in the library.
But luck. One of the London newspapers takes an article by a young author. The fee is fifteen shillings. What a start ...
His optimism can only be envied. From 1879 to 1883, Shaw wrote five novels. Each of them is more than a year of hard work. And each is a terrible disappointment.
In 1879 Shaw finished his first novel, Immaturity.
In 1880 the next novel, The Unwise Marriage, was completed.
In 1881 he wrote the novel The Artist's Love.
In 1882 - the novel "Profession of Cashel Byron".
Finally, in 1883, Shaw wrote his last novel, The Quarreled Socialist.
This was the end of his career as a novelist. These were failures.
Bernard Shaw's life is a record in itself. Fifty world famous and extraordinarily popular plays. Nobel Prize in Literature. At 75 years old travel around the world. Finally, 94 years of eventful life. Active old age. A clear mind until the very last minute.
But most importantly, he never gave up. Different answers came from different editions of publishers. Often they are offensive.
The show turned 28 when his latest novel, The Quiet Socialist, was accepted for publication by the tiny Today magazine. It happened in 1884.
No matter how hard it was for a person, he was able to overcome everything if he was able to smile. Shaw had an amazing ability to look at the world with a smile.
During these years he saved on everything. He moved around London on foot. so as not to spend money on transport. I only went to free public libraries and museums.
In 1884, Shaw got his hands on the fundamental work of Karl Marx "Capital". This book, according to Shaw himself, was a revelation for him. After reading the book, young Bernard said about himself - I am a socialist.
Bernard attended lectures. And one day he met a young writer. It was William Archer. Archer convinced Shaw to write articles for newspapers. The next day they went to the office of the London Pall Mall Newspapers.
He began to try himself as a theater critic. He did not forget Archer's services until the end of his life. They became friends and became very close friends. After all, Archer opened the way for Shaw to great literature.
Bernard Shaw immediately liked the job in the newspaper. He never told the editor that he had already tried hard to get through with his articles in the newspaper, but received absolutely no response.
Very soon, the theatrical and artistic community in London recognized the young as one of their own. He made numerous friends and patrons.
In 1885, a new newspaper, Star, was opened in London. William Archer had already worked there and convinced Shaw to work on that editorial staff too. Shaw began publishing music reviews under the pseudonym Corno di Basseto. This improved the financial situation of the writer so much that he suggested that mother Elizabeth close private music courses and rest.
In 1886. working on "two fronts", Shaw received an invitation from another newspaper - from the authoritative London weekly "World". It was about music criticism, but sometimes. extended format. The show plunged into new job with the head. He did not miss a single significant theatrical and musical event. He spoke honestly about shortcomings and failures, never let go of flattery and did not pay attention to religions. The only yardstick for him was art.
Everyone loved and respected him, invited him to their performances. He was rapidly gaining popularity.
Bernard Shaw looked closely at the work of Ibsen. In his plays, he saw signs of a new realistic theater. Everyone loved and read Ibsen. In 1891 Shaw published critical study"The Quintessence of Ibsenism" - the first serious study of creativity Norwegian playwright, published in English.
In 1891 a new "Independent Theater" was opened in London. Its founder was Jacob Grain, a well-known English director. Grain felt in young man the gift of a playwright. In the end, Grain met with Shaw and invited him to try his hand at drama.
In 1892, Jacob Gray received the first drink from Shaw, The Widower's House. An experienced director was not wrong. It was a real masterpiece. The first independent dramatic work in life and an absolute, flawless hit in the whole.
Until the age of forty-two, Shaw remained a staunch bachelor.
In the summer of 1896, Shaw accidentally met a convinced socialist, progressive and very rich girl, heiress of a multimillion-dollar fortune, Charlotte Payne-Thousand, Irish by birth, like Bernard himself.
In the spring of 1898, Charlotte went on a short trip to Europe. In Paris, she was overtaken by a telegram from a London friend who informed the girl that Shaw was very seriously ill. She immediately returned to England and immediately upon arrival rushed to 29 Fitzroy Square, where Shaw lived in a terribly cramped room on the third floor.
He met her on huge crutches. Shaw, who had never been ill with anything (he retained good health to a ripe old age) was on the verge of being defeated by gangrene.
She convinced Shaw to move in and live with him.
On June 1, 1898, the marriage between George Bernard Shaw and Charlotte Payne Townsend was formalized at the West Strand Registry. The official filling out the papers could not understand what an elegant and very rich lady found in this bony invalid. Charlotte loved Shaw very much.
Immediately after the wedding, they went to Pickford. Here at the local clinic, they spent their honeymoon healing Shaw's leg and enjoying the new sensations of a married couple.
They lived a long life - forty-five years together. But they never had children. All unrealized maternal feelings Charlotte drew on her husband.
The marriage drastically changed Shaw's life. From now on, he no longer had to earn his living by publishing critical articles in a weekly column. The show focused entirely on the playwright.
After the publication of the collection, the Show was hit by two waves - delight and criticism. He was admired, cited, and a collection of plays sold out like a popular novel. But he was accused of immorality, undermining traditions, naturalism and even ... pornography.
Two years of work, and in 1899 a new collection of Shaw's plays, Plays for the Puritans, was published, which included The Devil's Textbook, Caesar and Cleopatra, and Captain Brassbound's Appeal.
In 1897, after finishing work on the play The Devil's Apprentice, Shaw gave it to Grain, who showed it to his friend, the American theater director Mansfield. In the same year, the play was staged on the theater stage.
The play went on to great acclaim on Broadway. Then a wave of performances swept across America. This was the first success.
Real success awaited Shaw in 1903, when he wrote and presented the play "Man and Superman" to theaters. This is a philosophical comedy in which Shaw expounds his own views on religion, women and marriage.
The play has been performed in all leading theaters in England, Europe and America. But she had a particular success in the homeland of the author.
These were the years of prosperity. The show-playwright culminated and remained on the dramatic Olympus for many years. It was in the nineties that he was often compared to Shakespeare.
In 1908, Shaw entered a period of "great experiment."
In 1910, Shaw continued his experiments in creating non-action pieces based entirely on static scenes and dialogue. He wrote another play "Mesalliance", which was expected to fail.
For the first time, hostile critics spoke of Shaw's writing out. He was 54 years old.
Each new play Shaw wrote at the beginning of the twentieth century caused a scandal.
In 1914, at His Majesty's Theater (London's Royal Theater), the premiere of the play directed by Beerbohm-Three based on the new play Pygmalion by Shaw took place. The playwright himself took part in the production.
The performance was a tremendous success - in 1914 alone, the Theater of His Majesty held 118 performances. Then the play was sold to all countries of the world.
In 1956, Alan Jay Larner and Frederick Lowe wrote the musical My Fair Lady based on the Pygmalion storyline. This musical has gone around all the musical theaters in the world. was filmed and still remains one of the most beloved musical performances by connoisseurs of this genre.
Throughout the war, Shaw worked on a play that became the pinnacle of his dramatic career. Shaw himself called this play “The House Where Hearts Are Breaking” “English fantasy on Russian themes” and admitted that he wrote it under the influence of Chekhov.
V creative life the playwright again intervened politics. In 1917, unexpectedly for everyone in Russia, two revolutions burst out one after another - the February and the October revolution. He did not recognize revolutions, just as he did not recognize any violence at all.
Suddenly he was carried away by Jeanne d'Arc ... The legendary woman, the savior of France, whom the grateful motherland repaid for her salvation with a fire. In 1924, Shaw completed the drama Saint John.
George Bernard Shaw is 68 years old.
In the fall of 1925, the news spread throughout the world that Bernard Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The news surprised Shaw the most.
From the beginning, he said that he was refusing money, because he did not need it, and then he refused to attend the award ceremony - he did not see the point.
In 1928, Shaw turned 72 years old. The age of Socrates. The pinnacle of wisdom, the autumn of life ... And Shaw continues to work.
In the summer of 1929, a theater festival named Shaw was organized in the English city of Malvern.
The Malvern Festival lasted until the outbreak of World War II. For ten years, from 1929 to 1939, 20 of Shaw's plays were staged as part of the festival.
In the spring of 1931, Charlotte Shaw persuaded her husband to postpone all business and make the first and only trip around the world in their life. Climbing aboard the steamer, the couple went to India, New Zealand and the United States. And upon returning to England, they set off on a new journey - South Africa.
He was greeted everywhere as the most famous playwright on the planet.
In 1931, Shaw was invited to the USSR. Stalin himself met him.
After returning from the USSR, Shaw began to work again. In 1939 he wrote the play In the Golden Days of the Good King Charles. This will be followed by almost ten years of silence. The last play of the great master will appear in the year of his death - in 1949.
Friends left one by one. A gaping void formed around Bernard Shaw. In 1935, Lucy's older sister passed away. Then friends of youth William Morris and William Archer left.
In the spring of 1943, Charlotte Shaw fell ill in earnest. Charlotte was leaving him. A man left Shaw, to whom he owed everything - his success, peace of mind, family happiness, the ability to work until old age.
Having buried his wife, Shaw wandered around London for several days - in the places of his youth.
In August 1950, 94 - year old Bernard Shaw, as usual, worked in the garden. Suddenly, he stepped awkwardly, twisted his leg and fell to the ground. The doctor who arrived instantly made a disappointing diagnosis - it was a misfortune with Bernard Shaw, he broke his hip.
He did not lose consciousness until the last minute and retained a sober mind and an excellent memory. On the morning of November 2, 1950, he died.
Source - Nicholas Nadezhd "Informal Biographies". Everything is interesting. ru advises everyone to read the books of this author.
Bernard Shaw - biography. facts - great Irish playwright updated: January 20, 2018 by the author: site
Bernard Shaw is a renowned Irish playwright, novelist and screenwriter. Great popularity was brought to him by aphorisms characterized by deep content and subtle humor. In 1925 he was awarded the title of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bernard Shaw was not only a well-known public figure, but also one of the founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
It is also worth noting that Shaw is the second (after) most popular playwright in English theater.
His father, George Shaw, was a grain merchant, and his mother, Lucinda Shaw, was a talented singer.
In addition to George, 2 more girls were born in the Shaw family: Lucinda Frances and Eleanor Agnes.
Childhood and youth
As a child, the boy attended the local Wesley College, after which he was sent to study at a Protestant school. In this school, a special focus was made on the study of the Bible and other sacred books.
At the same time, teachers often resorted to physical violence when students did not understand something or were indulging.
Bernard Shaw in his youthLater, Bernard Shaw admits that schooling was the most "harmful stage" in his biography.
When the young man was 15 years old, relatives helped him get a job as a clerk in the Townsend real estate agency. Most of all, he disliked collecting rent from the poor who lived in the slums.
It was painful for Bernard Shaw to watch how the unfortunate half-starved people gave their last money so as not to lose a roof over their heads.
Soon, his mother left the family, taking both daughters with her, and left for, because she was tired of seeing her drunken husband every day.
A few years later, Bernard Shaw also decided to move to his mother.
Personal life
In 1898, George Bernard Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townsend, who was a very wealthy girl.
However, the playwright was never seduced. An interesting fact is that when in 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize, he refused the money he was entitled to.
Bernard Shaw with his wife
In marriage, Bernard Shaw had no children. The couple lived together for 45 years, until Charlotte's death.
Death
Since 1906, Bernard Shaw lived with his wife in a luxurious mansion in Hertfordshire. When, in 1943, in the midst of life, his beloved Charlotte passed away, he was left completely alone.
Shortly before his death, he could no longer walk on his own, as a result of which he needed constant care.
According to the last will of the great writer, his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered along with the ashes of his wife.
Photo by Bernard Shaw
At the end you can see the most common photos of Bernard Shaw.
Young Bernard Shaw
Bernard Shaw traveled extensively
Bernard Shaw oversees the rehearsal of the play
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