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Farfetched Fables
''Farfetched Fables'' (1948) is a collection of six short plays by George Bernard Shaw in which he outlines several of his most idiosyncratic personal ideas. The fables are preceded by a long preface. The ideas in the plays and the preface have been called the "violent unabashed prejudices of an eccentric".Archibald Henderson, ''George Bernard Shaw: Man of the Century'', Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1956, p.576. Creation Shaw intended to produce a series of plays summing up his own most unfashionable and unpopular ideas. The result is summed up by Archibald Henderson as a hodge-podge of utopian, puritanical and authoritarian concepts: Plot The plays take the form of five dialogues and one monologue in which the various topics are discussed. In the first fable, set shortly after World War II, a Jewish chemist decides that the atomic bomb is too clumsy a weapon, and invents a form of poison gas that is lighter than air. In the second fable the British government refuses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as ''Man and Superman'' (1902), ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' (1913) and ''Saint Joan (play), Saint Joan'' (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the Gradualism (politics), gradualist Fabian Society and became its most pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polemic
Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics. A person who writes polemics, or speaks polemically, is called a ''polemicist''. The word derives , . Polemics often concern questions in religion or politics. A polemical style of writing was common in Ancient Greece, as in the writings of the historian Polybius. Polemic again became common in medieval and early modern times. Since then, famous polemicists have included satirist Jonathan Swift; Italian physicist and mathematician Galileo; French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire; Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy; socialist philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; novelist George Orwell; playwright George Bernard Shaw; communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin; psycholinguist Noam Chomsky; social cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watergate Theatre, London
The Watergate Theatre in London existed in 1949-56, located on Buckingham Street, Westminster. In 1949 Elizabeth Denby, together with the theatre director and playwright Velona Pilcher, the writer Elizabeth Sprigge, and Jane Drew converted a site at 29 Buckingham Gate, originally a Chinese restaurant destroyed in World War II during the Blitz, to create a performing space for their theatre club. This consisted of two club rooms, and a 70-seat theatre. In 1950 plans were made to increase the seating to 100, and for the walls to display murals designed by Marc Chagall. In 1950 Chagall started work on two studies for the projected murals – 'The Dance and the Circus' and 'The Blue Circus'. After Pilcher's death in 1952, Chagall gave his murals to the Tate Gallery, and the theatre was taken over by the New Watergate Theatre Club. In September 1950 it staged the premiere of George Bernard Shaw's ''Farfetched Fables'', the last work Shaw completed, and it also staged the English premie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People's Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne
The People's Theatre is an amateur theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Originally located in the city centre, the People's Theatre moved to its current site, adjacent to the Coast Road in Heaton, in 1962. It shows approximately 13 productions a year including a full-scale family pantomime. History The People's Theatre originated within the Newcastle branch of the former British Socialist Party. At that time (1911) money was tight and it was suggested that "The Drama" may be a source. A Double-Bill of "Pot Luck" and "The Bishop's Candlesticks," each having impeccably socialist credentials, was produced and raised nearly 15 shillings (75p) for the funds. It was decided that putting on plays could be a good way of raising money their political activities, and so they went ahead. It was decided that they would affiliate to the Clarion Movement. One of the theatre's key co-founders was Colin Veitch (1881–1938), captain of Newcastle United in their Edwardian heyday. Plays ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archibald Henderson (professor)
Archibald Henderson (July 17, 1877 – December 6, 1963) was an American professor of mathematics who wrote on a variety of subjects, including drama and history. He is well known for his friendship with George Bernard Shaw. Early life He was born at Salisbury, North Carolina, was educated at the University of North Carolina (A.B., 1898; Ph.D., 1902), where he was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, and studied more at Chicago, Cambridge, and Berlin universities, and at the Sorbonne (Paris). After 1899 he taught at the University of North Carolina, becoming professor of pure mathematics in 1908. Bernard Shaw In 1903 in Chicago Henderson saw the first performance in the United States of Bernard Shaw's play '' You Never Can Tell''. Henderson became so enthusiastic about the playwright and his personality that he determined to write Shaw's biography. After some communication between Shaw and Henderson, Henderson arrived in London in 1907 on the very same train carrying Mark Twain wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is also the most populous city of North East England. Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius and the settlement later took the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. Historically, the city’s economy was dependent on its port and in particular, its status as one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres. Today, the city's economy is diverse with major economic output in science, finance, retail, education, tourism, and nightlife. Newcastle is one of the UK Core Cities, as well as part of the Eurocities network. Famous landmarks in Newcastle include the Tyne Bridge; the Swing Bridge; Newcastle Castle; St Thomas’ Church; Grainger Town includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Back To Methuselah
''Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch)'' by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface (''The Infidel Half Century'') and a series of five plays: ''In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden)'', ''The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day'', ''The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170'', ''Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000'', and ''As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920''. All were written during 1918 to 1920 and published simultaneously by Constable (London) and Brentano's (New York) in 1921. They were first performed in 1922 by the New York Theatre Guild at the old Garrick Theatre in New York City and, in Britain, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1923. Synopsis Preface In the preface, Shaw speaks of the pervasive discouragement and poverty in Europe after World War I, and relates these issues to inept government. Simple primitive societies, he says, were easily governable while the civilized societies of the twentieth century are so complex that l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million Military personnel, personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Air warfare of World War II, Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Esslin
, birth_date = , birth_place = Budapest, Austria-Hungary , death_date = , death_place = London, England, UK , education = University of Vienna Reinhardt Seminar , occupation = Theatre critic; scholar , notable_works = '' The Theatre of the Absurd'' Martin Julius Esslin OBE (6 June 1918 – 24 February 2002) was a Hungarian-born British producer, dramatist, journalist, adaptor and translator, critic, academic scholar and professor of drama, known for coining the term "theatre of the absurd" in his 1961 book ''The Theatre of the Absurd''. This work has been called "the most influential theatrical text of the 1960s". Life and work Born Pereszlényi Gyula Márton in Budapest, Esslin moved to Vienna with his family at a young age. He studied Philosophy and English at the University of Vienna and later studied directing under Max Reinhardt at the Reinhardt Seminar of Dramat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Weintraub
Stanley Weintraub (April 17, 1929 – July 28, 2019) was an American historian and biographer and an expert on George Bernard Shaw. Early life Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub. He attended South Philadelphia High School, and then he attended West Chester State Teachers College (now West Chester University of Pennsylvania) where he received his B.S. in education in 1949. He continued his education at Temple University where he received his master's degree in English "in absentia," as he was called to duty in the Korean War. He received a commission in the Army as a second lieutenant, and served with the Eighth Army in Korea, receiving a Bronze Star. After the war, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in September 1953; his doctoral dissertation "Bernard Shaw, Novelist" was accepted on May 6, 1956. Personal life He married Rodelle Horwitz in 1954; they had three children, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionism, Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the List of Presidents of Israel, first president of Israel. He was 1949 Israeli presidential election, elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann was fundamental in obtaining the Balfour Declaration and later convincing the United States government United States-Israeli relations#Recognition of the state of Israel, to recognize the newly formed State of Israel. As a biochemist, Weizmann is considered to be the 'father' of industrial fermentation. He developed the acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation process, which produces acetone, n-Butanol, n-butanol and ethanol through bacterial fermentati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur And The Acetone
''Arthur and the Acetone'' (1936) is a satirical playlet by George Bernard Shaw which dramatises an imaginary conversation between the Zionist Chaim Weizmann and the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, which Shaw presents as the "true" story of how the Balfour Declaration came into being. Background In 1936 a Special Commission created by the left-wing group the "Independent Labour Forty" had written a report about the 1917 Balfour declaration, which had committed the British government to bring about a Jewish homeland in Palestine after World War I. The Special Commission concluded that the plan was part of an Imperialist strategy to control the Middle East by promoting support for the British Empire among Jews and obtaining "Jewish finance" for the war effort, with a long term purpose of securing access to India and to Middle Eastern oil. Shaw thought that this explanation attributed far too much Machiavellian brilliance to Balfour, and proposed his own alternative accoun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
