Shaw Symposium 2023July 21-23, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
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Presentation abstracts
Panel one: Village Wooing
Vishnu Patil, “Love as a Political Category in Shaw’s Village Wooing and Getting Married”
Besides Shaw's utilitarian views on institution of marriage, he always offers all the coordinates suggesting ‘love as a political category’. Love or affinity leading to marriage is not always a romantic and spontaneous idea that celebrates the ‘fall’ in love in the plays. Beyond the principles of sacrifice, adventure, justice, generosity, he offers commentary on the social obligations, economic, livelihood, professionalism, futuristic perspectives, etc. that ultimately play an important role in deciding on love and marriages by an individual.
In both the plays, politics of love revolves around the idea of ‘security’. Security is an important aspect of principle of politics. The individuals in the plays, that possess extra sense of security in their any possible relationship, eventually surpasses the idea of love as a spontaneous phenomenon. Besides security, there are several aspects that make love as a political category.
Though we see both the aspects of love relationship in Shaw’s plays i.e. it is the person one loves or the qualities, personality or things associated with the person are loved. In Derridean terms it is the question of ‘being’ separated into two aspects i.e. ‘who’ and ‘what’. The lateral aspect of the question offers the scope of investigation of its nature of political category in the matter of love relationship in the plays of Shaw.
D. A. Hadfield, “I Didn’t Say I Do: A Very Village Wooing”
Village Wooing has received very little critical attention, which is perhaps not surprising for a one-hour playlet made up of three "conversations" that Shaw only wrote as filler text for the upcoming publication of Too True to Be Good. Critics who have written about the play almost always mention its connection to Pygmalion in its focus on language, particularly the way Z, like Eliza, modulates her language to create a more ladylike persona. Indeed, in many ways, Village Wooing seems to pick up where Pygmalion left off: Shaw tells us that Eliza will keep a shop, and much of Village Wooing takes place in a shop tended by an Eliza-like character. But as a putative sequel, this slight little comedietta in some ways goes farther in its critique of language than the earlier, heftier classic. Z resembles not only Eliza but a kind of improved version of Higgins as well, who exposes the way that A uses language and class as a barrier to the kinds of relationships that more meaningfully define identity. By moving the action from fashionable, socially stratified London to an anonymous village in the Wiltshire Downs, Shaw shifts the focus from the role of language in defining individual identity to its role in defining humanity. Language in Village Wooing is shown to be largely ineffectual for allowing characters to express who they are, and even the ability of language to reliably convey information about the world is called into question. Instead, “cast away in a village on the Wiltshire Downs,” Shaw’s characters demonstrate that the most important and satisfying function of language is its ability to get out of the way in the service of fostering authentic connections and community.
Yulia Skalnaya, “Voyage, Marriage, Death and Rebirth in the Shavian Epic of an Intelligent Man”
The turn of the twentieth century, as any other turbulent period in human history, evoked interest in myth, legend, lore and medieval epic. Their potential to explain the forces behind global changes, and exemplary role models taming the monsters and harmonizing the surrounding chaos seemed to be key in resolving up-to-date crises. That is why numerous fin de siècle writers (and later existentialists) turned to ancient plots and characters for reinterpretation in response to the demands of the new era and its challenges.
Bernard Shaw was no exception. However, for some reason, epic elements in his works were considered only within the framework of Brecht’s epic theatre whereas the traditional heroic epic structures were largely ignored and never seen as a system.
The aim of this speech is to: 1) indicate such common epic plot elements as miraculous birth, initiation, quest, voyage to the Netherworld, battle with a female warrior, heroic wooing, and others in Shaw’s dramas (including Caesar and Cleopatra, Heartbreak House, Back to Methuselah, Saint Joan, Too True to Be Good, Village Wooing, Buoyant Billions, Farfetched Fables); 2) analyse the changes that those elements have undergone in Shavian interpretation as well as their inner connections, and 3) establish the features of the protagonist in what can be called the Shavian Epic of an Intelligent Man.
Panel two: Shaw and Contemporaries
Christopher Wixson, “Designs for Living: Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward"
Besides their uncanny success at constructing and sustaining mythic authorial personae, the differences between Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward seem stark, one all subtext and small talk, the other all paratext and big talk. Critics have occasionally treated their plays in tandem, but the attention usually flows in one direction, with Coward always indebted (as one scholar puts it) as Shaw’s “inheritor.” However, from the early 1920s through the mid-1930s, their plays form a curious daisy chain of intertextual skirmish. This paper forges connective tissue between Coward’s fledgling efforts, his greatest comedies, and most daring experiments (including his first ghost play Post-Mortem and unusual tropical drama Point Valaine) and Shaw’s extravagant dramaturgy between the wars, from Too True to Be Good and The Millionairess through early drafts of Buoyant Billions. The latter’s attentiveness to his younger contemporary takes the form of creative “re-finishing,” wrangling the disenchanted inhabitants of manners comedy from their holding pattern of present laughter into a more efficient and ethical relationship with the rest of the world.
John McInereny, “Shaw and Coward: A Comparison"
Besides their uncanny success at constructing and sustaining mythic authorial personae, the differences between Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward seem stark, one all subtext and small talk, the other all paratext and big talk. Critics have occasionally treated their plays in tandem, but the attention usually flows in one direction, with Coward always indebted (as one scholar puts it) as Shaw’s “inheritor.” However, from the early 1920s through the mid-1930s, their plays form a curious daisy chain of intertextual skirmish. This paper forges connective tissue between Coward’s fledgling efforts, his greatest comedies, and most daring experiments (including his first ghost play Post-Mortem and unusual tropical drama Point Valaine) and Shaw’s extravagant dramaturgy between the wars, from Too True to Be Good and The Millionairess through early drafts of Buoyant Billions. The latter’s attentiveness to his younger contemporary takes the form of creative “re-finishing,” wrangling the disenchanted inhabitants of manners comedy from their holding pattern of present laughter into a more efficient and ethical relationship with the rest of the world.
Justine Zapin: “Playboy, Blanco, and a Jury of One’s Peers: Drama Off and On the Irish Stage”
The premieres of John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World and Bernard Shaw’s The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin were monumental events in the Irish Dramatic Revival for two very different reasons. The perceived anti-Catholic sentiment in Synge’s drama instigated riots inside the theatre, while disagreements over censorship and British rule in Ireland happening offstage in many ways overshadowed Shaw’s playtext. Despite their very different aesthetic approaches, Synge’s and Shaw’s plays have more in common than they initially appear. Both plays deal squarely with issues of morality, responsibility, and law. Both plays are situated at the far-most Western edges of their respective societies, where the harsh climates and responsive social cultures breed their own brands of justice. Both male protagonists, Christy Mahon and Blanco Posnet, are confronted by their peers and struggle to overcome their pride as they plead their cases to bloodthirsty, prejudicial tribunals. Most interestingly, both playwrights force the audience to acknowledge their own complicity in maintaining the status-quo by manipulating the stage picture in such a way that the audience assumes the jurist perspective.
In Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation, Nelson Ritschel argues convincingly that these playwrights use their plays’ textual arguments to respond to each other’s socialist aims. A paratextual investigation reveals the ways in which Shaw and Synge also adapted their dramaturgical style and production features to influence the aesthetic and political future of Ireland’s National Abbey Theatre. Bubbling underneath the struggle for the Abbey’s artistic future was a more potent conflict between the two, whose respective roles in the project of Irish independence would be defined by the affective potency of their plays in performance. This paper will articulate the ways in which these playwrights utilised the Dublin stage to intervene and establish their dissident voices in Irish nationalist politics.
Sharon Klassen, “Bernard Shaw and Feliks Topolski: Creating the Constable Geneva”
Shaw scholars and readers may be familiar with the Topolski illustrated Penguin edition of Pygmalion but are likely less aware of the earlier illustrated Constable edition of Shaw’s Geneva. An examination of many of the original sketches from the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, TX, many with handwritten comments from Shaw on the draft images, provides insights into the creation of the illustrations and Shaw’s perspective on some of the characters. This paper will discuss some of these sketches, including a number that were never published, to provide a fresh perspective on this highly political play.
Panel three: Late Shaw
Brigitte Bogar, “A Double Adaptation: On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard and Robin Orr”
On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard is a free adaptation of the 19th century farce Einen Jux will er sich Machen by Johann Nestroy. It provided the plot for Thornton Wilder's The Merchant of Yonkers, The Matchmaker, and the character Dolly became the heroine in the musical Hello, Dolly. Johann Nestroy designed the original German play as a three-act musical play with music by Austrian composer Adolf Müller. His music influenced the development of Viennese Operetta. This paper will examine how Tom Stoppard adapts the musical part of the original play by Johann Nestroy, and how this adaptation in turn inspired composer Robin Orr to adapt Stoppard’s play into an opera. Robin Orr’s opera commissioned for the opening of the new Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama theatre in Glasgow has been described as a “witty, artful comic opera”[1], and his music as being inspired by Viennese Operetta. In addition, this paper will also compare On the Razzle to musical adaptations of Shaw’s plays, attempting to find similarities in the musicality of the language, references and adaptability.
[1] https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/robin-orr
Tae-Yong Eom, “The Apple Cart & On the Rocks: Is Bernard Shaw a Supporter of Reformative Dictatorship?”
Bernard Shaw's two political comedies, The Apple Cart (1929) and On the Rocks (1933), will be examined regarding how the problems of representative democracy are staged and what Shaw thinks of reformative dictatorship as an alternative. The Apple Cart highlights the political apathy and ignorance of common people in England of the late 20th century, though they enjoy social welfare. This situation leads to the populism of politicians and the irresponsible governing of their cabinet, which is at the mercy of the plutocracy of huge conglomerates. King Magnus plans to run for the House of Commons for genuine democracy and expulsion of the plutocracy after he abdicates the throne. On the Rocks is staged in the state of affairs where representative democracy is unable to find a solution to the economic crisis of extreme unemployment. To deal with the crisis, Sir Arthur, the Prime Minister, presents a reform plan which features the nationalization of the means of production. But he feels frustrated by the opposition of the labor class as well as the conservative. Even though King Magnus and Sir Arthur fail in the reformation, their reformative aspiration is what can never be abandoned. Therefore, Shaw implies that a reformative dictatorship may be necessary and their successors can inherit the reformist cause through Life Force and Creative Evolution.
Kay Li, “ChatGPT as a Disruptive Technology or a Blessing in Disguise: A Case Study on The Apple Cart”
In this paper, ChatGPT will be used to explore how far artificial general intelligence (AGL) can be used as a tool to understand Shaw and his play. I will use the functionalities of ChatGPT to understand The Apple Cart from two perspectives. First is as a member of the audience who wants to know more about The Apple Cart before attending the performance at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada in 2023. Second is as a Shavian scholar who wants to find out the extent to which The Apple Cart can be linked to the British Coronation.
Disruptive technology refers to a new business model that attracts an underserviced market or revenue stream, and grows until it supplants incumbent competitors. For a member of the audience about to attend a performance of The Apple Cart, how can ChatGPT enable the audience to know more about the play, the theatre company, and Shaw to prepare the induction into Shaw? Why is ChatGPT more powerful than existing popular search engines, and how can theatre companies make use of Chat GPT to increase popular interest in Shaw and Shavian performances, and make the performances more inclusive?
Next, can ChatGPT be an invaluable tool for the Shavian scholar? The Apple Cart was intentionally and unintentionally linked to the British Coronation. It was a Coronation Year Production in 1953. Although unintended, the Shaw Festival’s production of The Apple Cart in effect is another coronation year production with the Coronation of Charles III. ChatGPT will be challenged with expert knowledge: Stanley Weintraub’s finding that The King, the Constitution and the Lady has a bearing on the abdication of Edward VIII. Can ChatGPT arrive at Weintraub’s expert knowledge using NLP? ChatGPT may be a disruptive technology, but it may also be a blessing in disguise.
Vishnu Patil, “Love as a Political Category in Shaw’s Village Wooing and Getting Married”
Besides Shaw's utilitarian views on institution of marriage, he always offers all the coordinates suggesting ‘love as a political category’. Love or affinity leading to marriage is not always a romantic and spontaneous idea that celebrates the ‘fall’ in love in the plays. Beyond the principles of sacrifice, adventure, justice, generosity, he offers commentary on the social obligations, economic, livelihood, professionalism, futuristic perspectives, etc. that ultimately play an important role in deciding on love and marriages by an individual.
In both the plays, politics of love revolves around the idea of ‘security’. Security is an important aspect of principle of politics. The individuals in the plays, that possess extra sense of security in their any possible relationship, eventually surpasses the idea of love as a spontaneous phenomenon. Besides security, there are several aspects that make love as a political category.
Though we see both the aspects of love relationship in Shaw’s plays i.e. it is the person one loves or the qualities, personality or things associated with the person are loved. In Derridean terms it is the question of ‘being’ separated into two aspects i.e. ‘who’ and ‘what’. The lateral aspect of the question offers the scope of investigation of its nature of political category in the matter of love relationship in the plays of Shaw.
D. A. Hadfield, “I Didn’t Say I Do: A Very Village Wooing”
Village Wooing has received very little critical attention, which is perhaps not surprising for a one-hour playlet made up of three "conversations" that Shaw only wrote as filler text for the upcoming publication of Too True to Be Good. Critics who have written about the play almost always mention its connection to Pygmalion in its focus on language, particularly the way Z, like Eliza, modulates her language to create a more ladylike persona. Indeed, in many ways, Village Wooing seems to pick up where Pygmalion left off: Shaw tells us that Eliza will keep a shop, and much of Village Wooing takes place in a shop tended by an Eliza-like character. But as a putative sequel, this slight little comedietta in some ways goes farther in its critique of language than the earlier, heftier classic. Z resembles not only Eliza but a kind of improved version of Higgins as well, who exposes the way that A uses language and class as a barrier to the kinds of relationships that more meaningfully define identity. By moving the action from fashionable, socially stratified London to an anonymous village in the Wiltshire Downs, Shaw shifts the focus from the role of language in defining individual identity to its role in defining humanity. Language in Village Wooing is shown to be largely ineffectual for allowing characters to express who they are, and even the ability of language to reliably convey information about the world is called into question. Instead, “cast away in a village on the Wiltshire Downs,” Shaw’s characters demonstrate that the most important and satisfying function of language is its ability to get out of the way in the service of fostering authentic connections and community.
Yulia Skalnaya, “Voyage, Marriage, Death and Rebirth in the Shavian Epic of an Intelligent Man”
The turn of the twentieth century, as any other turbulent period in human history, evoked interest in myth, legend, lore and medieval epic. Their potential to explain the forces behind global changes, and exemplary role models taming the monsters and harmonizing the surrounding chaos seemed to be key in resolving up-to-date crises. That is why numerous fin de siècle writers (and later existentialists) turned to ancient plots and characters for reinterpretation in response to the demands of the new era and its challenges.
Bernard Shaw was no exception. However, for some reason, epic elements in his works were considered only within the framework of Brecht’s epic theatre whereas the traditional heroic epic structures were largely ignored and never seen as a system.
The aim of this speech is to: 1) indicate such common epic plot elements as miraculous birth, initiation, quest, voyage to the Netherworld, battle with a female warrior, heroic wooing, and others in Shaw’s dramas (including Caesar and Cleopatra, Heartbreak House, Back to Methuselah, Saint Joan, Too True to Be Good, Village Wooing, Buoyant Billions, Farfetched Fables); 2) analyse the changes that those elements have undergone in Shavian interpretation as well as their inner connections, and 3) establish the features of the protagonist in what can be called the Shavian Epic of an Intelligent Man.
Panel two: Shaw and Contemporaries
Christopher Wixson, “Designs for Living: Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward"
Besides their uncanny success at constructing and sustaining mythic authorial personae, the differences between Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward seem stark, one all subtext and small talk, the other all paratext and big talk. Critics have occasionally treated their plays in tandem, but the attention usually flows in one direction, with Coward always indebted (as one scholar puts it) as Shaw’s “inheritor.” However, from the early 1920s through the mid-1930s, their plays form a curious daisy chain of intertextual skirmish. This paper forges connective tissue between Coward’s fledgling efforts, his greatest comedies, and most daring experiments (including his first ghost play Post-Mortem and unusual tropical drama Point Valaine) and Shaw’s extravagant dramaturgy between the wars, from Too True to Be Good and The Millionairess through early drafts of Buoyant Billions. The latter’s attentiveness to his younger contemporary takes the form of creative “re-finishing,” wrangling the disenchanted inhabitants of manners comedy from their holding pattern of present laughter into a more efficient and ethical relationship with the rest of the world.
John McInereny, “Shaw and Coward: A Comparison"
Besides their uncanny success at constructing and sustaining mythic authorial personae, the differences between Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward seem stark, one all subtext and small talk, the other all paratext and big talk. Critics have occasionally treated their plays in tandem, but the attention usually flows in one direction, with Coward always indebted (as one scholar puts it) as Shaw’s “inheritor.” However, from the early 1920s through the mid-1930s, their plays form a curious daisy chain of intertextual skirmish. This paper forges connective tissue between Coward’s fledgling efforts, his greatest comedies, and most daring experiments (including his first ghost play Post-Mortem and unusual tropical drama Point Valaine) and Shaw’s extravagant dramaturgy between the wars, from Too True to Be Good and The Millionairess through early drafts of Buoyant Billions. The latter’s attentiveness to his younger contemporary takes the form of creative “re-finishing,” wrangling the disenchanted inhabitants of manners comedy from their holding pattern of present laughter into a more efficient and ethical relationship with the rest of the world.
Justine Zapin: “Playboy, Blanco, and a Jury of One’s Peers: Drama Off and On the Irish Stage”
The premieres of John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World and Bernard Shaw’s The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin were monumental events in the Irish Dramatic Revival for two very different reasons. The perceived anti-Catholic sentiment in Synge’s drama instigated riots inside the theatre, while disagreements over censorship and British rule in Ireland happening offstage in many ways overshadowed Shaw’s playtext. Despite their very different aesthetic approaches, Synge’s and Shaw’s plays have more in common than they initially appear. Both plays deal squarely with issues of morality, responsibility, and law. Both plays are situated at the far-most Western edges of their respective societies, where the harsh climates and responsive social cultures breed their own brands of justice. Both male protagonists, Christy Mahon and Blanco Posnet, are confronted by their peers and struggle to overcome their pride as they plead their cases to bloodthirsty, prejudicial tribunals. Most interestingly, both playwrights force the audience to acknowledge their own complicity in maintaining the status-quo by manipulating the stage picture in such a way that the audience assumes the jurist perspective.
In Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation, Nelson Ritschel argues convincingly that these playwrights use their plays’ textual arguments to respond to each other’s socialist aims. A paratextual investigation reveals the ways in which Shaw and Synge also adapted their dramaturgical style and production features to influence the aesthetic and political future of Ireland’s National Abbey Theatre. Bubbling underneath the struggle for the Abbey’s artistic future was a more potent conflict between the two, whose respective roles in the project of Irish independence would be defined by the affective potency of their plays in performance. This paper will articulate the ways in which these playwrights utilised the Dublin stage to intervene and establish their dissident voices in Irish nationalist politics.
Sharon Klassen, “Bernard Shaw and Feliks Topolski: Creating the Constable Geneva”
Shaw scholars and readers may be familiar with the Topolski illustrated Penguin edition of Pygmalion but are likely less aware of the earlier illustrated Constable edition of Shaw’s Geneva. An examination of many of the original sketches from the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, TX, many with handwritten comments from Shaw on the draft images, provides insights into the creation of the illustrations and Shaw’s perspective on some of the characters. This paper will discuss some of these sketches, including a number that were never published, to provide a fresh perspective on this highly political play.
Panel three: Late Shaw
Brigitte Bogar, “A Double Adaptation: On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard and Robin Orr”
On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard is a free adaptation of the 19th century farce Einen Jux will er sich Machen by Johann Nestroy. It provided the plot for Thornton Wilder's The Merchant of Yonkers, The Matchmaker, and the character Dolly became the heroine in the musical Hello, Dolly. Johann Nestroy designed the original German play as a three-act musical play with music by Austrian composer Adolf Müller. His music influenced the development of Viennese Operetta. This paper will examine how Tom Stoppard adapts the musical part of the original play by Johann Nestroy, and how this adaptation in turn inspired composer Robin Orr to adapt Stoppard’s play into an opera. Robin Orr’s opera commissioned for the opening of the new Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama theatre in Glasgow has been described as a “witty, artful comic opera”[1], and his music as being inspired by Viennese Operetta. In addition, this paper will also compare On the Razzle to musical adaptations of Shaw’s plays, attempting to find similarities in the musicality of the language, references and adaptability.
[1] https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/robin-orr
Tae-Yong Eom, “The Apple Cart & On the Rocks: Is Bernard Shaw a Supporter of Reformative Dictatorship?”
Bernard Shaw's two political comedies, The Apple Cart (1929) and On the Rocks (1933), will be examined regarding how the problems of representative democracy are staged and what Shaw thinks of reformative dictatorship as an alternative. The Apple Cart highlights the political apathy and ignorance of common people in England of the late 20th century, though they enjoy social welfare. This situation leads to the populism of politicians and the irresponsible governing of their cabinet, which is at the mercy of the plutocracy of huge conglomerates. King Magnus plans to run for the House of Commons for genuine democracy and expulsion of the plutocracy after he abdicates the throne. On the Rocks is staged in the state of affairs where representative democracy is unable to find a solution to the economic crisis of extreme unemployment. To deal with the crisis, Sir Arthur, the Prime Minister, presents a reform plan which features the nationalization of the means of production. But he feels frustrated by the opposition of the labor class as well as the conservative. Even though King Magnus and Sir Arthur fail in the reformation, their reformative aspiration is what can never be abandoned. Therefore, Shaw implies that a reformative dictatorship may be necessary and their successors can inherit the reformist cause through Life Force and Creative Evolution.
Kay Li, “ChatGPT as a Disruptive Technology or a Blessing in Disguise: A Case Study on The Apple Cart”
In this paper, ChatGPT will be used to explore how far artificial general intelligence (AGL) can be used as a tool to understand Shaw and his play. I will use the functionalities of ChatGPT to understand The Apple Cart from two perspectives. First is as a member of the audience who wants to know more about The Apple Cart before attending the performance at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada in 2023. Second is as a Shavian scholar who wants to find out the extent to which The Apple Cart can be linked to the British Coronation.
Disruptive technology refers to a new business model that attracts an underserviced market or revenue stream, and grows until it supplants incumbent competitors. For a member of the audience about to attend a performance of The Apple Cart, how can ChatGPT enable the audience to know more about the play, the theatre company, and Shaw to prepare the induction into Shaw? Why is ChatGPT more powerful than existing popular search engines, and how can theatre companies make use of Chat GPT to increase popular interest in Shaw and Shavian performances, and make the performances more inclusive?
Next, can ChatGPT be an invaluable tool for the Shavian scholar? The Apple Cart was intentionally and unintentionally linked to the British Coronation. It was a Coronation Year Production in 1953. Although unintended, the Shaw Festival’s production of The Apple Cart in effect is another coronation year production with the Coronation of Charles III. ChatGPT will be challenged with expert knowledge: Stanley Weintraub’s finding that The King, the Constitution and the Lady has a bearing on the abdication of Edward VIII. Can ChatGPT arrive at Weintraub’s expert knowledge using NLP? ChatGPT may be a disruptive technology, but it may also be a blessing in disguise.