Shaw made his opinions known

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Pura as Campbell, Richardson as Shaw in Pura's Queen of My Heart. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

NOTHING happened in the world during George Bernard Shaw's 94 years of life that he didn't have an opinion on.

Shaw was a man of letters and he used them like no other writer before or since. At his death in 1950 he left a mountain of writing, 63 plays, five novels and other 250,000 letters, essays, speeches and other journalism. He once said that he didn't hold his tongue easily, an outrageous understatement.

At yesterday's launch of ShawFest, the 12th annual master playwright festival, artistic producer Chuck McEwen introduced the Irish playwright and world figure to a city that hasn't seen one of his plays professionally performed here in a generation.

"A lot of people have heard of Shaw but many have not seen any of his plays," McEwen said during an interview Wednesday.

This year's salute to Shaw, which runs from Jan. 19-Feb. 5, includes 11 plays, a couple of readings, two radio plays and a screening of the 1964 movie My Fair Lady which was based on his best known work Pygmalion. Most of what he wrote was intensely conceived political statements about social ills such as slum lords, prostitution and ruling-class apathy.

"I think what may well surprise people who do the Shaw marathon is the variety and scope of Shaw's plays because he was writing them for 60 years and he wrote more of them than Shakespeare," says Leonard Conolly, a Trent University Shaw scholar who will be hosting a free public lecture next Wednesday at the King's Head Pub.

Most of Shaw's major works will be staged, including Candida, Major Barbara, Arms and the Man and Mrs. Warren's Profession.

As well two original pieces by local writers seek to uncover's the playwright's love life, not with his wife, but with two leading actresses of his day. Talia Pura has penned Queen of My Heart, based on the correspondence between Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell, with whom he a carried on a year-long affair and then a letter-writing relationship that lasted 30 years. Pura, who will also play Campbell opposite local actor Brian Richardson as GBS, has made a habit of resurrecting the often overlooked women connected to their celebrated partners. Last year she wrote Harriet Bosse, about August Strindberg's third wife.

As well, playwright Daniel Thau-Eleff has whipped up My Affair with George Bernard, a two-person play starring octogenarian actress Doreen Brownstone as Florence Farr, who was the model for Shaw's idealized vision of the modern woman and his "best dearest love."

Another opportunity to see the Irishman in a different light is Pshaw! A Literary Roast of George Bernard Shaw, which will close the festival at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 5, at Aqua Books. Performer Corey Wojcik will host the event with Ron Robinson standing in as Shaw the roastee.

The free lecture series will include an introductory talk next Wednesday about why Shaw still matters followed by discussions about Shaw and women's rights (noon, Jan. 21, at the RMTC Warehouse) and rediscovering Shaw at the same time a week later.

To see it all, a Shawpass will cost $75, a saving of more than 50 per cent off the regular ticket price. Other than the Warehouse production of Mrs. Warren's Profession, individual tickets are mostly $15 or less.

kevin.prokosh@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 12, 2012 D3