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Boadicea's Reviews > Man and Superman
Man and Superman
by
by
Bernard Shaw meets Nietzsche for breakfast, Dante for lunch, Faust for dinner and shares a nightcap with Mozart
This is a complex play, in so many ways, typical of GBS. His loquaciousness really knows no bounds and I commend any actor who has the temerity to take on the main male roles in this play. The speeches are long and interminable. Where one playwright might use one word, GBS doesn't just use ten, he'll go for the full century for good measure. And this is the major downfall to this play. It's rarely performed in its entirety, often having the 3rd act excised from performance, which really defeats the object of the play.
Essentially, it's a play about Don Juan, the "Don Giovanni" of Mozart, but turned as the prey of a manipulative conniving mademoiselle in the form of Dona Ana/Ann Whitefield. It's a really fascinating idea and there are many literary and intellectual references within the play. But, therein lies its problem, it's a conceited lumbering beast that somehow overwhelms its master.
Obviously, being the playwright that he is, there has to be Fabian motifs and socialist ideals, I understand, and indeed commend, his enthusiasm about using the play as an educational tool. However, there's just too much here: it could so easily have been 2 separate plays, which indeed, it has been performed as such. It's really a play within a play; like looking at a picture with 2 different perspectives within.
The dream sequence in Act III is the major stumbling block. Yet, that is the crux of the play; the Don Juan debate versus the Devil and the statue/Commander is fascinating, erudite and truly theatrical. But, at over 50 pages long, it is only part of the aforementioned Act and I would be getting quite twitchy if I was in a theatre seat for that duration!
Ultimately, whilst I would love to see this play performed, I'd prefer a good theatre director to rearrange and rewrite it, in order to really appreciate a performance. Otherwise, I might just be guilty of falling asleep!
😴
4 dazzling but incordinated starbursts.
This is a complex play, in so many ways, typical of GBS. His loquaciousness really knows no bounds and I commend any actor who has the temerity to take on the main male roles in this play. The speeches are long and interminable. Where one playwright might use one word, GBS doesn't just use ten, he'll go for the full century for good measure. And this is the major downfall to this play. It's rarely performed in its entirety, often having the 3rd act excised from performance, which really defeats the object of the play.
Essentially, it's a play about Don Juan, the "Don Giovanni" of Mozart, but turned as the prey of a manipulative conniving mademoiselle in the form of Dona Ana/Ann Whitefield. It's a really fascinating idea and there are many literary and intellectual references within the play. But, therein lies its problem, it's a conceited lumbering beast that somehow overwhelms its master.
Obviously, being the playwright that he is, there has to be Fabian motifs and socialist ideals, I understand, and indeed commend, his enthusiasm about using the play as an educational tool. However, there's just too much here: it could so easily have been 2 separate plays, which indeed, it has been performed as such. It's really a play within a play; like looking at a picture with 2 different perspectives within.
The dream sequence in Act III is the major stumbling block. Yet, that is the crux of the play; the Don Juan debate versus the Devil and the statue/Commander is fascinating, erudite and truly theatrical. But, at over 50 pages long, it is only part of the aforementioned Act and I would be getting quite twitchy if I was in a theatre seat for that duration!
Ultimately, whilst I would love to see this play performed, I'd prefer a good theatre director to rearrange and rewrite it, in order to really appreciate a performance. Otherwise, I might just be guilty of falling asleep!
😴
4 dazzling but incordinated starbursts.
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Man and Superman.
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Reading Progress
November 12, 2021
–
Started Reading
November 12, 2021
– Shelved
November 21, 2021
–
Finished Reading
