George Bernard Shaw, (usually referred to either as “Bernard Shaw” or “G.B.S.”, as he hated and never used the name George) was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 26, 1856 and died in Hertfordshire, England, on November 2, 1950. In the intervening 94 years, Shaw wrote five novels, three volumes of music criticism, three volumes of theater reviews, and more than 50 plays. He was also a famous speaker for socialist politics and a founding member of the Fabian Society. The Fabian Society is a socialist organization that had a significant impact on British social and political policy. What makes Shaw practically unique among dramatists is his combination of wit and serious political purpose; most plays that are as political as Shaw’s are not as funny. To describe a play as a “socialist comedy” may seem a contradiction in terms, but Shaw’s works are among the very few for which the label is apt. Only Shaw would have the temerity to subtitle his play Man and Superman (1905): “A Comedy and A Philosophy,” and indeed, it is both. Other famous works include Pygmalion (1912, later turned into the popular musical My Fair Lady), Heartbreak House (1920), and Saint Joan (1923).
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