Zany Puppet Show To Say FAREWELL GBS

A 'puppet show' with Python-esque touches is the curtain-raiser for the second programme in the Shaw Society's mini-season marking the 70th anniversary of George Bernard Shaw's death and his works coming out of copyright. Farewell GBS culminates on Sunday 13th December with two more free "zoom theatre" presentations. Shakes versus Shav, from SHAW2020 and Shaw's First and Last Thoughts, from Michael Friend Productions.

Playwright George Bernard Shaw died at his home Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, 70 years ago, in his 95th year. One of the most famous men in the world at the time, the news instantly went round the globe. Lights were dimmed at theatres on Broadway, and theatres in Australia observed a two-minute silence.

Two original shows Darlington, 1950 and Words of Love & Loss for a Platform Spellbinder, celebrating Bernard Shaw, kicked off the Farewell GBS programme on the 70th anniversary of his death, November 2nd.

Now to close the season, as the end of the year approaches and as Shaw's works come out of copyright, The Shaw Society present two more free shows, online.

The first in this double-bill, Shakes versus Shav (1949), directed by Joe Sargent, comes from SHAW2020, a theatre company whose mission is to engage wider more diverse audiences with performance and exploration of Bernard Shaw's works. This skit, written by Shaw as a puppet show, sees a Punch & Judy style spat between William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. The two puppets are still preserved. 'Shakes' is in Stratford-upon-Avon, and 'Shav" is in the collection of Shaw's Corner, his home for more than forty years in the village of Ayot St Lawrence in Hertfordshire, now a National Trust property. Says Jonas Cemm, Artistic Director of SHAW2020, who plays Shav: "It's Shakes versus Shav as you've never seen it before - and in the pantomime season too!

This will be followed by a presentation from Michael Friend, a Vice-President of the Shaw Society and resident theatre director at Shaw's Corner for 25 years, who has compiled and directed Shaw's First and Last Thoughts, with adapted scenes from an early Shaw novel The Irrational Knot (1880) and the final scene from Why She Would Not, written just before Shaw's 94th birthday in July 1950. Michael Friend comments "Two pieces with similar themes, spanning 70 years of Shaw's writing - and bringing the show to an end with the final words of his final play. A fitting finale to Farewell GBS."

Links to join Farewell GBS on Monday, 13th December at 7-30pm can be found on the Shaw Society website www.shawsociety.org.uk

The first part of the series, Darlington 1950 and Words of Love and Loss is now available free of charge on the Shaw Institute website Farewell GBS - The Shaw Institute (shaw-institute.com).

Comments Bonnie Greer OBE, Vice-President of The Shaw Society "SHAW2020: their mission - to bring Shaw's works to a wider more diverse audience - is groundbreaking and important"

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Shaw Society was founded on Bernard Shaw's 85th birthday, 26th July 1941. The charity's purpose is to promote his plays and other writings, bringing together academics, theatre professionals, and Shaw fans. The Society's President is Sir Michael Holroyd; Vice-Presidents include, Actresses Dame Judi Dench, Sylvia Syms OBE and Toni Kanal, playwright Bonnie Greer OBE, theatre directors Richard Digby-Day and Michael Friend and RADA Director Edward Kemp. The Chair is Dr Anne Wright CBE.

· SHAW2020 is a limited theatre company made up of actor-members of The Shaw Society, dedicated to performance, adaptation, education and promoting equality using Shaw's plays and writing to engage wider, more diverse audiences, especially in the run-up to 2020, when Shaw comes out of copyright. The SHAW2020 Artistic Director is Jonas Cemm.

· Michael Friend Productions is a theatre production company established in 1992, touring productions of classical and modern plays. For 25 years MFP presented plays by Shaw at his National Trust home Shaw's Corner. Michael Friend is a vice-president of The Shaw Society

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