Pygmalion: Bernard Shaw's Dramatic Theory and Practice

PMLA ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 879-885
Author(s):  
Milton Crane
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Dramatic Theory ◽  
China And Japan ◽  
Bernard Shaw

In the last of his many discussions of the so-called play of ideas, Bernard Shaw remarked, “I was, and still am, the most old-fashioned playwright outside China and Japan.” This is one of the few statements that Shaw made about his own work of which we may safely believe every word—always assuming him to be correct about China and Japan. He was, to be sure, merely echoing his earlier, confession in the Preface to Three Plays For Puritans, in which he had defended The Devil's Disciple against a reckless charge of originality: “If it applies to the incidents, plot, construction, and general professional and technical qualities of the play, [it] is nonsense; for the truth is, I am in these matters a very old-fashioned playwright.” He elsewhere admonished us: “Remember that my business as a classic writer of comedies is ‘to chasten morals with ridicule’ . . .” It is my purpose here to describe and interpret some of the stages through which Shaw passed and some of the attitudes which he assumed in the course of coming to such conclusions.

scholarly journals PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES IN OMANI PENAL LEGISLATION – THEORY AND PRACTICE

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Rashid Hamed Al Balushi ◽  
Khalid Ahmed Al Shoaibi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disease ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Modern Theory ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Criminal Penalty ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Precautionary Measures

Punishment is considered a very old penal procedure and it is implemented widely across the globe. The modern theory in the studies of criminal penalty has changed due to the implementation of precautionary measures which plays an important part in the present criminal legislations, whether it is for the replacement of punishment or its implementation in case of loss of responsibility due to mental disease or minor age. This research discusses and explains the precautionary measures in the Omani legislation – theory and implementation through the identification of precautionary measures, its characteristics or features and conditions of implementation are discussed in the first part and in its second part, the situation of the Omani penal legislation towards the precautionary measures is discussed. Moreover, the research adobts the analysis methods by referring to the legal expression, analyzing it and finding its origin and legal content. 

Putting on the New Self

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-307
Author(s):  
David Starling
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Theological Interpretation ◽  
Dramatic Theory ◽  
Greco Roman

AbstractThis article argues that the principal background against which the clothing metaphor in Eph 4:22, 24 would have been understood by the letter’s original hearers is that of the theater, within which changes of costume signalled changes of identity, character, or fate. After a brief survey of recent scholarly commentaries (which pay surprisingly little attention to the possibility of a theatrical background to the metaphor in these verses) it highlights instances of similar expressions within Greco-Roman theatrical contexts, both literal and metaphorical, discusses the relevant aspects of ancient dramatic theory and practice, and explores the implications of this reading for theological interpretation of Ephesians.

scholarly journals Die begrip dramatiese didaskalia (weer) beskou

Literator ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Coetser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Dramatic Theory ◽  
Sign System ◽  
Master's Thesis

The dramatic didascalies revisited The concept of dramatic didascalies has received little theoretical attention in South Africa. Mouton (1989:166-195) included a chapter on the topic in her published doctoral thesis and Van der Merwe (1992) completed a master’s thesis on the didascalies as sign-system in dramas by M.S. Serudu. Both theses draw on an article by Savona (1982), in which virtually no attention is paid to the etymological influence of the word on the general meanings and interpretations attached to it. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to trace the correspondences between the historical background of the word "didascalies" and its applications to dramatic theory and practice. Historically it is possible to distinguish two main groups of literary didascalies in the published text of a play. Direct didascalies derive from the playwright, but indirect didascalies are supplied by someone else.

This Very Old Fair Lady: the Last Years of Mrs. Patrick Campbell

1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (21) ◽  
pp. 57-63
Author(s):  
Alan Brock
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Living Well ◽  
Bernard Shaw

Mrs. Patrick Campbell had captivated New York, in her distinctively grand manner, well before Bernard Shaw wrote the part of Eliza for her in Pygmalion, and immortalized her reputation on stage – as, perhaps, his own protracted and largely epistolatory affair with the temperamental actress immortalized her off-stage. But by the early 1930s, when Mrs. Pat was approaching her own seventh decade, her stage appearances were infrequent, and less fortunate times found her living well beyond her means in New York. There, Alan Brock, at the time an aspiring young actor, made her acquaintance, and in due course became her agent. In the following article he tells the story of Mrs. Pat's declining years – which were marked by a final triumph, half the proceeds of which evaporated, instantly and characteristically, on celebrating the success. Alan Brock went on to become an actor for George Abbott, Howard Lindsay, and the Shuberts. Also a New York actors’ agent, he represented numerous leading players, and later worked with Ben Hecht and Billy Rose on two Broadway shows, while authoring his own radio series and contributing a regular column to the trade weekly Backstage.

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