George Bernard Shaw and Christopher Newton : Explorations of Shavian Theatre Book

Christopher Newton has placed the Shaw Festival firmly on the map of world-class theatre. His best Shavian productions are revolutionary re-interpretations of plays that are normally treated as Edwardian period pieces or didactic entertainments. In this first full-length study of Newton, critic Keith Garebian shows how the pairing of Shaw and Newton, that once seemed "not bloody likely, " has become one of the most exciting enterprises in Canadian theatre, with startling results. This book begins with a biographical section that sketches some of the most perasive influences on Newton's artistic sensibility, and suggests what had particularly inspired his ever-growing fascination with Shaw. Successive chapters document Newton's concept of Shaw as a surrealist, and contain detailed descriptions of productions at Niagara- on -the- Lake from 1980-1990. Among other things, readers are shown a Caesar and Cleopatra set in a Shadow Box; Heartbreak House as a dream-play of the night and anarchy; Major Barbara as a double quest; You Never Can Tell as part comic romance, part farcical metaphor; the metatheatrical suggestions of Man and Superman; and a Misalliance as a metaphor of a convulsive new age. As Garebian shows, Newton's approach for all its paradoxes, succeeds in making George Bernard Shaw our dynamic contemporary.