Reviews for Black Plays, Vol. 2

The average rating for Black Plays, Vol. 2 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-03-14 00:00:00 Daniel Cosgrove #8 of my 2018 Shaw Project 3.5/5 Stars I don't quite know what to make of this one. It is charming, and definitely it is a pleasant play as Shaw would say, but, it doesn't seem to be up to Shaw's standards. It seems cute and heavy handed more than anything else. Shaw calls this a "comedy of errors," and that it certainly is. You Never Can Tell is mixture of farce, romance and social commentary, it has all the elements of Shaw's later plays, but in a bumpy, undigested form. Introducing the free-thinking author Mrs Clandon, and her three children, who have returned to the south coast of England from Madeira, the first act labors to establish a plot that is a delivery system for arguments about marriage, society and parenthood which still have some bite. Shaw's comedy was written after he saw and negatively reviewed Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest on the London stage in 1895. What Shaw does have to offer over Wilde is a seriousness of intent. And while this is lesser Shaw, even second rate Shaw is better than the best of what many other authors have to offer.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-08 00:00:00 John Stoltz A superficial examination of the elements of You Never Can Tell (1897) might entice an observer into believing he was about to experience the best G.B.S. has to offer. The Shavian preoccupations are all here: the feminist matriarch Mrs. Clandon and her three unconventional children, including a teenage daughter Dolly who says whatever she pleases; their estranged father, a grumpy capitalist patriarch Mr. Crampton; a smart young man and practicing dentist named Valentine who is in love with Mrs. Clandon beautiful elder daughter Gloria; a solicitor and barrister both to compound and resolve misunderstandings; and the expert waiter, old Walter, always ready to be of service, who dispense both refreshments and advice with equal alacrity, and lives by the wide-awake motto "You Never Can Tell." Yes, it certainly sounds like an enjoyable Shaw comedy. Yet somehow all the elements don't seem to work together. I suspect this is because the narrative just isn't compelling enough. The conversations entertain, most of the jokes still work, but the play never makes us care about what might happen next. My advice: skip it, and read Candida or The Devil's Disciple instead. Since the waiter Walter is the best thing about this play, I will end with one of his brief monologues, in which he describes how his very successful son (a barrister) and he are in reality very much alike: We get on together very well, very well indeed, sir, considering the difference in our stations. (With another of his irresistible transitions.) A small lump of sugar, sir, will take the flatness out of the seltzer without noticeably sweetening the drink, sir. Allow me, sir. (He drops a lump of sugar into the tumbler.) But as I say to him, where's the difference after all? If I must put on a dress coat to show what I am, sir, he must put on a wig and gown to show what he is. If my income is mostly tips, and there's a pretence that I don't get them, why, his income is mostly fees, sir; and I understand there's a pretence that he don't get them! If he likes society, and his profession brings him into contact with all ranks, so does mine, too, sir. If it's a little against a barrister to have a waiter for his father, sir, it's a little against a waiter to have a barrister for a son: many people consider it a great liberty, sir, I assure you, sir. Can I get you anything else, sir?