The Case for Harlequin: A Footnote on Shaw's Dramatic Method

THE CASE FOR HARLEQUIN: A FOOTNOTE ON SHAW'S DRAMATIC METHOD IN 1950, the year of Bernard Shaw's death, no less than three major plays by Shaw and a bill of three of his one-act playsl were performed by professional companies in London's West End. In the same season there were no revivals of French farce or nineteenth century melodrama, and, despite the existence of more than a dozen theaters suitable for the staging of musical comedy, only three Christmas pantomimes2 were offered. To the theater historian and Shavian scholar alike, the above statistics reflect a problem, for as Shaw's plays become fixed in the repertoire of dramatic classics, plays and styles of production likely to have influenced Shaw are disappearing, some vanishing entirely, some playing to smaller audiences yearly. Time is working against the historian who would like to compare Shaw's plays with theatrical forms which constituted the popular theater of nineteenth century Ireland and England, a milieu wholly familiar to Shaw and obviously a major influence upon his work. For the American who seeks to understand the methods and sources of Shaw, the problem is even more acute: Whereas he may have access to records of French farce performed in this country, and whereas the tradition of melodrama is almost as long as that of England, the Boxing Night spectacles are all but unknown; attempts to import English pantomime were largely met with bewilderment and indifference, and the experiments soon abandoned. How then is the American to understand the nature of English pantomime, how is he to see that such an understanding is of value in approaching Shaw's plays? Bernard Shaw was born and grew up in a century and society with at least four strong theatrical traditions: those of Shakespearian revivals , of French farce adapted and translated into English, of melodrama , and of Christmas pantomime. All of these elements had their influence on Shaw's life, on his critical writings, and on his plays. They formed a tradition in which Shaw could shape his own plays, or against which he could pit his dramatic methods, thereby gaining an advantage by the resulting contrasts. Of the four traditions, only one will be discussed here, that of the Christmas pantomime, the least 1. Caemr and Cleopatra, Captain Braasbound'$ Conversion, Man and Superman, The Man of Demnv, Villalle Wooing, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets. 2. Babes in tne Wood, Goody Two Shoes, Mother Goose. . 60 1960 THE CASE FOR HARLEQUIN 61 regarded of possible influences, for pantomime is viewed by all but the specialist with the same patronizing tolerance accorded not "fine art" but "folk art" in any country. The pantomime is an unsophisticated , comparatively naIve art, but it was a part of the popular theatrical tradition of Shaw's lifetime, as important to the average theater-goer then as the televised vadety show or monthly "spectacular " is to today's home viewer. In discussing Shaw's association with pantomime matedal, I will cite any biographical facts which suggest attendance at Christmas pantomimes or familiarity with the pantomime tradition, as well as reviews written by Shaw during his years as drama critic for The Saturday Review. I will also examine Shaw's plays for evidence reflecting the pantomime and lastly I will try to demonstrate that a few of Shaw's plays employed the devices and techniques of pantomime to further his own purposes. . A word of warning may be necessary at tIllS point. What follows should demonstrate Shaw's serious preoccupation with pantomime, yet his total use of pantonlime material was slight. What follows, therefore , is a footnote, and only a footnote, which may be occasionally useful in determining Shaw's method as a dramatist. Before citing specific material which establishes Shaw's interest in pantomime, it may be useful to state the conditions for a typical pantomime, if one may be said to have existed, and to identify certain elements which were common to many Christmas pantomimes produced after 1805; emphasis placed upon these elements may have varied from generation to generation, a talented performer may have reshaped certain aspects to his own abilities, or advances in stage technology may have...