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Plays Unpleasant
Dan H Laurence
Major Barbara
by George Bernard Shaw
What readers are saying
Readers appreciate the engaging mix of humor and social commentary in Shaw's Major Barbara, finding its exploration of philanthropy versus capitalism thought-provoking. The characters, notably Major Barbara and her father, Undershaft, are described as lively and complex, leading to rich debates about morality and society. However, some readers noted issues with specific editions and expressed disappointment with typographic errors or missing content.
Humorous and entertainingEngaging charactersThought-provoking themesWitty dialogueTypesetting issues in some editionsDisappointment with missing content
Synopsis
Exclusive to Penguin Classics: the definitive text of one of Shaw’s most forward-looking plays
—part of the official Bernard Shaw Library
A Penguin Classic
Andrew Undershaft, a millionaire armaments dealer, loves money and despises poverty.
His estranged daughter Barbara, on the other hand, shows her love for the poor by throwing her energies into her work as a major in the Salvation Army, and sees her father as another soul to be saved.
But when the Army needs funds to keep going, it is Undershaft who saves the day with a large check—forcing Barbara to examine her moral assumptions.
Are they right to accept money that has been obtained by “Death and Destruction”?
Full of lively comedy and sparkling debate, Major Barbara brilliantly tests the tensions between religion, wealth and power, benevolence and equality, and metaphors and realities of war.
This is the definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence.
This volume includes Shaw’s preface of 1906, the cast list from the first production of Major Barbara
, and a list of his principal works.
Press Reviews
"Here is theatre at its theatrical best."
— New York Daily News
"Certainly one of Shaw's brightest, slyest, most provocatively outrageous and most timeless comedies."
— New York Post
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Publication
PublisherPenguin
Year2001
BindingPaperback
EditionReissue
Pages176
PlaceLondon
LanguageEnglish
ISBN-139780140437904
ISBN-100140437908
LCCN2002275028
LCCPR5363 .M2 2000
DCC822/.912
Major Barbara is a British comedy play written by George Bernard Shaw and published by Penguin in London (2001).
Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books.
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Penguin · 2001 · 176 pp
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