Theatre Review: George Bernard Shaw's Satirizing of Patriotism and Piety

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Michael Sommers

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950; Federal Theatre Project (U.S.), sponsor; United States.
Work Projects Administration, sponsor - Catalog No.: F8-8A-1 Date Created: 1937

NEW JERSEY---Anyone who thinks that George Bernard Shaw wrote plays that are long on talk and deficient in action will be agreeably surprised by the dramatic goings-on of “The Devil’s Disciple.” In 1896, early in his career as a dramatist, Shaw wrote a dark comedy that exploited the elements of Victorian blood-and-thunder melodramas to his own purposes. Presented by the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey in Madison, “The Devil’s Disciple” features a rascally hero, a parson’s virtuous wife, an oppressed orphan, the reading of a will, a case of mistaken identity, a noble sacrifice that echoes “A Tale of Two Cities” and (without giving away too much of the plot here) several last-second reversals that occur in the shadow of the gallows. [link]

 “The Devil’s Disciple,” by George Bernard Shaw, is at the F. M. Kirby Shakespeare Theater, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, through July 27. Information: shakespearenj.org. or (973) 408-5600.