Midsummer Magazine 2007 - Utah Shakespearean Festival

Shaw claims in Candida tohave turned Ibsen’s A Doll’sHouse upside down byshowing the doll in the houseto be a man.candida, Latin for clear white like a sparklingcrystal.Candida is an early Shaw play, hisfourth of more than sixty. Self-taught inthe British Museum reading room, Shawcontinued to write even in his ninety-fourthyear when he died after falling from a treehe was pruning. In addition to the plays andtheir extended prefaces, this man of letterswrote five novels, several volumes of musicand theatre criticism, numerous politicaltreatises, and at least 250,000 letters.Written in 1894, Candida was firstperformed in 1895 by the Stage Society, aprivate London theatre club. The play wasfirst published in Plays Pleasant (1898); inthe preface to that volume, Shaw claimshe “purposely contrived” Candida to beinexpensive so managers might “experimentwith half a dozen afternoon performances”(The Complete Prefaces I [London: PenguinPress, 1993] 43]. Even the confident Shawmight be surprised; with its small cast andsingle setting, the play has been producedthousands of times throughout the world.The first Broadway production was in1903, followed by fourteen others with thelast in 1993. Candida was performed duringthe opening season of Canada’s ShawFestival in 1962. When Shaw died, theatrelights in New York and London weredimmed in tribute.Shaw subtitled the play A Mystery,meaning both mysterious as well as amystery play about the Madonna. In a letterto Ellen Terry, Shaw declares Candida“the Virgin Mother and nobody else” andthat he has written “THE Mother Play”(Collected Letters I [New York: Dodd ,Mead, 1965] 641). His Candida plays themother well, not just to her off-stage childrenbut also to her husband the ReverendJames Morell, to her businessman fatherBurgess, as well as to the curate Lexy Milland the poet Eugene Marchbanks. Theymay think they are in love with her beauty—Lexy:“I think her extremely beautiful,Miss Garnett. Extremely, beautiful. Howfine her eyes are!” (89)—but it is the maternalcare she gives them that exalts her to thepedestal Shaw has prepared.Candida is the embodiment of Shaw’sbiological Life Force. Home is the centerof her universe, but she does not havethe same queenly power outside. J. EllenGainor defines Shaw’s term “as an inescapableforce in nature that draws men andwomen together for procreation. In Shaw’swork, this force is most often acted uponby women” (Shaw’s Daughters [Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press, 1991] 247).Shaw’s public Life Force is embodied inMorell, the Christian socialist reformer whotires himself in speaking for the bettermentof all. Michael Holroyd explains that “ForShaw the world consisted of a Life Forceonly slightly differentiated into individualhuman beings. A sermon could directlyactivate the universal energy in everyone”(The Genius of Shaw [New York: Holt,Rinehart and Winston, 1979] 126). Shawoften used the idea of the Life Force as ametaphor for his own creative energy.Shaw claims in Candida to haveturned Ibsen’s A Doll’s House upside downby showing the doll in the house to be aman. As Candida says about Morell, herEl Rey Inn& Suites80 South Main800-688-6518 • 435-586-6518www.bwelrey.comExperience a TradLuxury Suites • Deluxe Poolside RoomsIn-Room Micro/Fridges • Fitness CenterElevator • Free Breakfast • Pool & SpaComplimentary Airport Shuttle • Free High-Speed InternetIn Cedar Chotels, offerinhospitalityworld seClosest Accomto the F(Just a 5-Mi24 • Midsummer Magazine 2007