George Bernard Shaw’s Happy Endings
Almost sixty years ago, George Bernard Shaw died at age ninety-four, leaving behind an unfinished play. Tonight, in New York, that final work from the Pygmalion writer, Why She Would Not, will be presented in a reading by the Gingold Theatrical Group—and, in an irreverent twist a devoted Shavian might appreciate, the group’s founder, David Staller, has commissioned five possible endings to the play, from playwright Israel Horovitz and theater critics Michael Feingold, David Cote, Jeremy McCarter, and Robert Simonson. This event is the last in a long series (it’s been going on since January 2006) called Project Shaw, for which the Gingold Group has performed all of Shaw’s plays (including sketches and one-acts) at the Players club, near Manhattan’s Gramercy Park. To read more about this endeavor, and about Why She Would Not (a play about—what else?—class, money, and love), read David Belcher’s feature in the New York Times. Look out for Criterion’s Eclipse Series 20: George Bernard Shaw on Film in February.
