SHOW George Bernard (Shaw George Bernard)

(1856-1950)
Born July 26, 1856 in Dublin. His father, having suffered a collapse in business, become addicted to alcohol and his mother, disappointed in marriage, carried away singing. Shaw learned nothing in school, . who attended, . but borrowed heavily from the books of Charles Dickens, . W. Shakespeare, . J. Bunyan, . Bible, . Arab tales One Thousand and One Nights, . as well as listening to opera and oratorio, . which his mother sang, . and contemplating the paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland,
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At the age of fifteen Shaw settled down a clerk in a company to sell land. A year later he became cashier and held that position for four years. Unable to overcome an aversion to such work, the age of twenty he went to London to his mother, who after her divorce from her husband earned a living singing lessons.

Shaw is a young man decided to make a living literary work, and although the articles are sent back to him with depressing regularity, he continued to besiege the Editor. Only one took his story to the press, the author paid fifteen shillings - and this was all that Shaw earned a feather for nine years. During these years he wrote five novels, which rejected all the British publishing.

In 1884 Shaw joined the Fabian Society and soon became one of the most brilliant of its speakers. At the same time he perfected his education in the reading room of the British Museum, where he met with the writer William Archer (1856-1924), who join it to the journalism. After working for some time as a freelance reporter, Shaw received a place of musical criticism in one of the evening papers. After six years, cast a musical review, Shaw during the three and a half years he worked as a theater critic in 'Saterdey rivyu'. During this time he published a book on H. Ibsen, and R. Wagner. He also wrote plays (compilation Plays pleasant and unpleasant - Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant, 1898). One of them, Profession, Mrs. Warren (Mrs. Warren's Profession, first staged in 1902), was banned by the censor, the other, we'll wait - see (You Never Can Tell, 1895), after several rehearsals had been rejected, the third, Arms and the Man (Arms and the Man, 1894), in general, no one understood. In addition to the named collection includes pieces Candida (Candida, 1895), the fate of the Chosen (The Man of Destiny, 1897), House of a widower (Widower's Houses, 1892) and Heartbreaker (The Philanderer, 1893). Placed in America R. Mansfield Devil's Disciple (The Devil's Disciple, 1897) - the first Shaw play, which had a box office success.

Shaw wrote plays, reviews, acted as an outdoor speaker, promoting socialist ideas, and, moreover, was a member of the council district of Saint Pancras, where he lived. Such overload led to a sharp deterioration in health, and if not for the care and maintenance, Charlotte Payne-Townsend, whom he married in 1898, it could end badly. During a protracted illness, Shaw wrote the play Caesar and Cleopatra (Caesar and Cleopatra, 1899) and the circulation of capital Brasbaunda (Captain Brassbound's Conversion, 1900), which the writer himself called 'religious treatise'. In 1901, Devil's Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra and the circulation of capital Brasbaunda were published in a collection of three plays for puritans (Three Plays for Puritans). In Caesar and Cleopatra - the first play of Shaw, where there are real historical figures - the traditional idea of the hero and heroine changed beyond recognition.

Not having succeeded in the path of commercial theater, Shaw decided to make a drama conductor of his philosophy, published in 1903 play Man and Superman (Man and Superman). However, in the next year came his hour. The young actor H.Grenvil-Barker (1877-1946), together with the entrepreneur Dzh.E.Vedrennom took over London's 'Court' and opened the season, . the success of which ensured the old and new plays Shaw - Candida, . Time will - see, . Other Island John Bull (John Bull's Other Island, . 1904), . Man and Superman, . Major Barbara (Major Barbara, . 1905) and doctor with a dilemma (The Doctor's Dilemma, . 1906),
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Now, Shaw decided to write a play, entirely devoid of. The first of these plays, discussions, Marriage (Getting Married, 1908), had some success among the intellectuals, the second, misalliance (Misalliance, 1910), proved to be rather difficult for them. Giving, Shaw wrote frankly cash trifle - first play Fanny (Fanny's First Play, 1911), which for nearly two years went to the scene of a small theater. Then, . if otygryvayas for this concession taste of the crowd, . Shaw has created a true masterpiece - Androkla and the lion (Androcles and the Lion, . 1913), . followed by the play Pygmalion (Pygmalion, . 1914), . set G.Birbomom-three in the 'Theater of His Majesty' with Patrick Campbell as Eliza Doolittle,
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During the First World War, Shaw was an extremely unpopular figure. Press, . public, . colleagues showered him with insults, . and meanwhile he coolly finished the play house, . where the broken heart (Heartbreak House, . 1921) and was preparing his covenant of the human race - Back, . to Mafusailu (Back to Methuselah, . 1923), . where couched in dramatic form of his evolutionary ideas,
. In 1924, the glory has returned to the writer, he has gained worldwide recognition drama Saint Joan (Saint Joan). In the eyes of Shaw Joan of Arc - provozvestnitsa Protestantism and nationalism, and therefore it is quite logical sentence her medieval church and the feudal system. In 1925 Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, from the receipt of which he refused.

Last play, Shaw has brought success, became applecart (The Apple Cart, 1929), which opened Malvernsky festival in honor of the playwright.

In the years when most people were not to travel, Shaw visited the United States, Soviet Union, South Africa, India, New Zealand. In Moscow, where Shaw arrived with Lady Astor, he talked with Stalin. When came to power Labor Party, for which the playwright has done so much, he was offered the nobility and peerage, but he is denying everything. At the age of ninety years the writer has agreed to become an honorary citizen of Dublin and London District St Pancras, where he lived in his younger years.

Shaw's wife died in 1943. Remaining years of the writer spent in seclusion in Eyot-St Lawrence (Hertfordshire), where at the age of ninety-two years, finished his last play Bayanta Billions (Buoyant Billions, 1949). Until the end of the writer maintained clarity of mind. Shaw died in Eyot, St. Lawrence on Nov. 2, 1950.