Theatre and Dance Previews

It may not seem like it at times, but summer is definitely here, and there can be nothing better than sitting outside with a picnic watching an artistic event. And it’s even better if you can do this in the grounds of somewhere that was one the home of an iconic figure in the arts.

This year, as always, the fascinating home of the famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in Ayot St Lawrence, is providing a unique and atmospheric setting for a series of summer plays hosted by The National Trust.

George Bernard Shaw was born on 26th July and this year sees the 151st anniversary of his birth. Every year the occasion is marked by performances of one of his plays live in the gardens of his former home, where he lived for many years and where he wrote some of his major dramatic works.

This year there will be three performances of Mrs Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw from Friday 20 – Sunday 22 July. One of Shaw’s more controversial plays, it looks at the subject of prostitution, and the effects on a relationship between a mother and daughter.

Kathy Linton, the House Manager at the property told us all about the performances, why Shaw would have loved them and what people remember about his presence in the village.

G.B. Shaw didn't live here all the time did he?

Kathy: No, he and his wife had a flat in London and they tended to spend the midweek period in London and then come here on a Friday night, perhaps over to Tuesday so that they had two lives almost.

He was a great character in the village was he?

Kathy: He was very well known in the village. He lived here for a long, long time. He spent a great deal of time while he was thinking about his plays out walking in the lanes round here or riding his bicycle so he became known to quite a lot of children as a curious figure that they would notice as they were going to and from their daily business.

What did he actually write while he was here then?

Kathy: Among the plays that he wrote after he came here, the one that most people will have heard of is Pygmalion, which was written here in 1913, but there are others such as Androcles and the Lion written a year earlier and then later on St Joan in 1923, Back to Methusalah in 1920, Heartbreak House in 1919, the list goes on.

So really many of his major dramatic works were written in this house or in the writing hut at the bottom of the garden?

Kathy: Yes, a lot of his writing was done in the summer house at the bottom of the garden. It's well known and people remember it for being a hut that's on a revolving turntable so that it could be pointed to catch the sun in any direction, but it was also well hidden behind a clump of trees so that he had complete privacy.

Now people visit the house and every summer plays are put on?

Kathy: Yes, we put on usually two different plays every summer, three nights for each one. The Birthday Play (because Shaw's birthday was in July) is put on in July. Then the other play is sometimes, but not always, a Shaw play and that's what we call the Summer Play which is in June.

So the Birthday Play is coming up - what is it this year?

Kathy: We've chosen Mrs Warren's Profession this year, which was one of his earlier plays, written in 1894. It tackles the very delicate subject (in those days) of prostitution.

It was very controversial at the time wasn't it?

Kathy: It was, it was banned to begin with, which must have been a little off putting for a young man who was just starting to write, but it probably doesn't seem quite so controversial when it is performed nowadays.

At the time it was like all those Victorian things, it was a big problem but people didn't want to talk about it?

Kathy: Yes indeed, and the whole crux of the play is the daughter finding out where her mother's money came from.

And this is all done outside in the gardens is it?

Kathy: Yes - we have a terrace running along the back of the house here about 6-8 feet wide with a gravel path running along it and a veranda. There are several doors opening out from the back of the house as well, so it lends itself as a natural stage and it then opens out onto a big rectangular lawn where people can sit and have their picnics before the play starts.

So the back of the house turns into a kind of mini-theatre?

Kathy: Indeed it does. It causes chaos for us for three days and nights. We're still open to the public in the afternoon as normal and the actors are getting ready while we're closing the house up to the public. We then have to get in a whole team of volunteers for the evening shift to keep the play running!

It starts quite early doesn't it, so is it all done while it's still pretty light outside?

Kathy: That's what we do yes. We don't have artificial lighting set up so the plays start at 6.30pm and we aim to finish round about 9.00pm. The gates are open at 5.30pm and we're hoping for a good audience on all three nights this coming year. For the June play we had quite a bit of rain but that didn't put off the hardy souls who had already booked and considering the rain it was pretty successful.

So what happens in the rain? Do you just bring waterproofs?

Kathy: Yes - people come prepared with waterproofs and umbrellas. Unfortunately we can't allow people to bring their own gazebos because it's a flat lawn that everybody's sitting on and the people at the back wouldn't be able to see.

The actors just get wet! We carry on in the rain unless it becomes physically dangerous and impossible to carry on and I think that's only happened once in the last eight or nine years!

I was looking out on a wet Sunday night last time (in June) and there were the candlabras, the strawberries, the cream and champagne and people sitting there and I thought this could only happen in England.

Is the performing company just set up to perform these plays?

Kathy: No, they do a small tour of these plays throughout the UK and we're generally just one of those venues. The company tends to specialise in Shaw plays and plays of a similar era.

This must be their favourite venue then?!

Kathy: It's the only outdoor venue that they do and that must be quite a big change for them because they have to adapt from a normal size stage with all the facilities it offers so this place with a very long thin wide stage and facilities which aren't quite the same!

What do you think Shaw would have thought about all this going on in his back garden?

Kathy: He'd have loved it, he had a great sense of fun! He would have sat there and he would have interrupted and criticised if he felt it didn't follow what he thought, but he would have loved it.

Because he was quite a socialite wasn't he?

Kathy: Yes - that was one side to his character, he knew a lot of people from the theatre and spent quite a bit of time socialising with them and yet he had this other private side to his character when he came down here.

So now people come here and pay homage watching a Shaw play on his birthday. What do you think is so special for people about doing this?

Kathy: It's just that it was his garden really. And it's one of those things to have done before you die isn't it? Watch a Shaw play in the garden where he wrote it!

Mrs Warren's Profession will be performed at Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence from the 20th - 22nd July at 6.30pm. Gates open for the plays each day at 5.30pm, and visitors are welcome to bring picnics to enjoy in the grounds of the house.