The Apple Cart, Too True to Be Good, On the Rocks, and the Millionairess

The four dramas in this volume are some of George Bernard Shaw's most interesting plays. They stretch from 1929 to 1935 and coincide with the Great Depression, the intensification of the crisis of democracy that began after the war, and the rise of totalitarianism, all of which find expression in these plays. They also signal the beginning of an important new phase in Shaw's writing, one marked especially by the development of two new Shaw genres: the politicalextravaganza and the political allegory. The Apple Cart (1929) marked Shaw's return to playwriting after the long hiatus that followed Saint Joan (1923). The Apple Cart is perhaps the most pointed critique of parliamentary democracy in the entire Shavian canon. Too True to Be Good (1931) is another 'political extravaganza', with the opening stage direction — 'The patient is sleeping heavily. Near her, in the easy chair, sits a Monster' —-signaling that Shaw is advancing further into uncharted dramaturgical...