Fanny’s First Play
About this ebook
Within this framing, the play within the play concerns the Gilbey and Knox families. Both are highly respectable, and both of their children have secretly spent a fortnight in jail for assaulting a police officer. The families, along with a noble footman, a disreputable woman, and a French naval lieutenant, must navigate what it means to be respectable in the eyes of society, and what truly noble behavior entails.
Fanny’s First Play is a satire not only of society and morals, but of the theater of the day and of specific criticisms George Bernard Shaw’s works had drawn. The characters of the theater critics are based on actual critics of the day, and Shaw’s other works are discussed dismissively by them. It was originally performed with its authorship kept secret, but attendees and critics soon recognized it as Shaw’s work. The mystery around its authorship was good publicity, and it became Shaw’s longest running and most popular work.
This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.
