Bernard Shaw and the British Regional Repertory Movement

Bernard Shaw and the British Regional Repertory Movement provides a comprehensive exploration of Shaw’s full involvement with, and impact on, the British repertory theatre movement that emerged from the Harley Granville Barker – J. E. Vedrenne seasons at London’s Court Theatre, 1904-1907 – until now. The British repertory movement, with its emphasis on the use of the short run and ensemble acting, played a key role in the staging of non-commercial and theatrically experimental work in the early twentieth century and revolutionized Britain’s theatrical landscape. Shaw collaborated extensively with repertory companies, providing them with plays, which offered alternatives to the London trends of the long run and star system.  These theatres, in turn, offered Shaw a way to disseminate his radical artistic and political ideas in British locations outside the capital city as well as internationally. Using extensive archive research to piece together Shaw’s connection to regionaltheatres, this book explores monumental regional productions of Shaw’s plays and investigates Shaw’s relationships – both professional and personal – with key figures in the repertory movement.

Soudabeh Ananisarab is a Lecturer in Drama at Birmingham City University, UK. A theatre historian and Shavian scholar, Soudabeh has a strong record of publications in both areas. Since completing her PhD in 2017, she has published in reputable journals in these fields, including SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies and Studies in Theatre and Performance. Soudabeh also has forthcoming chapters in the Edinburgh Companion to Modernism in Contemporary Theatre, TheRoutledge Companion to Twentieth-Century British Theatre and in Sean O’Casey in Context. Soudabeh teaches on a wide range of drama and literature modules, covering key texts and movements in twentieth-century British theatre.