''In Good King Charles's Golden Days'' is a play by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

, subtitled ''A True History that Never Happened''. It was written in 1938-39 as an "educational history film" for film director

Gabriel Pascal Gabriel Pascal (born Gábor Lehel; 4 June 1894 – 6 July 1954) was a Hungarian film producer and director whose best-known films were made in the United Kingdom. Pascal was the first film producer to successfully bring the plays of Georg ...

in the aftermath of '' Pygmalion''s cinema triumph. The cast of the proposed film were to be sumptuously clothed in 17th century costumes, far beyond the resources of most theatre managements. However, by the time of its completion in May 1939, it had turned into a Shavian Restoration comedy.''Bernard Shaw, Volume 3: The Lure of Fantasy'' by

Michael Holroyd Sir Michael de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (born 27 August 1935) is an English biographer. Early life and education Holroyd was born in London, the son of Basil de Courcy Fraser Holroyd (a descendant of Sir George Sowley Holroyd, Justice of the King ...

, Chatto and Windus, London (1991) The title of the play is taken from the first line of the traditional song " The Vicar of Bray".

Plot

The setting is the English court during the reign of Charles II (). A discussion play, the issues of nature, science, power and leadership are debated between Charles ("Mr Rowley"),

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...

, and the artist

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leading Portrait painting, portraitist in England during the late Stuart period, Stuart and early Georgian eras ...

, with interventions by three of the king's mistresses ( Barbara Villiers, Louise de Kérouaille, and Nell Gwynn). The short second act involves Charles in conversation with his queen,

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza (; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to Charles II of England, King Charles II, which la ...

Original production

Billed as "A history lesson in three scenes by Bernard Shaw", the first production was at the Malvern Festival Theatre on 12 August 1939, directed by H. K. Ayliff and designed by Paul Shelving. Cast: *Mrs Basham: Isobel Thornton *Sally: Betty Marsden *Isaac Newton: Cecil Trouncer *George Fox: Herbert Lomas *Mr Rowley (Charles II): Ernest Thesiger *Nell Gwynn: Eileen Beldon *Barbara Villiers; Daphne Heard *Louise de Kérouaille: Ina De La Haye *James, Duke of York: William Hutchison *Godfrey Kneller: Alec Clunes *Catherine of Braganza: Irene Vanbrugh Ayliff's production first transferred to the Streatham Hill Theatre on 15 April 1940, then to the New Theatre in London on 9 May 1940.

James Agate James Evershed Agate (9 September 1877 – 6 June 1947) was an English diarist and theatre critic between the two world wars. He took up journalism in his late twenties and was on the staff of ''The Manchester Guardian'' in 1907–1914. He late ...

, writing for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', noted that the play was the best to have "come from the Shavian loom since ''

Methuselah Methuselah (; ''Məṯūšélaḥ'', in pausa ''Məṯūšālaḥ'', "His death shall send" or "Man of the javelin" or "Death of sword"; ''Mathousalas'') was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He is clai ...

''".

Revivals

Ernest Thesiger, who again played "Mr Rowley", revived the play at the Malvern Festival on 11 August 1949. It was also revived at the Malvern Festival Theatre in 1983. A radio production was broadcast on the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

on September 18, 1949, with Abraham Sofaer in the title role.Radio Times
/ref> The first North American production was on 24 January 1957 at the Downtown Theater on New York's East 4th Street, where it ran for nearly two years, one of the longest runs of any Shaw play in the USA (as noted by Lawrence Langner). A BBC production in the ''

Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wor ...

'' series, starring Sir

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

as King Charles, was broadcast in February 1970.

References

*''In Good King Charles's Golden Days'' by Bernard Shaw, with 12 text illustrations by

Feliks Topolski Feliks Topolski Royal Academician, RA (14 August 1907 – 24 August 1989) was a Polish expressionist painter and draughtsman working primarily in the United Kingdom. Biography Feliks Topolski was born on 14 August 1907 in Warsaw, Poland. He st ...

, Constable, London (1939) *''File on Shaw'', compiled by Margery Morgan, Methuen, London (1989) *''Bernard Shaw'', a biography by

in five volumes, Chatto and Windus (1988-1992) *Shaw's preface to the play, first published in the collected edition of ''Geneva, Cymbeline Refinished'' and ''In Good King Charles's Golden Days'', Constable (1947) *''Bernard Shaw: The Complete Prefaces'', volume III, 1930–1950, edited by Dan H Laurence and Daniel J Leary, Allen Lane, The Penguin Press (1997) {{George Bernard Shaw 1939 plays Plays set in the 17th century Plays by George Bernard Shaw Cultural depictions of Isaac Newton Cultural depictions of Charles II of England Cultural depictions of Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland Cultural depictions of Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth Cultural depictions of Nell Gwyn Cultural depictions of Catherine of Braganza