''Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction'' is a short play by Bernard Shaw, subtitled ''The Fatal Gazogene: a Brief Tragedy for Barns and Booths''. It is a comic mock-melodrama, written to raise funds for charity. It has been revived occasionally, in tandem with other short works by Shaw or by other playwrights.

Background

Shaw began writing the play in May 1905 and finished it on 4 June. It was published in Harry Furniss's Christmas Annual 1905, and was privately printed for copyright purposes in the US in the same year. It first appeared in book form in ''Translations and Tomfooleries'', 1926. Shaw wrote of the piece, "This tragedy was written at the request of Mr Cyril Maude, under whose direction it was performed repeatedly, with colossal success, in a booth in Regent's Park, for the benefit of The Actors' Orphanage, on the 14th July 1905". Brandon Thomas and Lionel Brough stationed themselves outside the tent drumming up custom for the show.

Cast

*Lady Magnesia FitzTollemache – Irene Vanbrugh *Phyllis, her maid – Nancy Price *George FitzTollemache – Eric Lewis *Adolphus Bastaple – Cyril Maude *The Landlord – Lennox Pawle *Police Constable – Arthur Williams *Doctor – G. P. Huntley *Choir of Invisible Angels – Messrs Mason, Tucker, Maney, Humphreys

Plot

Period: "Not for an age but for all time". Scene: A bed sitting-room in a fashionable quarter of London. Late at night, Phyllis, the maid, is combing the hair of her employer, Lady Magnesia FitzTollemache. Phyllis expresses foreboding and the fear that she will never see her beloved mistress again. Magnesia retires to sleep, serenaded by a heavenly choir singing " Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey". A murderous figure enters, brandishing a dagger. Before he can stab Magnesia she wakes, and recognises her husband. Her admirer, Adolphus, demands admittance so that he can show her his new suit of evening clothes made of bright yellow and black cloth with a silver-spangled waistcoat and red kerchief. Fitz offers Adolphus a whisky and soda. The gazogene (soda-siphon) contains poison and Adolphus is soon writhing on the floor. Magnesia declares that with Adolphus dead she will have to devote all her energies to doting on her husband. Finding this prospect overwhelming, Fitz reveals that there is an antidote to the poison, namely lime, which they can get from the plaster of the ceiling. They throw boots up to bring pieces of the ceiling down. Adolphus cannot force the plaster down this throat, and instead Magnesia reaches for a plaster bust of herself, which she bids Phyllis dissolve in hot water. Adolphus drinks the mixture, and with the poison neutralised he sinks into a deep sleep. The FitzTollemaches' landlord appears, complaining at the noise from the room. He believes that the recumbent Adolphus is dead, accuses the others of murdering him, and summons the police. The constable cannot rouse Adolphus, and discovers that the plaster has set inside him, turning him into a living statue. A doctor arrives as a violent storm breaks. Lightning fatally strikes the doctor, the policeman and the landlord. The FitzTollemaches raise the statue upright and kneel before it, as the heavenly choir again sings "Bill Bailey". The statue raises its hands in benediction, the band plays the national anthem and attendants pass through the auditorium ejecting the audience.

Later productions

The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcast a radio version of the play in 1926, and the early BBC television service transmitted another in 1939. The play was staged in London in 1945, and again as part of a Shaw Festival at the Arts Theatre in 1951. This was the last production in London during Shaw's lifetime. Later productions included one at the Mermaid Theatre in 1967, of which the reviewer in ''The Times'' observed that Shaw's plot and punning anticipated

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

at his most surrealist. The piece was revived again at the Arts the following year in a triple bill with short comedies by

Michel de Ghelderode Michel de Ghelderode (born Adémar Adolphe Louis Martens; 3 April 1898 – 1 April 1962) was an avant-garde Demographics of Belgium, Belgian dramatist, from Flanders, who spoke and wrote in French. His works often dealt with the extremes of huma ...

and

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

Opera adaptations

The play was adapted in 1975 for a comic opera, '' Lady Magnesia'', by the Polish-Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg (his Opus 112). It was also made into operas by Bruce Taub (1976) and Philip Hagemann (1988).Stanford University Libraries (2019)
"Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres - Philip Hagemann"
accessed 14 April 2019.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{George Bernard Shaw, state=collapsed 1905 plays Plays by George Bernard Shaw Plays set in London Plays adapted into operas