The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet is a one-act play by George Bernard Shaw. Shaw was an Irish dramatist, critic, essayist and political activist. Excerpt: "It was pointed out by Charles Dickens in Little Dorrit, which remains the most accurate and penetrating study of the genteel littleness of our class governments in the English language, that whenever an abuse becomes oppressive enough to persuade our party parliamentarians that something must be done, they immediately set to work to face the situation and discover How Not To Do It. Since Dickens's day the exposures effected by the Socialists have so shattered the self-satisfaction of modern commercial civilization that it is no longer difficult to convince our governments that something must be done, even to the extent of attempts at a reconstruction of civilization on a thoroughly uncommercial basis. Consequently, the first part of the process described by Dickens: that in which the reformers were snubbed by front bench demonstrations that the administrative departments were consuming miles of red tape in the correctest forms of activity, and that everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds, is out of fashion; and we are in that other phase, familiarized by the history of the French Revolution, in which the primary assumption is that the country is in danger, and that the first duty of all parties, politicians, and governments is to save it. But as the effect of this is to give governments a great many more things to do, it also gives a powerful stimulus to the art of How Not To Do Them: that is to say, the art of contriving methods of reform which will leave matters exactly as they are."

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"The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet A Sermon in Crude Melodrama" by George Bernard Shaw. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

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‘A tearing, flaring, revivalist drama’ was how Desmond MacCarthy described The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet. Set in America’s Wild West and aptly subtitled ‘A Sermon in Crude Melodrama’, this single-act play concerns the conversion of a horse thief desperate to ‘keep the devil’ in him and die game. Published in 1909, it brought Shaw into conflict with the Lord Chamberlain of England, who banned it on the grounds of alleged blasphemy, and it was twelve years before the play was performed in a London theatre. In an interview Shaw commented, ‘I am sorry that Fanny’s First Play has destroyed the cherished legend that I am an unpopular playwright ... for the first time I have allowed a play of mine to run itself to death ... And the worst of it is it will not die.’ First performed in 1911, the play is a delightful farce in which Shaw debates some of his favourite subjects: middle-class morality, marriage, parents and children and women’s rights. And, deliberately concealing his authorship, Shaw took the opportunity to satirize contemporary drama critics who, he claimed, ‘do not know dramatic chalk from dramatic cheese when it is no longer labelled for them.’

CONTENTS PREFACE THE CENSORSHIP A READABLE BLUEBOOK HOW NOT TO DO IT THE STORY OF THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE WHY THE MANAGERS LOVE THE CENSORSHIP A TWO GUINEA INSURANCE POLICY WHY THE GOVERNMENT INTERFERED THE PEERS ON THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE THE COMMITTEE'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE THEATRE A BAD BEGINNING A COMIC INTERLUDE AN ANTI-SHAVIAN PANIC A RARE AND CURIOUS FIRST EDITION THE TIMES TO THE RESCUE THE COUNCIL OF TEN THE SENTENCE THE EXECUTION THE REJECTED STATEMENT PART I THE DEFINITION OF IMMORALITY WHAT TOLERATION MEANS THE CASE FOR TOLERATION THE LIMITS TO TOLERATION THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAW AND CENSORSHIP WHY THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN? THE DIPLOMATIC OBJECTION TO THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN THE OBJECTION OF COURT ETIQUET WHY NOT AN ENLIGHTENED CENSORSHIP? THE WEAKNESS OF THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S DEPARTMENT AN ENLIGHTENED CENSORSHIP STILL WORSE THAN THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S THE PRACTICAL IMPOSSIBILITIES OF CENSORSHIP THE ARBITRATION PROPOSAL THE REJECTED STATEMENT: PART TWO PROSTITUTION AND DRINK IN THEATRES WHY THE MANAGERS DREAD LOCAL CONTROL DESIRABLE LIMITATIONS OF LOCAL CONTROL SUMMARY PREFACE RESUMED CONCLUSION ........................... It was pointed out by Charles Dickens in Little Dorrit, which remains the most accurate and penetrating study of the genteel littleness of our class governments in the English language, that whenever an abuse becomes oppressive enough to persuade our party parliamentarians that something must be done, they immediately set to work to face the situation and discover How Not To Do It. Since Dickens's day the exposures effected by the Socialists have so shattered the self-satisfaction of modern commercial civilization that it is no longer difficult to convince our governments that something must be done, even to the extent of attempts at a reconstruction of civilization on a thoroughly uncommercial basis.