Revisiting Mander and Mitchenson’s Companion (Theatrical Companion to SHAW: A Pictorial Record of First Performances of the Plays of G. B. S. with Synopses, Casts and Detailed Notes

In an original review of The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays and Their Prefaces, Eric Salmon notes that the Bodley Head volumes include details of original productions with cast lists, saving one from "having to go to look them up in Mander and Mitchenson" but then poignantly adds, "not that The Theatrical Companion to the Plays of Shaw sic will lose its usefulness."1 A true sentiment for those who have profited from consulting Mander and Mitchenson's Theatrical Companion to Shaw. In many respects, the mid-1950s book can still be a valuable research tool for those interested in pre-1954 Shaw productions, though it is not an analytical examination of Shaw's plays.Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson met while both were actors; they were also interested, even obsessed, with collecting theatrical memorabilia. Starting in the 1930s, they collected programs, reviews, posters, photographs, etchings, lithographs, set designs, costume designs, apparently everything they could find. By the 1940s, they had amassed a significant collection that they made available to researchers. As they note in their preface to the Companion to SHAW, they "arranged a Bernard Shaw Exhibition for the Arts Theatre Club in conjunction with their revival of Widowers' Houses" in 1949. Following Shaw's death, they "soon realised the mass of errors and misconceptions which had crept into the standard reference books on the subject of premieres."2 They noted the confusion over first productions given private and professional stagings, as well as those which occurred outside of Britain. The conflicting information led them, they claimed, to compose their Shaw Companion.3Mander and Mitchenson authored numerous books based on their collection, with the first being Hamlet Through the Ages: A Pictorial Record from 1709 in 1954. Following Shaw, they published Theatrical Companion to Maugham in 1955 and Theatrical Companion to Coward in 1957, as well as titles on Gilbert and Sullivan, Theaters of London (existing and "Lost"), and a Wagner title in 1977. Their Shaw title provides details of every play's premiere, including cast lists, as well as the same for London premieres when different. Synopses are included for each act, though these are no substitute for reading the plays. A "Notes" section is also provided for each play; many of these include Shaw's program notes from premieres or notable revivals, as with Major Barbara which features Shaw's note for the 1929 London revival produced by Charles Macdona and Leon Lion, staged by Lewis Casson with Sybil Thorndike as Barbara. In the case when films were produced of certain plays, as with Pygmalion, film details are also included with cast lists and photographs. Many photographs from stage productions are included, from premieres (when possible) and from selected revivals.Mander and Mitchenson also provide cast lists and production details (director/producer, designer, theatre) of London revivals up to the 1950s in their Appendix section, including West End productions and smaller repertory venues, like Everyman's 1920s productions. The Appendix also includes cast lists for Shaw offerings at the Malvern Festival from 1929 to 1939 and 1949. The extended cast lists throughout the book are invaluable for tracing and identifying actors who repeatedly performed in Shaw's plays (suggesting further study of contemporary Shavian actors).Mander and Mitchenson's appendix also includes sections on the Copyright Performances, as well as sections on many of the notable theater companies and producers who staged Shaw's plays during Shaw's life. Some of these are paired with relevant essays from participants in said companies. These include "Shaw and the Stage Society" by Allan Wade, "Granville Barker, Shaw and the Court Theatre" by Lewis Casson, "Charles Macdona and the Macdona Players: An Appreciation" by Esme´ Percy, and "The Arts Theatre" by Alec Clunes. The appendix also includes sections on the first foreign translations and productions, (some) American productions, a section titled "Broadcasts, Television and Recordings," first London publications of plays, and record London runs.An introduction by Barry Jackson opens the book, which testifies to the importance of the authors' efforts, as well as offering personal reflections on his own relationship with Shaw. This includes Jackson recalling Shaw's arrangement for The Apple Cart to premiere in Warsaw when Jackson had believed he was to premiere the play during the first Malvern Festival season. There is a section titled "Bernard Shaw, the Producer," which includes a Shaw excerpt from the 1950 Strand Magazine and a page from Pygmalion with Shaw's "blocking" notes. Sybil Thorndike contributed "Thanks to Bernard Shaw" while Lewis Casson supplied "G. B. S. at Rehearsal." All sections, including each play entry, add to the continued relevancy of the Theatrical Companion to Shaw, essentially from Shaw's contemporaries. However, the book is not without a few errors. For example, Mander and Mitchenson claim that the prologue Shaw wrote for producer Charles Macdona's scheme of running two performances of Fanny's First Play per evening (in place of the play's induction) was never used. The new prologue was performed for limited tour dates in autumn 1916. Another error is the omission of a revival of You Never Can Tell from Everyman's 1920 season under Norman MacDermott.Still, the Theatrical Companion to Shaw remains an inspired research tool for tracking the tangible facts of (primarily) London contemporary performances of Shaw's plays. If one is interested in the early theater history of the premieres and revivals, then Mander and Mitchenson's Shaw book is worth revisiting.