Playwright · 1856 – 1950
George Bernard Shaw
Key Takeaways
- Shaw was the leading English-language playwright after Shakespeare.
- His play Pygmalion later became the musical My Fair Lady.
- He won the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- He is the only person to win both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award.
George Bernard Shaw turned the stage into a battlefield of ideas — and made it irresistibly funny. The leading English-language dramatist after Shakespeare, he used wit as a weapon against the injustices and hypocrisies of his age.
Wit with a purpose
Shaw’s plays sparkle with paradox while tackling poverty, class, war and morality. Pygmalion — later the musical My Fair Lady — turns a lesson in elocution into a sharp study of class; Saint Joan and Man and Superman mix comedy with serious argument. Championing the social drama pioneered by Henrik Ibsen, he made the theatre a place to think.
Nobel and Oscar
A committed reformer who helped found the London School of Economics, Shaw won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and, uniquely, also won an Academy Award. A fellow Irish wit alongside Oscar Wilde, this playwright of the modern era is the only person ever to claim both honours.
Influence
Shaw made the theatre a forum for ideas, tackling class, poverty, war and morality with wit so sharp that serious argument became entertainment.
Legacy
His plays remain widely performed, Pygmalion lives on as My Fair Lady, and 'Shavian' describes his distinctive blend of wit and social conscience.
Major Works
- Pygmalion
- Saint Joan
- Man and Superman
Connections
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was George Bernard Shaw?
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was an Irish playwright and critic, author of Pygmalion, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature and an Academy Award.
What is Pygmalion about?
Pygmalion follows a phonetics professor who trains a poor flower girl to pass as a lady, a witty exploration of class and language that became the musical My Fair Lady.
Citations & Sources
People Like George
Henrik Ibsen
81Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright, often called the "father of modern drama" and second only to Shakespeare in influence on the theatre, whose realistic plays like A Doll's House confronted the moral and social questions of his age.
Why The pioneer of social drama whom Shaw championed and built upon.
Oscar Wilde
81Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and wit, one of the most celebrated playwrights of late-Victorian London, whose sparkling comedies, the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and famous epigrams made him a legend — before a scandalous trial destroyed his career.
Why A fellow Irish playwright and wit who conquered the London stage in the same era.
William Shakespeare
96William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.
Why The dramatist to whom Shaw is most often ranked second in the English language.
Agatha Christie
81Agatha Christie was an English writer, the best-selling novelist of all time, whose ingenious detective stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple made her the undisputed "Queen of Crime".
Why Also a writer & playwright · Active in the same era
Anton Chekhov
81Anton Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer — and a practising physician — widely regarded as among the greatest masters of both the short story and modern drama, whose plays like The Cherry Orchard transformed the theatre.
Why Also a playwright & writer · Active in the same era
Alexandre Dumas
81Alexandre Dumas was a French writer whose swashbuckling historical novels — The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo — became some of the most popular and widely adapted stories in the world.
Why Also a writer & playwright · Active in the same era