Overview

Robert Loraine (1876-1935) was a decorated war hero, an actor, and a surrogate son to Bernard Shaw. After triumphantly launching Shaw's masterpiece Man and Superman in America in the lead role of John Tanner, and creating roles in other plays by Shaw, Loraine suspended his acting career to serve as a pilot in World War I. After twice being seriously wounded, Loraine returned to acting in London and New York, achieving memorable successes punctuated by depressing failures, and often dependent on morphine to control the ongoing pain from his wounds. Throughout all of this, Shaw, like a stern but benevolent father, was a constant presence: advising, cajoling, encouraging, and scolding on matters financial, theatrical, and personal. This selection of twenty-five letters from Shaw to Loraine, fourteen of them published for the first time, eleven published for the first time in complete and accurate transcriptions, were written between 1909 and 1933 against a background of war and changing theatrical values. Introduced, edited, and annotated by Shaw scholar Leonard Conolly, the letters document what was for both men--outside of their marriages (childless in Shaw's case)--among the most significant relationships of their lives.

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9781772441871

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Reviews

My Dear Loraine Bernard Shaw's Letters to an Actor, scrupulouslu editged and annotated by Leonard Conolly, sheds new light on the fascinating, if at times troubled, relationship between Shaw and the eccentric, wayward Robert Loraine. Filled with Shaw's trademark humour--upon learning that Loraine had been wounded in World War I, Shaw told him that 'an artificial leg of the best sort will carry you to victory as Henry V'--this lively account of a most unlikely friendship is a delight to read. --Dr Michel Pharand, former editor of SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies

My Dear Loraine : Bernard Shaw's Letters to an Actor, scrupulouslu editged and annotated by Leonard Conolly, sheds new light on the fascinating, if at times troubled, relationship between Shaw and the eccentric, wayward Robert Loraine. Filled with Shaw's trademark humour--upon learning that Loraine had been wounded in World War I, Shaw told him that 'an artificial leg of the best sort will carry you to victory as Henry V'--this lively account of a most unlikely friendship is a delight to read. --Dr Michel Pharand, former editor of SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies

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