JAMES GRASBY: Hello and welcome to the National Trust podcast in
this mini episode. We'll be meeting Evelyn Ellis, a key
member of the Shaw Society, a dedicated group of Shaw fans who
celebrate his work through live readings at Shaw's Corner. [
GENERIC: Sound of theatre performance] Something dreadful
has happened.
What's the matter? I've lost your poem!
EVELYN ELLIS: The young actors who have starved of Shaw. Once
they read it, they're absolutely hooked.
GENERIC: You just don't realize quite how prolific he was, how
much work of his there is out there. So, you know, I'm always
finding new ones. [
Sound of Theatrical Performance] These are my poems!
So I gather...
What a shame, Mrs bumpers shown them to you. You must think me
an utter ass!
EVELYN ELLIS: It's witty, it's clever and he's always putting
across a message is relevant right up to this very minute.
I'm Evelyn Ellis and I'm treasurer of the Shaw Society,
but I'm also general dog's body! I just about do everything!
A lot of the people who go to the Shaw plays at Shaw's Corner,
they go because they love Shaw's Corner, they love Shaw but they
don't really know about the Shaw society. And I think this year
we gained a lot of support and we seem to have come alive since
then.
GENERIC: Just, it's an exciting place to be because you're
living it!
It's living history from my understanding, it hasn't changed
at all since he passed. And so to actually be acting in the
place that the plays were written, I think that's- that's
fantastic. And something that, that you don't get to do very
often.
EVELYN ELLIS: The Shaw Society was founded in 1941 which was
Shaw's 86th birthday was a gentleman called Dr Fritz
Lowenstein. And it was his idea to start a Shaw Society. It was
put together really just to keep his memory going.
I mean, he was still writing plays in his eighties and in his
nineties and he was a bit suspicious about this idea. He
didn't want to be [Sic: idolized] and he didn't-
It didn't strike him as being a great idea, but he sanctioned it
and he wrote us a very funny letter. This is what Shaw said.
The Browning Society was a terror to Browning. Shelley was
dead. Shakespeare was dead. I shall soon be dead. We all
provided a rallying point for the cooperation and education of
kindred spirits and a forum for their irreconcilable
controversies.
So he says, so go ahead. But don't bother me about it.
I'm old, deaf and dotty. In short, a has been.
He knew that anybody who followed him is not going to be
straightforward. Everybody is very individual and there's a
lot of discussion goes on shall we say!
When I first joined, they were very political. It was very much
based on the Fabian society and politics.
And then bit by bit, we got a lot of theatre directors. So
we're working more towards the theatre side.
And now with these young actors, of course, now it's suddenly
becoming performance based. And so that's even more exciting.
It's adaptable, the Shaw Society, I think. And it's
benefiting from new influx of completely new people coming
in. [
GENERIC: Sound of theatrical performance] I remember the
evening when I sat here at your feet and read you those poems
for the first time.
I Shouldn't have let you. I see that now.
EVELYN ELLIS: Today we're doing a very short play called How He
lied to her husband. The characters don't actually have
names. There's her and him and her husband. [
GENERIC: Sound of theatrical performance] You'll soon find
out how much less than nothing she is. If you don't think a
woman can't do any harm because she's only a scandal-
JOE SARGEANT: My name's Joe Sargeant and I'm an actor. [
GENERIC: Sound of theatrical performance] If I were going to
the stake with you, I should still be so happy with you that
I could hardly feel your danger more than my own.
JOE SARGEANT: Very early this year I performed the orderly in
a play called Press Cuttings. And it's the most farcical
character in something that's already very silly. I don't get
much opportunity to play the, the the clown. So I think that's
probably my favourite part yeah.
EVELYN ELLIS: There's no division between the ages. We
seem to mingle very well. I think probably because the young
people who come into the Shaw Society they've already learnt
to think for themselves. And therefore I think they seem to
respect maturity just as much as youth and it just satisfies a
need that they've got.
We've now got about 30 young actors who've joined just for
the pleasure of reading Shaw aloud. [
GENERIC: Sound of theatrical performance] Song before
sunrise.
Nothing would do me then. But I must reel off a set of songs to
sunrise.
EVELYN ELLIS: If we didn't have Shaw's Corner there, we wouldn't
really have an anchor.
We get so much information feeding back and there's so much
studying going on there as well.
A lot of the expertise that we have about Shaw comes through
Shaw's Corner and through the National Trust and Sue Morgan,
who's the curator there at the moment is very much part of the
Shaw Society as well.
We look on her as being our guardian angel.
When Shaw comes out of copyright in 2020 I think that'll make a
lot of opportunities for Shaw plays to be put on.
It'll be much freer and less expensive. The more that they
can put Shaw across, the better it'll be for Shaw's Corner. I'm
sure.
I think there's a lot of enthusiasm. There's a lot of
people waiting for that day to dawn.
JAMES GRASBY: Thanks for listening to this week's mini
episode. Our next full episode will be available in a couple of
weeks, but there'll be another mini episode available next week
where we'll be meeting up with theatre producer Michael Friend
to hear about his love affair with Shaw's plays.
So until then from me, James Grasby, goodbye.