CENSORSHIP OF PLAYS.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 69

CENSORSHIP OF PLAYS.

MR G. B. SHAW'S EPIGRAMS^

fFsoM; Oxtb, Om Cokrzspoitdent.) LONDON, August 6. A jo,int committee on the censorship is now being held in London, owing to "the outcry of the playwrights at the action of the censor in refusing sanction to so manyplays recently. Mr Bedford, the Examiner of Plays under the Lord Chamberlain, said that the last word in licensing plays rested with the Lord Chamberlain-. _"G. B. S." characteristically described himself as "a dramatist, author, journalist, public speaker, and specialist in immoral and heretical plays." He eat undismayed in the semi-circle of a horseshoe table, dressed in a snuff-coloured woollen suit, and answered the questions with folded arms and wagging beard.- When his name was called he strod© to the table carrying a brow-a leather wallet. He sat down on -one of the red, golden-crested chairs of .the House, of Lords, and,' rapidly undoing- his satchel, produced a number of 'press outtings apd papers, with some blue-covered pamph*ets. j , - • - - "G. B. S." put the- little blue books down on the table, on which we stacked already copies o? his own plays, with " The Christian" (by Mr Hall Came) and "The Breaking Point," a censored play by' Mr Edward Garneft. The blue books bore the title, "Statement of the Evidence- in-Chief of George Bernard Shaw, privately' printed." "I have had my evidence printed for you," ho explained, leaning back with folded arms. "I am following the precedent eet by the late Sir Henry Irving : xi giving evidence. You can, if you please, take it as read and ask me questions on it." The committee was puzzled. - Then" Mr Herbert Samuel smiled, and said, " Wo must clear the room while we disouss that question privately." Mr George Bernard Shaw and the witnesses filed out with the public into the corridor. When they were readmitted, Mr Samuel said politely, "We have decided. Mr Shaw, that evidence in that form is not admissible here." U G. B. S" who explained courteously that he was ready to read extracts from his printed evidence in reply to any questions, was then examined. "You are the author .of many plays?" — " Yes, of 19— three of them have been censored," was the sad reply. Yclu think the censorship shoxild be abolished?— Yes, because of my horror of anarchism. I want the dramatic author to bo brought under the law. I believe in Liberty of the press, liberty of sp&sch, and liberty of conscience. "The. law is the' balance of liberty," he went on epigramatieally. ."I object to -any control of the theatre which is beyond 'and outside the law of tho land. I will obey the law; but with Tegard to the theatre there is no kuv now. The gentleman you see here"—indicatrng the Examiner of Plays— "has under his control not only my livelihood but my good" name, which seams to mo the last word in despotism. A censorship. by more enlightened^ men would prove in practice even more disastrous. The more eminent they were the greater their fear would be of passing anything that was unconventional or new. ,A great many immoral plays are now passed and performed because the censorship does not exclude the frivolous while vetoing serious work. My plays are very immoral. Whatever is contrary to established manners and customs it immoral An unmoral act or doctrine is riot necessarily a einful one; on .he contrary, every moVal' 0 '"./^"fht is., by definition < i m . moial until ,t has converted the majority. LrU ™ b^ a conscientiously immoral writer.' contmues Mr Shaw? "Lord GorHI 3 v ,ews on divorce, for example, uonld be immoral to hU Grace the Archrh!n^ P « f f Ca , nter t>U7; There is no one thine: that all mankind would consider indecent at the same time," he concluded gravely. " What do you say to political D lays tl'.at place a foreign potentate in an itrn'omimous or ridiculous position?" asked 'the chairman. '• I will tell you something I saw myM»lf, replied Mr Shaw without a smjle. /v Ji a \f seen a co . median representing tho Shah of Persia with a collar of pawntickets round his Imperial neck. Tho idea was that ho had pawned his famous diamonds while on a visit to this country. I would give the Shah of Persia the same rierht to object as I should wish to have if I wore represented with 'such a collar." Mr Shaw told the committee the full story of how his play " Mrs Warren's Profession " led fo the arrest of the manager, actres«os. and actors in New York. "It was like this,'i hp said, simply. " The Americans knew the class of play the censor passed here, and when th-°-v hoard he had declined to license ' Mm Warren's Profession ' they imagined it touched unspeakable depths of immorality and infamy. The worst society in New York flocked to the play on the first night. There were riots outside_ the theatre, and fabulous prices were paid for seat*. Then the police, without seeing the play, came alon?, arrested the manager and thp oompanv. and took them to tho Police Court. The Magistrate explained that ifc was his duty to read the p!av, and- expressed tho deep loathing he felt at that unpleasant ta«-k. 110 adjournod tho ca-*e. and at the ne^t hoarinir ho exhibited some temper, as though disappointed, and said the nlay was not what he had be-on led to beliove." "What oo you desciibe the play as?" a«-korl tho chairman. '• It is a profoundly immoral play," said Mr Shaw cheerfully. "It is far more immoral than many who ha\o written oi it understand." '• I* it a fact that any of Ib=en s plays | havo been coiworod''" he was a~ked. '• Yp«. ' Ghosts ' wa.= consored. and it was clearly statr-d that it would never bo pormitled to ba performed here." '" Do you consider Ibsen's plajj3 immoral? — " Most." " X ' Mrs Warren'h Profession among your 'pleasant plays?' " asked Mr Samuel. '• It is in the first volume of ' Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant.' " was the reply. ' Mrs Warren's Profession,' which has been censored, is the least immoral of the three plays in that vqluioa." U

" Why 'do you say. that?" " Because they challenge the - existing standard of, morality in ft more unusuai way."- .