Candida by George Bernard Shaw
GBS’ plays read like novels and Candida is no exception. It’s funny to imagine someone trying to play “A vigorous, genial, popular man of forty, robust and goodlooking, full of energy, with pleasant, hearty, considerate manners, and a sound, unaffected voice, which he uses with the clean, athletic articulation of a practised orator, and with a wide range and perfect command of expression.” Fortunately Shaw’s stage directions can usually be safely ignored if you’re trying to stage the thing and they do add to the readability when you’re only reading it.
This isn’t one of Shaw’s best plays. It’s a little dull with neither global reach nor comic aspects. The ending is anti-climactic. Nothing has happened and no one has changed. We’re supposed to find the character of Candida captivating but I mostly found her shallow and silly. She’s from a different era and doesn’t translate well.